Heirlooms are losing their
value...
Not the monetary value, the intrinsic value that comes from tradition,
memories, honor and love. With the loss
of Sunday lunches at Mom’s or Grandmother’s house, comes the loss of knowing
her table will be graced with fine white linen, carefully washed and ironed,
the loss of snowy white cotton napkins at each place, her china and crystal
beautifully set. We’ve lost seeing her bustling about in a serviceable but
lovely apron to cover her good church clothes while she prepares the meal. Each
step of preparation completed with a sense of tradition, love and family and the incredible value of effort. At some point in our busy lives, convenience
became more important, we needed to make the next game or prepare for the next
work day, see the next tv show or rush out to meet friends. We moved to paper
plates, take out lunch and throwaway utensils.
I miss the tradition and the
treasures of that bygone era. I love the memories seeing them provokes. I enjoy
finding such treasures at estate sales and imagining their use and value –
judging by the way they’ve stored, their condition and their place in the home.
So many of those treasures
fall into our hands, but a few are a little damaged through age, use and general
conditions. It would be good, we thought
to create new heirlooms and hopefully help bring back a bit of their lost value.
Over the months we have
accumulated a laundry basket (or 2, maybe 3) of what the Middle One refers to
as ‘Franken-linens’. Her term for pieces that are mostly whole, but have a small
amount of damage that prevents them from being sold. Why couldn’t we turn them into new heirlooms, but do so in a manner that would echo the period they
originally came from?
We could embrace reduce, reuse, recycle!
I purchased a 1940’s apron
pattern, used another apron or two we had acquired as a pattern and set out to
see what could be created.
For the first attempt I found
a sheet made in the 1930’s. What
wonderful cotton they used! These were meant to last. They were meant to withstand
hard scrubbing, harsh lye soap, starch and irons heated by the fire. I honestly don’t think you can find fabric
like this anymore. To decorate these aprons
I gathered all the lady’s handkerchiefs that had a small hole (or a big one), and
my box of vintage buttons and added them to the pile. It wasn’t smart to trust
vintage thread so that had to be new, as did a bit of binding.
It’s a shame to see so many
very lovely pieces go to waste so if we can create something new, practical,
beautiful and worth saving, it can only be a good thing right? Now, I’ve never
sewn anything to sell. I’ve bartered with it a little, and done a few favors,
and I sewed for myself and my girls when they were younger. But this is a whole new
experience for me.
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| Battenburg Lace Half Apron |
The sheet became the body of
the aprons, the handkerchiefs the pockets, and the buttons for accent. A single beautiful tablecloth became an apron and then two pockets for other pieces.
This week I added my first
creations to the shop, Estatelyladies, and I’m sharing them here with you! We chose to list them as created by Mimi's Estatements to separate them from true vintage items. If these go over well
there will soon be pillows, Christmas stockings, and who knows what else!
Full Apron Advance Pattern 7856 from the 1940's - Body from vintage sheet, lace pocket from vintage lady's handkerchief, vintage yellow pearl buttons and buttery yellow binding and now raw seams!
Mommy and Me set - dimensions from a vintage apron. The body is, once again, a crisp vintage sheet, the pockets are from the battenburg lace tablecloth and the all is set off with bright spring green binding!
Most interesting story! Hard to believe that the swastika was once so widely used! If you want to see another use that seems crazy today, look up the former symbol of the 45th Infantry Division (US Army). . .
ReplyDeleteTried to post a similar comment a bit ago, but not sure it worked. Hope this isn't a duplicate!