Covering A Frame With Fabric
Earlier in the week I posted some great estate sale finds that we recently made and two of them were this awesome 1950?s travel poster and this HORRID 1993 picture frame. Between the two we spent $8. The poster is an original Northwest Orient Airlines lithograph. It was a little banged up and the airline logo was cut off of the bottom. Even so, I am ecstatic that we were able to score it for $2! We’ve been looking for a friend for it so that we would have a pair, but no luck yet. During my research I’ve found out that this poster in good condition runs between $800 & $1200! I would guess that even in this condition, because the main artwork is still in great shape, that it is still worth a few hundred dollars. The frame was $6 and was not only ugly, shiny, plastic and mauve, but parts of the ugly was coming off showing the raw glue spotted “wood” underneath. I bought it because I felt that I would end up paying way more for a heavy duty frame of this size if I passed this one up, so I went ahead and got it. We needed a big sturdy frame to protect our new treasure, so I thought for a few minutes about what I could do with it and come up with a great solution!
The first thing I did to the frame was to break off as much of the loose plastic as I could so that whatever I did to it next would have a solid base. Then I cut the paper away from the back and removed the cardboard backing, the faded old Monet poster and the glass. I had to take out the glaziers points and unscrew the hanging hooks to do this and I set those aside. I decided to do a simple fabric covered frame, but I had to find something that I felt would match the poster, but wouldn’t be too crazy to fit in somewhere in the house. The paper has yellowed a little over the years and the bright white of the buildings is now a light ecru color, so that is the color I chose to go with. I went to my fabric shelves and looked for something similar and I pulled out unbleached cotton that I had. I measured how far it was around the frame (as in each piece of it, not the circumference) and then how long each side was. I cut pieces of the linen 1/4 inch wider and 3 inches longer than my measurements were. So now I had 4 pieces of linen and a frame.
I wrapped the fabric around the sides of the frame lengthwise and sewed it with a simple stitch along the back of the frame. I made it tight but not TOO tight because once you put the glass back in it will take out the slack. You want the fabric to be centered in both directions. I started about 1.5 inches in from the corners and sewed straight to the other end, stopping about 1.5 inches away from it because the corners take a little configuring and you want a little mobility for that. Once I had all four sides sewn on, I folded and cut the corners to make two angled edges on each that would fit together like the corner of a blanket. When I was happy with how they looked I sewed them from underneath, or inside some people call it, so that you couldn’t see the stitches when I was done. I repeated this on all four corners and completed stitching up the ends on the back as well. We cleaned the glass really good, put it back into the frame and reattached the hanging hardware. To spruce up the poster itself I took a white plastic art eraser which is good for cleaning up artwork and won’t smudge or spread stains. This immediately got rid of 3/4 of the marks of the piece like they had never even been there. I straightened the one rip and smoothed it out and folded about 1/8 of an inch on the edges where it was too big for the frame. We laid the poster face down on the glass and Loving Husband held it while I arranged it and made sure that it was flat. Next, I put the cardboard back over the back and LH reinserted the points to secure everything back into the frame.
All I can say is that I am extremely pleased with the finished project and the frame is perfect for the poster. It fits in with our decor, matches the poster and doesn’t detract from it at all! One expert I spoke to about the poster said that we were lucky to find one at all, and it is unbelievable that we got it for $2! Right now it is hanging in our bedroom, but next time we move I will hang it in our dining room for all our visitors to enjoy!
Thrifting: Why I Love Estate Sales
This past weekend Loving Husband found an estate sale for us to go to that was absolutely awesome! When we got there, there was a long line and we waited for about 30 minutes for our number to be called. Once we were allowed to go ahead and go inside it was well worth it! The owner had been 100 years old when she died and she was a glamorous fashionista and lifelong collector of cool things! There were so many items in the house that I would have loved, but they were already reserved by others or I felt we just didn’t have the room in the apartment for them. I bought what I could and although several of the pieces are going into the shop with the next batch of postings, I am saving a couple things back for myself and wanted to share them with you as usual! A couple of the items were misc finds that I never did post from a while ago.
A Couple of Vintage Photos
When we go to flea markets, I like to look at the old photos. Usually the ones that I like are way more than I’d like to pay for them, but sometimes I pick up one for less that I find really cool! Since I know a lot of my friends and readers like old things and I decided to share a couple the scans of my recent acquisitions with you all.
This photo above has a gold sheen to it that doesn’t really transfer in the scanning of the image. I picked this up at a flea market in Jacksonville for $3. I’m not sure how old it is, but I would say at least as far back as the early 30?s. So rarely have I ever seen old photos of women in anything this short that I just had to buy it. The original is and 8 X10.
The postcard photo above was purchased for $1 at the Elkhorn Flea Market here in Wisconsin. I love the photo of the lady on the front, her hat and mink stole seem so elegant. The pigeons are just an added bonus! The back has a printed address in Venice. I don’t know if that is where it was taken or the photographer’s address. Handwritten on the back it also says “July 1911 Venezia”, “1911 in Venice Italie”, “Me as a governess, had a wonderful life”, “My mother was very proud of me!” and “My nice lady feeding the pigeons”.
$28 Antique Iron Bed Revamp
Last summer we went to an estate auction that was way out in the boonies on a farm. I was interested in a leaded glass window that was in a pile of old rusty, nasty beds and chicken things leaning up against an old rotting coop. Long story short, I won the window and as we were standing there the iron bed (there was a big brass bed too) went up on the block. We only have company that requires a bed twice a year when my father comes to visit and we had just bought one for ourselves, so I was very surprised when Loving Husband started bidding on and won the antique iron bed you see below. It included a base board, a head board and two side rails. Since it’s an old bed (over 100 years old), it’s not meant for your typical modern box spring and mattress set; it’s also a strange size, not a full and not a double. There was a thick layer of black paint, some olive green paint and the bottom layer was a very rich gold color backed with yellow. It’s really too bad that there was some rust on it because I liked the gold a lot, it had a luminous quality to it like a pearl paint almost (see foot also below).
LH spent many hours outside with sandpaper in one hand and a drill with the wire bristle attachment on it in the other. He finally got the whole bed down to the gold layer and sprayed the dust off of it. The fun stuff began when we started painting it. He picked black hammered texture spray paint and since it was his project, I went along with it. It took us two sessions to get it all sprayed and dried. Once it was finished it looked really good! Our bed is black iron and they ended up looking very similar. We had to build a very basic box structure with internal supports to serve as a platform on which to put the mattress. At the moment we are using it with an inflatable mattress because we are still holding out the hope of eventually finding one similar to the size of the bed. My father used it over the Christmas holidays and he loved it. I’m really pleased with the way it turned out and LH is very proud of his $28 antique bed! Below are some photos of what the finished project looks like!
Thrifting: The New Salvos In Mundelein
They recently opened a new Salvation Army in Mundelein, IL and we decided to go check it out. We were there for almost 2 hours and I never even made it as far as going through the clothes! We did shoes, house wares, accessories and books. We are planning another trip (it’s about a 45 min drive from here) early next month. The books are all 10 for $1 so I have to admit, I did go a little overboard! Many of the books that I found are slated to be given away on the blog; they were just too cool to leave there, but I already had copies or didn’t need them.
The wrapping paper was 50% off at Target, so I bought 3 rolls that I wouldn’t have paid full price for but that I loved! The soaps are jasmine, honey and bergamot from World Market for like $3 each. The dogs actually gifted us the AWESOME Mastering the Art of French Cooking set for Christmas, but they got it for 50% off at Barnes & Noble ($48 after the discount and my membership discount!) Also pictured above is The Vogue Sewing Book of Fitting, Adjustments & Alterations, Scandalmongerby William Safire, The Pleasure Of Italian Cookingby Romeo Salta, A Tale Out Of Luck by Willie Nelson, Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson and A Jug Of Wine by Morrison Wood.
In the back we have hubby’s record finds: Irish Rebel Songs and Tom Rush. The books here are When Daddy Was A Little Boyby Alexander Raskin, The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dear America: The Great Railroad Raceby Kristiana Gregory, Dear America: Standing in the Light by Mary Pope Osborne, Mother & Child Companion by Kate Ashton, The Three Sneezes and Other Swiss Talesby Roger Duvoisin, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, The October Foxby Clark McMeekin, The Woman In Whiteby Wilkie Collins, A London Home in the 1890?s by M.V. Hughes and Incantation by Alice Hoffman. The cut-out embroidery design vintage gloves were $2.
The big red book is a photo album that I think will be perfect for my project idea and inspiration folder. The next book was $6 at B & N on sale Irish Pub Cooking for hubby. Then there is Fitzwilliam Darcy: Gentlemanby Pamela Aidan and another Rush album. I LOVE the red suede Steve Madden peep-toe flats! They cost like $3 and are the correct size number wise but they are a little loose. I have to do something about that or find them a new home. Anne of The Island, Against All Odds & Emily of New Moon all by L.M. Montgomery. The silver sequin flats are Justice and fit great and only cost me $2!
Teenage Beauty by Bobbi Brown, The Pregnancy Journal by A. Christine Harris, 1776 by David McCullough. Hubby bought two of these flashlight kits at Target for $10. We can never find our flashlights! lol. The Greek Cookbookby Sophia Skoura, Arabellaby Georgette Heyer, Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery, Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, The Bust Guide To The New Girl Order. Finally is a little book of poems from the 40?s called Kara Zabakos (War Boots)that is entirely in Latvian! lol It was so different and unique that I had to bring it home.
Thrifting: Fall Trip To NY
During our fall trip to my Hometown of Jamestown New York, we did a lot of thrifting! After all, this IS the place where it all started! To be more accurate, THIS Salvation Army in the photos (above) is the place where it all started. I had a friend who lived on the side road across the street from this Salvos when I was in Middle school. One day after riding my bike over to her house and finding her family not at home, I was so very bored that I thought I would go in and give it a look. I was probably in the 5th or 6th grade at the time. I instantly fell in love and have been ever since! It was like a huge indoor yard sale! There aren’t a ton of thrift stores in the area, but my birth-mother, aunt and uncle took us around to the ones they frequent (it must be in the blood), and we found a ton of cool items!
Thrifting: Antiques & Auctions In Autumn
Instead of trolling the thrift stores as usual we’ve been busy doing some antiquing and auction shopping as of late. I wanted to show you guys a couple of the really cool things we bought, if you’d like a closer view, simply click on the images to enlarge them.
We actually found this watercolor in an antique shop UNDER a pile of rusted metal light fixtures. I managed to pick it up for $20. I just LOVED something about it. It’s a depiction of a cavalryman of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (possibly the Lancers of the Vistula Legion) during the Napoleonic war. Of course the painting isn’t that old, it’s actually from the 60?s I believe. I cleaned it; we bought the lovely silver leaf and linen frame from the Goodwill for $4. The blue linen pattern acid free mat was custom cut for the piece and cost $12. Total cost $36!
I researched the artist who is S. Pajackowski. He was born in 1900, but I can’t find any information on when he died. The few paintings of his that I was able to find online sell for about $350-$400, so not bad for under $40!
This unfinished painting is on the BACK of our painting. I’m not really sure what it is exactly, some sort of polish procession I guess. They appear to have been part of a book at one time and were since removed.
It’s hard to say that one or the other of this group is my favorite; all three items in this post are great! But I really LOVE this vintage pram. This is in such awesome condition that I honestly don’t think that this was ever used with a child. There are no rips or wear marks on it anywhere, no staining, it has all of the original parts including the cloth covered mattress and the mosquito net. When I saw the Perego Confiori stroller in forest green and white, I HAD to have it. The auction house sold it as a buggy pram (the two photos below) and a car seat that was out of date. Once I got home and could really look at it, we figured out that it wasn’t a car seat at all (Loving Husband figured it wasn’t from the get-go). What they were calling a car seat is actually the seat for the summer stroller configuration (the two photos above). The hood over the bassinet collapses, the little window on the apron snaps up or down and the entire apron can be removed if you want the pram open. You can remove the bassinet and replace it with the stroller seat. This seat can be adjusted into several different reclining positions, the surrey top can be attached, there is a bracket that can be flipped up and that holds the mosquito net off the baby’s head. It also came with a matching cover that would go over the top of the stroller to cover the baby for sleeping.
I know what you are thinking… We don’t have a baby! True, true, but I figured that it was well worth the $100 price tag, because if we DO have a baby (we are trying) I couldn’t get a new stroller half this awesome for $100. This thing is in such good condition, it’s like old-new stock and we love vintage, so it is perfect for us, it’s even LH’s favorite color! If we don’t have a baby, at least I have an interesting piece to use when staging photos of the baby items I make. Also, I could sell it online. Less mint versions of the same buggy have been going in the $300 range on eBay (even with $50+ shipping) and most of them only have one set of the parts, either the stroller or the bassinet and none of the accessory parts! I feel like it was a hell of a deal even though it was way more than I would normally consider spending. Something about it just called out to me!
This (above) is the reason why we went to the auction in the first place! It is a handmade vintage/antique pattern case! It is solid wood, all brass pulls and glass in the windows with 2 replacement pieces included. I had been storing my vintage pattern collection in Rubbermaid storage drawers which were becoming stressed under the weight. I don’t have to worry about that anymore with this; now I have plenty of room for all of my patterns to be spread out into their categories and then put into separate drawers by size range and even one left over for other stuff! The drawers aren’t completely full, so I have room to grow! It’s 21 inches deep, so that’s a lot of drawer space! This one set me back $80, which I don’t think was too bad for a handmade item like this. It seems like anything with more than 6 drawers in it sells for WAY more than I’m willing to pay. All of the little apothecary chests, old safety deposit boxes, seed chests, etc, etc; they all START at about $300. Taking that into consideration, I felt lucky to get my hands on this one for a relative pittance. The only bad thing about it is that Loving Husband tore his abdominal muscle while moving it into the house and has been out of work and on Vicodin for a week. It really isn’t THAT heavy, but it’s very awkward and he should have let me help him when I offered. Hopefully he will be well again soon, but the medics said 6-8 weeks.
Thrifting: Memphis
During our two weeks in Memphis we did a decent amount of thrifting. Usually the thrift stores are one of the first places that we hit when we spend any amount of time in a new city. We also found some good yard sales and a couple of estate sales. I’d never been to an estate sale before this trip, but now I’ll be on the lookout for more!! You guys know that I always come home with a trunk full of books no matter where I go, I just can’t help myself! This trip was no exception. I do have to say, that for a state that is stereotyped as being full of uneducated hillbillies, I came across a more “sophisticated” level of literature in the Memphis thrift stores than I have anywhere except the Bloomington, IN GW that is right next door to IU. Most of the books shown here came from thrift stores and a couple came from Burke’s Books, but were so cheap that I had to list them here. If they came from anywhere else, it is noted. I really had some luck with patterns and sewing supplies this time around which is rarely the case when thrifting. Maybe part of it was the antique stores I visited or maybe people in Memphis don’t like sewing as much as they seem to have everywhere else we have been! The patterns were even cheap! There are only 3 patterns that I paid $2 each for. Forty-five of the patterns came in a single box for $10, 12 of them were purchased 3-for-$1 at an antique store, about 10 came in a single bag from a yard sale for $3 and the rest were approx 35 cents give or take a nickel. Not bad for some really cool old patterns in decent shape, almost all of them were complete and some even uncut!
Thrifting: Greatest Furry Find
Over the years I’ve collected little pieces of vintage fur here and there; collars, cuffs, etc. I don’t like faux fur; it feels rough like a carpet. I’ve found some pretty impressive pieces, but nothing like the latest! A few weeks ago at a thrift store I saw that they had several fur jackets hung way up on the wall. They were all rabbit and all over $100, so I figured oh well, nothing fab this time and went to stand in line to check out. Loving Husband pointed out a HUGE brown coat on their “faux fur” rack for $18. I went over and looked at it and recognized it right away as sheared beaver. I have a shaved mink collar and it feels and looks very similar, so no rug against my neck feeling from this one! I examined the coat a little closer… it was vintage, from Marshall Fields; I’d give it 1950?s. Not only was it cheap, vintage and real, it was PLUS SIZED! I have a hard time finding ANY coats in plus sizes, let alone a fur. The size isn’t marked but I’d say a 24-28 depending on how you like it to fit. It’s in mint condition other than needing a good cleaning. I don’t think the past owner wore it very often. Just to double check I looked between the liner and the outside of the coat and it is definitely fur. We bought it and brought it home! So for $18, I now own a full length vintage beaver coat! How glamorous my model looks in it!!
Thrifting: Feb & March 2010
The early spring is never a good time for thrifting for me it would seem, but I did manage to scrounge up a few items here and there to add to my piles. Most of what I brought home was were books.
