Goat Cart Summers

Happy Saturday! I hope that your weekend has gotten off to a great start.

You have all seen vintage photos of little kids in coat carts, taken during the early part of the 20th century. The roving photographers of the time used their goats and carts as a gimmick to have parents pay for photos to be taken of their children, similar to the same way that the photographers brought along ponies. For a while I have collected these little goat cart photos.

Some time ago I did a post about a project that I was getting ready to start. The original post is here if you missed it. I didn't say too much about what I was making because I actually submitted it to Somerset Studio for publication in their January, 2017 issue, "All About Olive". (I did not use the old quilt piece that I showed in that post.) I got it back the other day as it was not published. You win some! You lose some! Though, I must say that the artwork that was published in that issue was so superior to mine. So I thought I'd share a few photos here.

I created this piece in a shabby kind of manner, along the same lines as a Halloween piece that I shared with you a couple of years ago. It is basically a long fabric roll done on a 5-inch wide length of burlap. I thought the olive and pink colors were suitable for a summer theme.

It is about four feet long, including the hanger.

These photos are pretty bad as I didn't have a suitable place

in the house to take them due to the length of the project

and lighting issues in the house.

Here it is displayed on Miss Grace...

 The hanger is created from sari ribbon,

and the metal piece is an old drawer pull...

...which sits on top of an old doily that has been

folded in half...

Lots of fabrics.

Silk, velvet, and cotton prints,

along with buttons, laces and ribbon.

And a mother-of-pearl buckle and

grosgrain ribbon and a little rick rack...

The photos had been printed onto fabric,

and I hand-sewed them on...

A pink glass button from my stash,

and more hand stitching to hold the scraps of fabric

together.

On this photo and above I used buttons to replicate

wheels on the goat carts...

I used colored scrim in sections,

and at the bottom is a vintage

crocheted hankie...

This piece has special meaning for me,

because while my husband was in the hospital before and after

his surgery in August, I did the hand sewing portion

whenever he rested.

And the best part,

it matches my studio colors of pink and green.

My studio is the only girly room in our home,

and is a hangover from my single days in my townhouse in Florida,

where shabby chic ruled!!!

Back in the Day: Children and Their Goat Carts

Hi there! I hope that you are having a great day.

In my collection of vintage photos, I have made it a point to collect old RPPCs (real photo postcards) of children in goat carts. In the 1920s and 1930s photographers traveled not only with ponies, but with cute goats pulling carts that I imagine were used as a sales pitch to get moms and dads to pay them to take photos of their children. The carts were often outfitted with a sign bearing the year the photo was taken, and sometimes with the state that it was taken in. I don't know what made me become so fascinated with these photos, but I have quite a few and decided to finally create something with them.

While Mr. Perch was still in the hospital recovering from his surgery this past summer, I brought along some previously-started work to complete the hand sewing on while he was watching TV or dozing off. On a previous blog post I think I shared a few photos of the materials that I was going to use on this one, but here are some photos of the piece that I completed, which was actually a large-form "snippet roll". I am showing single sections of it here because it is a rather long piece. Since it was a summer project, I wanted to use the garden colors of pinks and greens.

The hanger was made of sari silk.

At the top of the doily

 I used a vintage metal

"something" that I had owned

for a while...

I used laces, vintage buttons,

cheese cloth, moiré ribbon...

...velvet, various trims and

embellishments...

...crocheted pieces...

...rick rack and a crocheted hanky...

...collaged with various fabrics onto

5-inch wide burlap ribbon.

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It was good therapy and brought a smile to

my face during a time this summer

that was not always so happy.

Art therapy is what I think they call it!

Many thanks for coming by.

Rhinestone Cowgirls and Straight Shooters

Good morning friends. A while back I showed you a glimpse of some cowgirl fabric collages that I had started to put together, and am happy to say that I have finally completed them! They are companion pieces of sorts, since I used bits of the same fabrics on each. Don't you find it so much easier to create a couple of pieces when you don't have to keep choosing fabrics and embellishments over and over again?

The fabrics that I used absolutely don't in any way go with the photos, but I thought it would be fun to experiment a little with the unexpected. I hope that you like them!

The photos used on both pieces were old RPPCs from

the early 1900s. 

I assume that they were souvenir or prop photos.

I copied them onto fabric, as usual!

For each of them I collaged everything onto muslin. 

I incorporated various vintage fabrics:

velvet, silk, dupioni,

chiffon, and sari silk.

I then added vintage laces, 

and small pieces of sequined sheer fabric

from an old flapper dress.

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To this one I added a rhinestone button onto a small crocheted

embellishment. 

These ladies look like they would have worn anything in the

world but rhinestones, silk and lace!

Still, I couldn't resist...

The sequined flapper dress piece goes along the right 

side of the photo...

To the bottom I added a portion of a vintage doily,

which I embellished with a vintage button to match the flapper 

dress trim...

The hanger is made of coordinating sari silk tied in a bow...

For these straight-shootin' gals,

I pretty much used the same materials,

but in a different way.

These ladies were  far more comfortable holding

six-shooters than getting prettied up, 

but I wasn't going to let that stop me!...

  

But, even they deserve a little respect, 

so I gave them a wooden button instead of one with rhinestones...

The vintage silk velvet used towards the top of this one

was used on the bottom of the other piece.

It is a beautiful faded rust color...

...and the colors in the cowgirl boot chiffon that you see at

the left below dictated the color scheme of both pieces,

namely dusty rust, dusty peach, and shades of teal...

It was so much fun trying to incorporate my two favorite pieces

into this collage, namely the cowgirl boot chiffon and the sequined

flapper piece, which I have more of and will be using some time

in the future, I'm sure.

I have listed these in my Etsy shop,
which you can find here.

Have you used "the unexpected" in any of your creations lately?

Patriotic Fabric Collage: "Proud to be an American"

Happy Independence Day! I hope your weekend continues to be great! Below are some photos of the other fabric collage that I completed this weekend, inspired by the holiday.

I recently added this charming photo to 

my "patriotic photos" collection.

I love the adorable children standing in a row.

It is a copy of an old RPPC printed onto fabric.

It looks like it must have been taken at

their school.

I love that the children are wearing  patriotic

banners and holding flags, and that

the little guy is dressed as Uncle Sam...

As with the piece that I posted about yesterday,

the blue fabric with the stars on it

that I used for the background is a piece of

antique indigo dating from the 1800s.

And the little quilted piece that the photo

sits upon is a square from an old quilt.

I bought a lot of these awhile ago

and posted about them previously.

Of course, I had to add some vintage lace

and crinkled seam binding to it, 

along with a paper flower held in place

by a BoBunny brad...

 

The stamped words are from the stamping

that I talked about in yesterday's post.

Again, I just cut out the phrase that

I wanted to use...

 

Like with the cutter quilt piece that I used in yesterday's piece,

the red has faded to a dusty rose...

...so for the hanger I used dusty rose crinkled seam binding,

and cream sari silk...

I really enjoyed using these old photos,

not to mention the cutter quilt pieces.

I am putting the finishing touches on two other pieces

that I worked on yesterday,

and will share them shortly (hopefully!).

Thanks for coming by,

and I hope you have a creative day!!

Patriotic Fabric Collage: "God Bless the USA"

Hello, and I hope that you're having a great Fourth of July Weekend.

This holiday inspired me to use a couple of my recently acquired patriotic photos in some fabric art. I actually made two yesterday, and here is one of them.

This is a rather tall piece.

The collage was done on a piece of a 

cutter quilt that I have had for a while.

I only wish I could have seen what the original

quilt must have looked like.

My piece is a very irregular shape

and it was from the 1860s or so.

Since it was shaped like a house,

I made believe that it was...

I used some vintage lace and buttons,

and the words were stamped with

a stamp from the Stampabilities line.

It included a lot of patriotic phrases,

so I stamped the whole thing on muslin, 

using old Archival ink in coffee,

and just used the phrase that you see here...

The photo was a beautiful old RPPC

printed onto fabric.

I couldn't resist these sweet little girls,

with the toddler holding the flag.

Don't you just love the flag that also 

appears behind them?...

You can see in the next photo how 

old and faded  the indigo fabrics are. 

I particularly love the indigo with the 

stars on it that I placed behind the girls.

And what must have once been red

has faded to a dusty pink...

Because the top section of the quilt piece

looks like the roof of the house,

I couldn't resist incorporating a vintage

piece of salvage, which I think must

have once held a doorknob.

Inside of it I placed a BoBunny brad

that I bought a few years ago...

It is about 7 inches wide, by 18 inches long,

not counting the jute that it hangs from.

It felt good to be able to make some time for creating again!

As ever, thanks for coming by.

Fabric and Lace Collage: "When I Was Little"

Hello and thanks for coming by!

A couple of weeks ago I saw some dusty blue velveteen fabric, along with some matching checked pieces salvaged from an old dress, being sold by the same shop on Etsy. I don't often work with blues, but I do indeed love them, so they inspired me to create something using a a beautiful cabinet card that I bought from eBay around the same time. I showed you the beginning of this piece in a recent post, but I finally finished it today.

Perhaps it is the coming of spring,

or just the fact that I have suddenly tired

a little of working with neutrals,

but I really loved working with this palette...

A antique lace collar,

velvet ribbon woven through a 

vintage mother-of-pearl buckle,

velveteen and silky fabrics...

...surround this beautiful little toddler

in her sweet dress.

Though I have many antique photos of

children on their rocking horses,

this one is the first that I saw

depicting an antique horse-tricycle...

As always,

a little hanger of coordinating sari ribbon and

crinkled seam binding...

...and a few words of description!...

Have you created something in

a different color scheme lately?

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I have listed this piece in my Etsy shop.

I hope that you are having a wonderful week!

Fabric and Lace Collage: "A Sister's Solace"

Hello dear friends and blog sisters!

We have a bad storm headed our way within a couple of hours, so we have have hunkered down due to the threat of high winds and possible hail and tornadoes. I thought I'd catch up on a few "computer" things while I can still be safely connected.

I finished the "purple" collage 

that I posted about last week.

I used silky fabrics,

a vintage doily,

antique lace,

and old buttons.

The whole collage was sewn to

a lovely piece of ivory damask...

It was fun working with these colors,

as they are normally outside of my

"comfort zone"...

I used sari ribbons and 

crinkled seam binding for the tie.

I got to practice some of the fancy stitches

that my fairly new sewing machine

can do...

This piece will be listed for sale in my

Etsy shop.

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I also put a few things together for my next piece.

Some laces, and fabrics in grey-blues,

along with, of course,

a beautiful photo!...

Keeping the momentum going!

As always, thank you for sharing some time with me.