10 rainy days! At least, that’s what the weather says. Still feeling sluggish and healing, so I tackled the task of sorting out my fabric and mending and Etsy piles in the work room. Oh, my goodness. So much work, and so much inspiration just looking at all the fabric!
This 1920s dress from my sister-in-law will become part of Dori’s wedding dress.
I store everything in vintage suitcases and trunks, so I took EVERYTHING out in order to sort it by color and to sort fabric from trim from clothing. Things were still in a jumble from the move.
See? It took a very large coffee and some deep breathing to jump into the fray.
But the results were pleasing.
I found an old picnic basket to use as a “current projects” basket: the mustard silk and grey wool will become a skirt.
Trims go into one suitcase.
The wall behind my sewing machines also has many many pieces of trim & other inspirations.
Once everything was sorted, I tagged all the suitcases with a color.
So now that I’ve organized what’s IN the suitcases, I need to figure out how to stack them or store them well! Any ideas?
elly
1 month ago
i LOVE this post. not only are there beautiful textures and colors in every photo, but it depicts chaos turned to artistic order!!
you need something like this: http://images.containerstore.com/images/catalog/111104/SapiensBookcasesBoth_l.jpg
but big enough to put a suitcase on each shelf in order of largest to smallest!
verhext
1 month ago
or this:
http://thehermitage.tumblr.com/post/318024535/wildmuse-via-www-riekestudios-com
Mathyld / encore petite
1 month ago
Please please please …
Will you post an image of your “trims suitcase” content ?
I am obsessed by vintage lace trims … (as you can tell just by seeing my blog banner … ha !)
And this dress … Oh my goodness ! Pure perfection !
x x x
___mathyld___
Angeliska
1 month ago
These photographs are so beautiful! Very inspiring, Tam-
I cleaned my studio today, even though the sun was shining.
Dusted and made magic and burned wishes. Next is trim organizing,
for sure, as I have big ideas on the horizon! Time to make adornments!
Love love, heal heal.
xo,
A.
april
1 month ago
this post really makes me want to make fancy things with you!
that suitcase storage wall that you linked to in the comments is blowing my mind! you definitely need that.
'tine
1 month ago
Wow! What a burst of color and creativity!
Stella Polaris
1 month ago
The mustard silk and grey wool are a perfect match. And I love your inspiration wall: trims, feathers, rhinestones! So good.
Jeannine
1 month ago
lovely lovely lovely!
nath
1 month ago
so many beautiful things. the textures! the colours! the details! heavenly. i love to turn chaos into lovely order. i am on a similar mission in my house. sifting and sorting, giving away and rediscovering. it’s very gratifying.
jennifer
1 month ago
wow that’s a lot of vintage and a lot of suitcases! haha. it’s all so pretty.
the flat edged suitcases can be neatly stacked on each other and used as sort of stands for things. the rounded ones might be best stowed away under beds since they don’t stack as well.
jamie g.
1 month ago
i have several vintage suitcases that i wanted to use for storage, but they all smell musty. do you have any tips for making the odors vanish, or do you just have good vintage suitcase luck?
verhext
1 month ago
Mostly I just sniff them in the thrift shops, which I have actually felt gross doing in public, but whatever. The ones that are just a touch musty: some sort of odor enzyme spray, baking soda, and a day open in the sun in hot dry weather!
Arielle
1 month ago
Oh my word I just want all the suitcases! I’ve got a thing for old valises (especially round ones). I just turned a vintage sailboat-blue Samsonite into a bed for my cat; it’s beautiful, but it half broke my heart to unscrew the hinges!
Nubby
3 weeks ago
Your photos lately are so good! Totally dreamy. And I love how you didn’t just run out and buy a bunch of shelving units to organize everything but instead used what you already had.
Kristin
2 weeks ago
Wow, what a cool site. Luv it.
verhext
2 weeks ago
Thank you!