Saturday, March 29, 2008

Stitchery Altered Book Pages

Here are the pages i did in Dorothy's book, entitled, A Stitch in Time. She requested that our work be anything related to "stitchery". I have a stack of old Spanish ladies magazines from the 50's. I just knew i would find some inspiration in those. They are filled with recipes and illustrations of dress patterns, embroidered napkins, crocheted pot holders, and some great old advertising.
The first spread uses one of the ladies dress patterns - then i "cut out" the same dress in two other "fabrics" - striped scrapbook paper and a floral napkin. I knew i always wanted to try to use a zipper in an altered book. I folded the paper and glued the zipper underneath. The flap just folds back enough to see the pin up gal in her slip lamenting that, even with her talent as a dress maker, she has nothing to wear. The back ground is Aileen's Color Mists in pink and green. Check our her products at OutsidetheMargins.com
The next spread was just for fun. I cut out a full page needlepoint/ cross stitch pattern of a house by a pond. It was the perfect backdrop for these ridiculous hard boiled egg cozy's that YES, you too can make out of felt, to dress up your morning breakfast tray. Is that supposed to be "the wife" all dressed up like a maid to serve the rooster eggs?
I have TONS of old lady sewing basket stuff i have collected over the years. So this book was a perfect chance to use some of it.
First i made the cover for the basket. I padded the page and covered it with fabric. Then used ruffled lace all around. Then covered the inside (next two pages in the book) with another fabric that is reminiscent of a basket weave pattern. I punched some holes in the cover and used vintage seam binding to create a bit of quilted effect. It actually kinda looks like the lid of a sewing basket! Can i just say that the Japanese Screw punch did a magnificent job punching holes through two layers of fabric, padding and several pages in the book.
Inside the basket are all of Nana's sewing paraphernalia. I actually cut a spool in half and wound it back up with thread, so it wouldn't be to thick inside the book.
Oh, what's that? An old girlie magazine clipping underneath the buttons and thread bobbins? Does granny have a secret she isn't telling us?

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