Make DO and Mend Curtains ... no sewing, in under half an hour

I got a little bored the other evening and decided that my office window need a bit of a make over and I didn't have the time, money or inclination to go to Ikea.

So I decided to see what I could find at home to do the job. I do have form in this area, we have duvet covers at our lounge window and my daughters room has a two antique quilts for curtains.

Anyway, I found a 1960s quilt style bed cover, which was pretty worn in places, but still has loads of the ever-lovely vintage charm.  I cut the quilt cover in half, length-ways and threaded the short sides on to some net curtain wire, having made a small hole in the quilt lining on the uncut sides for the curtain wire loops. I found that by hanging the curtains with the cut sides to the outer edge of the window, you cannot see them, thus totally avoiding any sewing. So one Sixties quilt, some net curtain wire and 25 mins later and hey-presto here's my 'new' curtains.

 

 

6 Ways to Spot if Your Piece is Pressed or Cut Glass...

I’m often asked how to tell if a vintage or antique glass piece is pressed or cut glass, so I thought i’d share my tips with you.

1.       Cut glass and pressed glass are produced in different ways, so they have a different, look, feel and quality.

2.       Pressed glass is a much quicker and cheaper manufacturing process, so pieces often have quite a lot of small bubbles in them.

3.       Many pieces of pressed glass have ‘seams’  as they are made in sections and then put together, so look for the seam or joins, it’s often more obvious on the underside of a piece or an area without patterning.

4.       Both pressed and cut glass items can have really ornate designs on them, but, the feel of the design on a cut glass piece will be sharp around the edges, where as the texture of the design on a pressed glass piece will be quite blunt.

5.       Unless the piece is especially small and delicate, cut glass will usually feel very heavy – pressed glass will have weight to it, but, not feel as heavy.

6.       If coloured, cut glass will often feature a sharp contrast between the surface colour and the clear glass showing in the cut.
 

I hope this helps and if you fancy a look at some of our lovely antique or vintage glass then visit our vintage shop and do a quick search for glass - we've got lots and lots - from jewellery to kitchenware!
We also have a couple of articles about the history of glass and how to identify glass bottles

Enjoy

Sarah

 

Spring is in the Air and i'm making do and mending...

As the Spring has arrived and the light changes, I start to notice all the odd and ends that need seeing to in my home, and I alway feel a little discontented, a bit like Mole (Wind in the Willows), so as an antidote I like to make and improve things a bit. Funds are in short supply and it is much more rewarding to make something rather than visit shops full of the same things, so I've embarked on a make do and mend home improvement schedule, which includes a lot of recycling and up-cycling old, antique, retro and vintage items.

Thus far i've made and hung a 'new' pair of curtains for the office, from a Sixties quilt. The poor office rarely gets much attention, so this is a much needed improvement.

I made vintage ribbon and crystal blind pulls for our Velux windows - I couldn't reach them before, so much better.

I wanted a new bed, our bedframe is a really old Ikea one and was looking well past its best, although it's structurally sound, so I decided to make a headboard from a pair of cupboard doors that have been living in my garden for the last 4 years.

More to come.....

Upcycled Crystal Blind & Light Pulls ....

In my travels I come across all kinds of beautiful antique and vintage bits and bobs, that I take home thinking happily to myself .....'i'll find a use for that, it's so pretty'.
Anyway I have finally found an actual USE for some of my bits and bobs! 
Being a little short in the leg I cann't really reach the Velux blind pulls in my bedroom and the bathroom string light pulls often provide tha same problem too - so i decided to make a blind pull.

I used a piece of 1930's Grograin ribbon and a very pretty antique Victorian crystal droplet that would have originally been on a chandelier to make mine.
If you can't find a crystal droplet, then you could string old beads onto a wire and tie them on to your light pull or attach them to your blind with some pretty ribbon.

At our vintage shop we've got lots of lovely odds and ends for you to make your own vintage home improvements with!