Upcycled Fabric and Vintage Doily Dress

Vintage doilies are so pretty, but not particularly useful. People don’t really decorate with doilies any more. Which means that you can usually find them at thrift stores and estate sales for not that much money. Whenever I see them there I get sad thinking about how much work went into that doily, only to have it sitting at a thrift store. Heather from Heather Handmade created a gorgeous dress out of her late grandmother’s doilies plus some thrifted fabric. Click here to see her thrifted fabric and vintage doily dress. You’ll be amazed!

And if you want to make a dress like this of your own, her post includes how she made the dress. When you’re working with thrifted fabric and vintage doilies, every project will be different based on the size/shape of the pieces you’re working with. But her post includes detailed information about her process, as well as tips and tricks you can use when making your own doily dress.

If you’re looking for other cool things you can make from vintage doilies, here are some more ideas:

Make a beautiful tablerunner from your vintage doilies. Sadie Seasongoods has a tutorial showing how. The shapes and colors of the doilies are so pretty as a tablerunner! You can make your tablerunner as large or small as you like, depending on the number of doilies you have to work with.

Turn them into wall art! Mod Podge Rocks shows how you can create wall art with that pairs a vintage doily with bright colors and patterned paper. It’s a fun mix of vintage and modern that would be at home in an eclectic décor.

These doily sachets are a great way to use doilies that are damaged. The sachets only use small pieces of a doily so even those doilies that are too damaged for other repurposing projects could be used to make these sachets. Go to NordicCrafter for the tutorial.

[photo credit: Heather Handmade]

Next Pattern:

It doesn’t matter whether you sew by hand or by machine, you need a pincushion. You need a spot to parks pins and needles and keep them within easy reach for when you need them again. There are a lot of styles of pincushion to choose from. Some magnetic, some fabric. Some cute, some purely functional. This “little bit extra” pincushion has a spot to store all the different types of pins and needles you might need while sewing. Polka Dot Chair has a free sewing pattern you can use to make one for yourself.

This handy little pincushion has a circular shape and is divided into sections to store different types of pins. The bottom section is for your regular straight pins. Just poke them in and they’re ready for when you need them. The top has one section with a felt flap perfect for holding your sewing needles. I don’t know about you but I don’t like mixing my hand sewing needles in with my pins on a pincushion. It makes it hard to find the needle when I want it. So having a separate section for the needles is a great idea.

This “little bit extra” pincushion also has a spot to hold a few fabric clips. Fabric clips have become popular alternatives to a traditional straight pin. They hold fabric pieces together without piercing the fabric, which is important when sewing leather, vinyl, or other materials that will show permanent holes from pins.

You can sew the “little bit extra” pincushion from large fabric scraps or small fabric cuts (fat eighth). You probably already have all the supplies you need to sew one in your sewing supplies already.

Get the free pattern for this “little bit extra” pincushion over at Polka Dot Chair.

[photo credit: Polka Dot Chair]

Next Pattern:

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