As part of my home improvement focus these days, along with my always-important focus on doing projects in a budget-friendly way, I've been trying to look at the things I own with fresh eyes and think creatively about repurposing. And as a collector of vintage linens (but only really cute ones on the cheap, or heirlooms from my family) they are an easy thing I always like to repurpose. So last weekend, I decided to tackle two of my throw pillows. Originally, I had purchased the throws from Pier 1 but they were looking a bit ragged and I wasn't sure they had long-term potential. So I took the covers off, stowed them with old fabric, and decided to recycle the pillow forms.
For new covers, I went through my old fabrics and my linen closet. I was so excited to rediscover two old cloth napkins from my grandmother's estate- they are made with gorgeous, quality linen and have pretty cutouts and embroidery. I had a pair, but I definitely wouldn't ever use them for dinner because I only use cloth napkins for company and two isn't enough for a dinner party. Moreover, I would hate to stain such pretty pieces with pedestrian dinner food. And with that inspiration was born!
Next, I went through my fabrics, and located some old green linen curtains which I had custom-made myself for an oddly shaped window when I lived in NYC- and no longer use. I decided they would be perfect paired with the linen napkins. Using the old pillow cases as my guide, I made a pattern, cut the fabrics and then quickly stitched the seams on my sewing machine. I think they work great with our summer quilt (a sale splurge from Anthropologie, my reward to self when I got a bonus this year).
Ok so back to weddings... vintage linens are so versatile- they really can be used all over the place for weddings. Here, I used vintage napkins but vintage hankies are also great to work with. Of course everyone has seen those gorgeous examples of hankies-turned-invites like these:
Or you could wrap a bouquet with vintage linen- I did so with my grandmother's hankerchief but fabric from an old wedding gown, or anything else meaningful would be a nice touch!
And of course one of my personal favorites, the hankie-turned-ring pillow! I just love this one from AK Collections on Etsy!
Or even vintage fabric bunting hung for a festive touch.
Anyone else have any good ideas for incorporating vintage linens into wedding plans?
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