French Parlor #6- My sewing Closet

I've shown you plenty of pictures of my French inspired parlor. But I have yet to show you my sewing closet! Most closets aren't much to get excited about. I mean, I love my dresses and shoes, but I share my clothes closet with the hubby and let's just say- it ain't purty. But this closet is different. Oddly enough, it was actually the birth place of my parlor, because this is where the air condition leak happened that started the whoooole thing.

When my middle son, Seth, got married and moved out, his room was mainly empty, except for the treasures that we had let the boys leave in this closet for safe keeping. Oh, how those words came back to haunt me! The hubby and I were at odds over what to do with the room. His first desire was to make it into an entertainment room with a giant sofa and giant TV. Both of which we already have in the living room, and no one watched or sat in there but him. Et voila, he already had his entertainment room! Then it was on to an exercise room. But honestly, when I could prove to him that he had not used the tread mill he got in the last two years, there was really no reason to have a whole room for it to collect dust in. But, Dear Reader, the room sat there with the door closed for over a year. Then the smell happened...it was just a musty, off smell. He blamed an old mural I had propped against the wall. I blamed his secondhand treadmill. By the time we realized it was an air conditioning leak in the closet, it had ruined almost all the boys treasures, even the antique trunks that contained them! One tiny drop of water at a time...( yes, I cried as I spent hours trying to salvage every single thing I could) So, the picture above is with the carpet ripped out and it just sitting there sadly. That is, until I just announced it was going to be my parlor, and I began painting it. Luckily, the hubby didn't even fuss. Probably because there was no way he was going to scrub mold and repaint the whole room. Yay for me!

That was January 2020 when I began. Heaps of works later and you can see pictures of how far it's come by typing in French Parlor on my blog and seeing what comes up. But the closet was the last to be done. After scrubbing the mold repeatedly with bleach, then painting 7 layers of white Kilz paint, it was ready to be made into something grand. My Grandma Tommy used to say you could change the world with a can of paint. She was right, of course. Just look at the difference from above to below.

Such a lovely clean white palette to start fresh with, and I love how it is framed by the grey trim. I had been thinking about what to do with it for a whole year. And what I had realized was that I wanted a sewing nook. The one I had was in the corner of the guest bedroom. The modern machine looked out of place, and there was always a clutter of fabric and supplies. Just to test out my budding idea, I sat the little sewing table I had cut down into the closet. It fit perfectly, with room to access things on either side, and a little chair would even tuck right in. And that is how it became my sewing closet!

 

These are the first thing to go in. I went slowly, because I didn't want it to become a repository for just anything needing to be stored. I wanted to know exactly what was in there, and where. (If you know me, that is NOT the case with other closets) If you look at the very blurry photo below, you will see that the left-hand side is devoted to SCIENCE, bwahaha! (evil scientist laughter) I teach Biology to home school students and have had a hard time corralling all the experiments, lab equipment, microscopes, and resources. Look at this! It's all so handy and perfect; it just makes me want to do a happy dance. And that great wooden file cabinet? $10 from a Habitat for Humanity store. (back when I actually went places...lip quiver) I have always wanted a place to file all my snippets and papers I save. It sounds ridiculous in this electronic age, but I've been tearing photos and articles from magazine for 20+ years. And I actually use them all the time to show to my students, or to refer to information. The fact that I now have them all filed in their own little folders, where I can find them at a moment's notice- well, it makes me want to squeal like a little girl. A mad-scientist snake-handling little girl, but whatever.

There was already a clothes bar in the closet, and I had always wanted somewhere to hang my very favorite aprons so I wouldn't have to dig through a drawer and then pull them out wrinkled. Now I enjoy them every time I open the doors. Right beside them, and closest to the sewing machine, is my never ending row of vintage that needs repair or altering.

Just showin' off one of my favs-

And on the right-hand side is part of my sewing stash. I have been blessed to get all the sewing materials: tools, thread, snaps, elastic, zippers. etc, from Duane's grandma, and both of mine as well. I have entire cubbies of nothing but vintage rickrack (that's the second container from the top ;), others filled with silk thread on wooden spools (bottom). I have been so spoiled with these treasure that when I actually had to buy a certain size zipper for a pattern I almost passed out at the price. Sewing stuff is expensive!

These are just the items that I would actually use to sew with. All the antique (versus vintage) sewing notions, handmade lace, and antique buttons are in the guest room closet.

Part of what I love about the vintage stuff is the advertising on them. Snaps, buttons, elastic- they all used to have great graphics.

The Starsnap are from the 20's-30's, the elastic is 40's. The black hooks right beside that are turn of the century.

Tons of the buttons are still on the original cards. It makes it very hard for me to use them. So much guilt!

And the bottom drawer is filled with old guides to potholders, crochet, knitting, tatting, just about anything you can think of.

Here are two huge books on handiwork. One from the 1920's, the other from 1946, the year before my Pop was born. And they don't just have items to wear, but things for the home. It's so fun to see what the style was for houses during those times. I'd love it all!

And here is what is sitting by my sewing machine. A vintage 40's pattern that ladies used to get through the mail. I have all the pieces cut out and ready to be sewn. And they have been that way since last spring. Sigh.

These little 1920-30's booklets are some of  my favorites. I adore bias tape, and these show pages of ways to use it to embellish everything from curtains to your child's gowns. And the one to the far right is an envelope of transfer patterns. did you ever do those as a child? You use an iron to make the design on fabric, then you stitch it, and you are just pleased as punch with yourself when you finish! This pattern is one I want to try. It is almost identical to a 20's tablecloth that I own, and I love this style of embroidery. Remember the apron I was holding out, above, with the red poppy? Same time period. So this is also on my "someday" sewing list.

And last is a photo of how it looks now. I hung a vintage shelf that used to be in the bathroom to hold tins of thread, and a collection of old pincushions- things I need to be in easy reach as I sew. And the light is a plug-in affair that I found at Goodwill years ago and put back with no idea where i would use it. It is exactly what I needed for beside my machine, as the top shelf blocks the light from the bulb in the ceiling.

The piece of cork is just thumb tacked to the wall. It’s my inspiration board, filled with my most loved sewing tidbits. And isn't the little chicken pin holder sweet? She has a little spot in front to hold a thimble.

Speaking of the top shelf...

It has metal milk crates and fabric covered boxes filled with my most favorite fabrics. (All the rest is in the attic in giant totes. Shhh, don't tell my hubby! I've always said, if you ever hear that I died in a freak accident, it is probably that the roof caved in with the weight of my illicit fabric stash!) The little suitcases hold antique linens that I have sorted out of my collections, especially for use in my parlor. And there you have it, Dear Reader, from accident and disaster to a thing of beauty and efficiency! And now I need to show you how it all tucks away like a sweet little secret...

Some of you remember me asking which of my antique drawer-pull plates you thought would be best to accent my doors. Well, I finally decided. But, hello Covid, and so I couldn't just go looking for the perfect knobs to use as pulls. I dug through everything I had, and the only ones with a metal shank long enough to go through the door and be able to screw tight, were a pair of pottery ones that were painted with a blue delft pattern. I whipped out the gold spray paint (spray paint is fantastic! You may recall I even sprayed my 1930's Waterfall desk, see HERE). I sprayed them, and astoundingly, the color matched the antique patina of my brass plates perfectly. So now can open the doors without reaching through the crack at the top and yanking the fold in the doors forward, pinching my fingers in the meantime. It's only right that a pretty closet would have a pretty cover-up, and now my doors are done!

My parlor is almost complete now. I am just needing my two beautiful carved chairs finished (see HERE). I have one in the dining room right now, and have been re-glueing loose carvings. Who knows, maybe I will have them done, and my room finished by January. Then it will have taken me a full year to bring the room together. It may be even longer than that before I can have friends and family in to celebrate, but I am certain it will be joyous when that time comes! But through all this time, Dear Readers, YOU have been my very special guests💗