Crewel Folder

So, I decided to go ahead and use those crewel samples this morning rather than hoarding them away.

In my last post I mentioned that they were very dusty, so after I laundered them and they were dry, I cut out my favorite parts and pieces and machine stitched them in a random pattern onto some reclaimed muslin. (2 rectangles of the same size)

I added some machine stitched text, 

 and some vintage buttons.

After I had all the crewel and embellishments stitched onto the muslin, I then stitched the crewel covered muslin panels to a larger piece of purple linen from my fabric stash. One to the left and the other to the right on the purple linen, creating a front and a back to the folder.( so the panels are side by side on the purple linen)

 I made a little flap and added a super sized snap.

 Next I cut a piece of quilt batting and another piece of muslin the same size as the purple linen. I sandwiched the batting between the linen and the muslin and layered on a smaller piece of muslin for pockets before stitching them all together.

There it is. A completed folder.

 It's just right for holding my reclaimed packing paper that I've been using for my doodles.

Here it is all loaded with paper and snapped shut.

All finished and no hoarding of materials.

karen

Vintage Crewel Samples

I've never tried crewel myself, but like the pretty patterns in these vintage samples. I purchased a small bundle of them from a little fabric shop that had recently gone out of business. 

 They were extremely dusty and even had some water damage on some of the edges,

 but I see potential in these squares of stitching.

 I cut them into pieces and soaked and washed them in lots of warm soapy water.

 I have a project in mind for these, so they'll be showing up here again in a different form.
Reborn into something brand new and one of a kind.
Just a little "Random Salvage".

karen