With All the Trimmings

Somehow I have ended up with yards, yards, and more yards of vintage trimmings from the past: rick rack, bias binding, piping, loop braid, soutache braid, and seam binding tape. Not one to throw away such goodies, I am determined to use them in my craft-making as much as possible. My latest book obsession is WEE WONDERFULS by Hillary Lang and these trim-using projects were taken from her book.

Project #1: Wooden spoon puppets of Hansel and Gretel. The cream mini rick rack was used to trim out his hat and outfit, and her dress bodice.

For some reason the pair remind me of an ethnic American Gothic couple.

Project #2: Storybook Girl. She can be Little Red Riding Hood or Goldilocks. Her hair is made from yards of polyester foldover braid opened up and stitched down. The cape trim is red bias binding trim and her inner dress uses bias binding trim and foldover looped binding.

( Note the close-up of the poly braid hair.)

Project #3 Haus Sweet Haus: finally, I show you a little cottage that features brown bias binding hand-stitched to create a Tudor look for the little little gnomes I found at the thrift store.

By now, you might have noticed the large wooden dollhouse as a backdrop for the photographed trim-using projects. This is one of my best thrift store scores ever! It is going to have a complete makeover eventually for fun at Gramma's house. It's architecture is Cape Cod with 2 dormers, shutters on the windows, and much potential and the purchase price? A steal at $10.00 including furniture!

Sometimes I think it could be a crime to have this much fun at my age!