May Fabric Preview

We spent Cinco de Mayo thrift store hopping for fun new fabrics for the end of spring. Here are a couple previews of what you can expect to see in our shop.

This is a fun vintage floral cotton in bright orange, mint green and lavender, paired with a remnant of lavender polka dot cotton.

Another great vintage print, forest green with white, red and yellow tulips paired with up-cycled royal blue and navy cotton.

Portland Iron Chef Apron: Put A Bird On It

We recently were invited, through the Pacific Northwest Artisans Team on Etsy, to participate in a silent auction in Portland, OR. The auction will be held at the 11th Annual Portland's Original Iron Chef event, benefiting Children's Relief Nursery. We were drawn to this event initially because, being from Oregon, we like to give back to our home state. But also, how perfect an opportunity to give an apron up for auction at a cooking event!

All of the fabric used on this apron is up-cycled, with the exception of the heat resistant batting used in the potholders. We wanted to keep the design simple and size-friendly, but we still wanted to add a touch of personality. For this we were inspired by a skit from the show Portlandia, where a couple take over an entire shop in Portland putting birds on everything. We finished off the theme by making the potholders egg shaped.

The event is Friday April, 20th and we can't wait to hopefully see some pictures of the event and maybe even hear from the winner of our apron. Did you see that apron before? I didn't. Now it has a bird on it!

Spring Fling Fabric Preview

It's been a while since we showed off any of the awesome fabrics in our stash (which is waay to big at the moment), so while were were picking out things we want to use for spring time we took some pictures to share.

We just found these floral vintage linens at the Goodwill in Monroe the other day and fell in love with them. We happened to have the perfect green in stock, also up-cycled from linens.

We've been holding onto this adorable bunny print until it got closer to Easter time.

Of course we couldn't do spring without a bunch of beautiful floral prints, this one has a gorgeous deep red that matched a maroon linen we had left over from a custom order.

This is a piece of vintage fabric that was a gift from a friend. I love these vintage floral prints that are so delicate and the combination of yellow, black and blue is very unique.

Lastly this find was so awesome, also from our trip to the Goodwill in Monroe, we bought an entire queen sized vintage white sheet just for this floral edging. Fabric hunting is easily half the fun of running our shop, it's so hard not to keep it all for our own devices. Keep an eye out for these to show up in the shop!

Goodwill to Good Lookin': Linen Scotch Broth Recipe Dishcloth

Up until we found the linen calendar dish cloth that we made the That 70's Apron out of, I didn't really know that these linen decorative dish cloths were a pretty big thing. But they make such cool aprons that I've been keeping an eye out for them ever since. And I'll be honest, a lot of the ones I find are pretty hideous, like the one this one was paired with when I bought it (something to do with coffee), but I had to buy it to get this one, because this one is so damn cool.

I would have bought this based on colors alone, it so vibrant and fun. I went through a long punk/goth phase of fashion in high school, and my dad is very involved in genealogy (we're part Scottish), so I have a secret love for tartan plaid. And I don't know what it is about the veggies, but I love them, they're so cute.

For the process of making it into an apron, we wanted to preserve as much of the original design as possible, so any pleating or darts were out of the question. We went with a simple butcher style apron design, and added additional chartreuse linen around the skirt to make it more full.

Since we were adding this extra fabric, it was easy to do a simple pocket across the front, as I like to call it a kangaroo pocket (baby kangaroo not included). And because Cami has an obsession with ric rac, we added some around the edge of the dishcloth to give it a extra pop of color.

Plus Size Up-cycled Linen Dishcloth Apron

I love the way it turned out, and I'm glad we found a good match for our yellow linen, too, it's a very unique color but it compliments the blues and greens in this apron very well.

Goodwill to Good Lookin': Green Plaid Linens

Todays Goodwill to Good Lookin' project is one that I'm really excited about. The up-cycled item is the green plaid shown in this photo, which is a top sheet that we picked up at a thrift shop.

We picked it out originally because the colors were very crisp and there was no fading evident, which is often the deal breaker on using up-cycled linens. That and because Cami's favorite color is green. The problem was, once we got it home, nothing else we had matched it. We've had this fabric for months, and we would never remember to bring a swatch with us to the store, and it clashed with everything!

Last week when we used our awesome coupon to stock up on fabric we got this awesome leaf print. On a whim I pulled out this green plaid just to see if it

Green Plaid & Fall Leaves Apron

might match and lo and behold it did! I was pretty surprised, it was a total coincidence, but it turned out looking great.

It's really nice to bring fresh inspiration to a piece of fabric that has been sitting around forever, when you've almost given up hope that you'll ever use it. We've got a couple new man aprons in the works, too and I'm excited about those. It's definitely been too long since we had one in the shop.

Do you have a piece of fabric or other supply that has you stumped? Tell us about it!

Fall Fabric Sneak Preview

Yesterday Cami and I took a trip to the fabric store and got a killer deal stocking up for fall, thanksgiving, and of course Christmas goodies. I really love the color themes of fall and we got some very cute fabrics, and some basics to match vintage and up-cycled pieces we already had. We've got a lot of idea in mind and I'm really excited to get started bringing them to life. In the mean time, here's a little sneak peak of what you'll be seeing in our shop soon.

Up-cycled Green Plaid Linens and Retro Leaf Print Cotton

This leaf print is from the fabric store, and I was so thrilled when we got it back and realized that it matched these green plaid linens. We've had them sitting in our stores for quite a while now, and I was convinced we'd never find something that matched.

Vintage Turkey Trim, Cotton Leaf Print, and Burnt Orange Linen

We were given this awesome vintage turkey and pumpkin trim from our grandma last spring when we visited our family down in Florida, and I have been waiting to use it ever since.

Green Wrench Print and Black Canvas

I don't know if this really fits into fall themes, but I love this print and I think when it's finished it would made a good Christmas present.

Retro Leaf Print, Burnt Orange and Mustard Linen

We've had that mustard yellow linen hanging out for a while, too, like the green plaid, it just isn't easy to match. But if any season is perfect for mustard, it's fall and I love this combo of yellow, orange and the leaf print.

Keep an eye out in the Seasonal section of our shop for fall aprons, and you can still find out Halloween aprons there as well.

Goodwill to Good Lookin': 1970's Floral Napkins

I'm going to be honest here and admit that, between the two of us, Cami is most certainly the master of the sewing machine while I am more proficient with the serger. So it is with pride that I present our latest Goodwill to Good Lookin' project during which I conquered my fear of sewing.

This apron started out with a set of twelve of these beyond awesomely retro napkins that we found at Goodwill. The colors are so fun, a classic 70's palette, but still so bright! It's hard to find vintage linens that aren't faded beyond recognition, but these were in perfect condition. And they were ideal for our Camilla aprons, which feature a three handkerchief design.

The most challenging part for me was getting the decorative stitch settings of the sewing machine to put on fabric what I had imagined, and seen Cami do without a second though so many times. After sewing many a line on my sample scraps I finally got it just right. I used a tight zig-zag to stitch the napkins together and form the pockets, and finished it off with a cute vine stitch at the waist band.

The finished product in our shop.

After quite a bit of frustration, and maybe some cursing, the apron came out looking adorable. I have a special place in my heart for this color scheme, (blame it on our old kitchen growing up: dark cabinets, orange counters, orange floor) something about the orange and yellow and chocolate brown just draw me in. You can view the listing for this apron in our shop here.

Up-Cycling Treasuries + Giveaway Winner!

This week has been a little slow aside from hosting our first giveaway, but you can look forward to pictures of some awesome new vintage look this weekend. And we might even have *gasp* a new apron! (I know it's been a shamefully long time since we had one of those.)

For starters I wanted to share a couple of really cool Up-cyclers Team treasuries that we were featured in this week, and then we'll get on to announcing the giveaway winner! Oooh exciting! The first one I love just because it's called "Up!' which is one of my favorite movies.

The second collection more than lives up to it's title of "Ingenious Stuff" with some really unique and creative up-cycled products like a set of garden tool up-cycled from old ski poles, how neat!

Finally, I'm happy to announce that the winner of our Apron Giveaway is Jenny who runs the shop A Bird In the Hand Art. Jenny is the winner of the lovely Build Me Up, Buttercup apron! Congratulations!

Organization Ideas and a Giveaway!

I'm not proud to admit it but the sewing room is still not organized very well (read: at all), but I'm finally getting an idea of how to go about getting it in shape. One of our biggest problems before moving was the way we were storing our go-to tools, the things we use the most often. We just had them all jumbled in a gallon Ziploc bag and we could never find anything.

Source: www.bhg.com

For our really frequently used tools I want to get a nice big pegboard. The options with pegboard are really open, you can use different hooks, supports for dowels to put ribbon on and even hanging boxes for small items.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/organizing/organizing-craft-room

I've also decided that I definitely need to make use of the hanging mason jar idea, mostly just because it looks awesome. It would go great with Cami's obsessive button collection.

But I digress, the other reason I'm posting is that Drapes Of Wrath is hosting our very first Apron Giveaway! The blogs been a little quiet lately, and we haven't made a new apron aside from custom orders since we moved. I figure you all deserve a treat for bearing with us.

We're giving away the Build Me Up Buttercup apron! This apron is up-cycled from vintage curtains, the ruffles are cute and fun, perfect for summer. It even has a hidden pocket in the top ruffle line. It has a teal blue floral print waistband with a finishing touch of matching ribbon bows.

We will announce the winner next Friday, August 12th. See how you can enter below!

Weekly Vintage Loot + Mystery Awesomeness

Since we've opened up the Behind the Drapes vintage shop I'm going to start posting each week about the cool vintage treasures we've found for our shop.

1960s Domestic Buttonhole Worker

I think this is my favorite piece this week because it really has character. Growing up with my mom's singer treadle machine, a vintage electric Bernina and all the accessories for both I developed a true fascination with sewing machine parts they amazed me as a child and they still do now.

1970's Ceramic Goblets with Wood Stems

This set of 70's goblets really drew my eye because of their lovely glaze, they match but each is so unique. Cami and our mom both have a love of pottery, and the part that I enjoyed the most was the glazing. The process of glazing is like a fantastically planned surprise, the glaze may have an anticipated color but you can never know for sure how it will turn out until it comes out of the kiln.

Leo Constellation Shirt

Speaking of surprises, I just rediscovered my favorite tee-shirt shop: isotope. They have the coolest screen printed tee-shirts on the interwebs. I really like this shirt, especially because I'm a Leo, but it would be impossible for me to choose just one favorite. Which brings me to the best part about their shop: you can purchase a Mystery Tee-shirt Grab Bag in any size and they'll send you 3 or 5 random tees at a discounted price. I don't know about you, but to me paying less for a mystery surprise sounds like a steal.

Maybe I'll get a Leo shirt in my grab bag... I'll keep you posted. I'll also be posting soon about our latest brainchild, the Up-cycling Challenge Apron.

True Vintage Inspiration

In my recent post about our forays into goth fashion and terry cloth experiments I mentioned that we had received a wonderful gift of vintage fabric. This came from a friend of Cami's who inherited the fabric from her grandmother and thought we would make good use of it. There were definitely some awesome pieces in there and we finally got around to taking some pictures to share with you all.

This stack is some awesome floral prints, my personal favorites are the tiny prints. They are so bright and colorful. Perfect for a pop of color for the waistband and straps of an apron.

Cami's selections were, of course, the green fabrics. The floral shown is simply gorgeous with a painted look about it, bright greens and yellows with screen printed crisp white accents.

This batch reminds me of a vintage kitchen, lemon yellows and bright primary colors. The yellow apple print is especially cute.

We aren't sure how "vintage" this last one is but we couldn't pass it up! It's an awesome collection of animals from these birds, to piranha looking fish, cows, and some we're not quite sure about.

Which fabric is your favorite? What style of apron would you like to see it on?

Our Latest Projects: Practical and Punk Rock

Since the craft fair we've been working a few new exciting things for our shop. The first of these was inspired by a custom order request we received for a goth style apron. We'd considered making them before but weren't sure how much of a market there would be. It has definitely been one of the most fun aprons we've made, Cami and myself having both gone through goth phases ourselves. The end result was this awesome piece which seems like it should be worn by a horror movie butcher villain or mad scientist.

Zipper Doo Dah Custom Apron

On the more practical side of things we also rekindled another idea we had been sitting on for a while. We had been meaning to make some aprons with terry cloth skirts, for the messier cooks out there (I know I always need a place to wipe my hands), and finally we stumbled upon a copious stack of terry cloth at the fabric store, on display. It just screamed to us "Use me for aprons!" So we snatched up a large piece of red terry cloth, knowing full well what we would pair it with and so was born the lovechild of ingenious practicality and irresistible vintage style:

 

Up-cycled Strawberry Terrycloth Apron

We crafted this awesome apron from vintage applique quilting squares our grandma gave us on our recent visit to Florida, the vibrant red terry cloth, and some authentic vintage green polka dot fabric that was given to us in a treasure trove of vintage fabric.

I had to try pretty hard to talk myself out of keeping this one...

And when I saw authentic vintage I mean it, no joke, that fabric had a frail paper yardage tag stapled to it with the notes written in pencil marking it at 99¢ a yard. I'll have pictures of all that fabric and some of the things we've used it for so far in our next post.

Sewing Under the Influence

We've been working overtime the last couple weeks to prepare for the Maple Valley Craft Bazaar, getting everything planned out and bulking up our stock. This weekend it was especially nice weather so we decided we might as well have fruity summer drinks even if we aren't outside enjoying the sun.

I'm getting ready to go run some more errands for the show so in the mean time here are a couple treasuries we've been featured in. Tomorrow I'll be posting some items from other artists that will be attending the bazaar.

The frst treasury is from our friend Jenna from Jenna's Red Rhino, who is so kindly lending us her two dress forms for the bazaar this weekend so we can better display our work. Thanks Jenna!



The other treasury is from one of our fellow Upcyclers, SpiritJug, a husband and wife team from Omaha, Nebraska who sell up-cycled accessories.

Accessories in our Genes

We're back! Actually we've been back... since last Saturday... but it's been busy and you know how it goes. But now that the dust has settled again, I have some time to write a little about our trip. Cami and I went on a mini vacation last week with our mom to Florida to visit our aunt and grandparents. It was a pretty mellow trip filled with lots of family time, afternoon naps and swimming to cool off. Okay fine, maybe it was only in the high 70's, but come on, we're from the Northwest, that's like a 30 degree jump! Needless to say we spent as much time as possible enjoying the air conditioning.

Family Portrait: (from left to right) Mom, Grandma, Mandy, Aunt, Grandpa, Cami

As long as I can remember, one of the most fun things to do when visiting our grandparents is rummaging through my grandma's sewing room. This is of course the grandma we named our line of Camilla aprons after, which she found very touching.

Grandma's Sewing To-Do Pile

 As you can see her age is certainly not holding back her sewing ambitions, also evidenced by the wall and a half of hats she's made.

My personal favorite is the top right, complete with netting and butterflies.

Since she is obviously not at a loss for fabric she let us look through her collection of the some of the fabric that gotten lost as the years went by. One of the items we found were these awesome vintage applique squares.

Kermit approves!

We, of course, had to turn these babies into an apron. Combines with some other vintage red and white star print we came up with this awesome new addition to our shop.

Up-cycled Strawberry Shortcake II Apron

So.. I'm glad to be back and I apologize for the hiatus. Keep an eye out for new aprons as we prepare for the Bazaar at Maple Valley Community Center on May 1st. Yikes! Only a week away!