Vintage Patchwork Curtain

Mollie Makes Magazine

Mollie Makes is my favorite magazine right now. It’s a British publication, but you can either subscribe (it’s my annual birthday present from my husband) or pick it up at Barnes & Noble. It’s not shown above, but it always comes with a little gift like a crafting kit or a spool of ribbon, it’s adorable. It has lots of crafting how-to articles, and highlights artists and stores both in Europe and America. I love it.

Anyway, in one of the issues this summer they showed an idea for making a patchwork curtain out of vintage handkerchiefs and napkins. I tried to find that image (I gave the magazine away) but I can’t find it, so sorry for that. The image energized me to make one for my studio.

Inspired by my husband’s aunt Crystal and her craftiness, I’ve collected quite a few vintage hankies, tea towels and napkins with the intention of turning them into pillows. Crystal makes these beautiful patchwork pillows out of vintage pieces and they’re so pretty. However, since my husband and daughter can’t deal with texture (don’t ask) I never attempted to make any. (I also noticed that some of my pieces were a little stained, which when you consider they’re hankies, is kind of gross and who wants to rest their head on that?) So I had a collection, but nothing to do with them. Then Mollie Makes gave me a new idea.

First of all, forgive me for the quality of the photos. I have photoshopped the crap out of these images. Taking photos of windows still has me baffled.

Anyway, this is the curtain I made from my collection. Making this up are tea towels, napkins, handkerchiefs and pillow case edging, all vintage. It’s nice because even though I mounted it all on a lining of sheet fabric, it’s still transparent enough to let the light in, but protects me from the searing afternoon sun that hits my window every day. I am not complaining about the sun in San Diego……it’s perfect compared to everywhere else in the world………I’m just trying to minimize the skin damage.

This is what they look like when they’re tied back. Again…adorable. I don’t know why, but they remind me of curtains in old Airstream campers. So cute.

I made tie backs out of embroidered napkins……..also……..adorable. I love them. I used up my entire collection, which fits the Destashio mission statement, so I feel pretty good about it. It didn’t cost anything, except time and backache from hunching over it while I pieced it together on my floor (no table big enough). So that’s another plus.

Well, that’s what I made last week. It was a bit of a brain teaser, but I love the results. Thanks, Mollie Makes!