I cannot count my day complete
'Til needle, thread and fabric meet.
~Author Unknown

Sharing a common thread with those who love the art of hand embroidery

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

I often find vintage pillowcase sets

with lovely hand embroidery and drawn thread work on them...........but many of them are either heavily stained.......or have tears and holes.
Because of this, they are usually not looked at and not wanted.
So I am thrilled to find them. I take them home, soak them, wash them and decide whether they can be repaired or re-purposed.  This set came out clean and spotless, but the body of the pillowcase had too many holes.  

So I salvaged the hand embroidery and drawn thread work and then sewed them onto pretty floral print fabric and added some of my own embroidery stitches. 

I then added hand crocheted trim

and turned them into a set of pretty his and hers hand towels. 
Making them into a " something old, something new, something blue set" perfect for  the newly wed, or as a house warming gift.........or for a guest bathroom.


I found the sweetest little porcelain, hand painted tub soap dish

that matched the towels perfectly to make a sweet set.
It always goes back to a saying I remember, 
Use it up, wear it out,
make it do, or 
do without.
Do you remember that?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is perfect...been looking for his and her towels for our bath, forever. By the way, I still have that first set of pillowcases I bought way back. They still look beautiful.
blessings, jill

KathyB. said...

I love the way you recycle and repurpose embroidery in the way only someone who appreciates fine needlework can. A perfect set for gifting !

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Love this re-purpose. When I was young, I spent a lot of time ironing those cotton pillow cases. My mother did the most beautiful handwork. After she died there was a "family" situation as there often is and I don't have one piece of her stitch work. I love that you preserve what you can.
xx, Carol

Marianne said...

Absolutely wonderful! I love how you take something so worn, yet still beautiful and repurpose it. The towels are perfectly delightful, and the dish soap tub is so pretty!! I knew I should have stopped by yesterday...I would have also had the time to go by Pamela's blog, too. Maybe I can skip over quickly.

Thank you for your visit, Kathleen. I responded to your comment, as I try to do that as much as possible now. Are you experiencing storms, too? We are here. A big one last night. And it looks like it's going to be this way into next week. Have a lovely day, though, no matter the weather.

Hugs and love,
Marianne xox

lil red hen said...

Kathleen, your blog is one I'm always thrilled to see. This is certainly one of those days! What a fantastic idea! I thought you were going to use the print for the body of a new pillowcase, using the embroidered section at the bottom, but this is a wonderful way to use it. You give us such good information.

Karen said...

Very beautiful, Kathleen! You are so creative. I love the little bathtub, too!

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

I love beautiful old pillowcases, too. I just did embroidery on a new one but need to do some edging on it! I love your blog. I'm putting it in my favs! Hugs, Diane

Unknown said...

You are very cleaver to re-purpose the lovely embroidery pillow cases into towels!!! They are so cute.

letslearnembroidery said...

Wow, they're really pretty!Love the bathtub,as well

Laurie said...

What an awesome idea! I'll remember this! Beautiful work!

A Colorful World said...

Just perfect, Kathleen! I'm glad you were able to re-purpose these sweet towels and turn them into something beautiful! What a great wedding gift, as you say, for a young married couple!

Thanks for checking out my new quilt!