Like I said, I’m becoming a resident vintage and antiques expert at Listia. Recently I was helping identify an item listed as “Tell Me What This Is” — headlines like that will always pull me in. *wink* I immediately knew what it was, as I own several of these items myself. It’s a rug making [...]

At Bluebird Gardens, Charlotte Ekker Wiggins answers the question, “If I buy a vintage quilt top, and then quilt and finish it, does this reduce its value?” And I just love how she answers: If you are asking if a quilt’s appraised value will change; yes, it will. In general, the appraised value of a [...]

An adorable pair of 1960s little girls gloves with cross-stitched floral details: When I saw them, I immediately thought this would be a great thing to do to jazz up a pair of cheap gloves (or mittens). And then I thought, “Wouldn’t that be one way to salvage those lonely single mittens and gloves left [...]

At Design Sponge, Haylie Waring shows us how to make sewing notions displays. Waring’s examples use ribbons and buttons, but this project could also be done with beads, lace, fabric swatches, etc. — as well as jewelry, shoe clips, pinbacks, and other bits and bobs. Beautiful to look at and, as Waring says, this offers [...]

I shared this at my other blog, Things Your Grandmother Knew, but I figured those who collect cookie cutters might be like me, always looking for ways to put them to good use — when not baking. Because most of my cookie cutters are vintage, I’m still protective of them and am not interested in [...]

I’ve seen and sold a number of items from Saalfield Publishing Co., Akron, Ohio, before, but I’ve never seen anything like this uncut oil cloth with cats printed on it dated 1913. The entire sheet of oilcloth measures 36 and 1/2 inches by 24 and 1/4 inches. It has three cats which are to be [...]

My Grandmother had a button box. She would add any buttons from clothes that were worn out and being cut up to use for patches and cleaning rags. Sometimes she bought sets of 4, 6 or more buttons on sale somewhere and brought those back (kept on their cardboard packaging) and put them in the [...]

I use a corner of whatever I’m sewing to stick all my pins into while I work. It works fine while I’m repairing something small. Not so great with those bigger projects like hemming curtains, there is a lot of fabric to pin into and those little things can get lost. It’s not an accident [...]

Often at estate sales you’ll find bags of vintage hosiery; women, especially those who learned lessons of thrift from The Great Depression and wartime conservation, didn’t throw anything away. When one stocking was laddered (had runs) but its mate was perfectly fine, a lady typically kept the mate for the day when a similar situation [...]

Many people think of aprons as charming relics from our past, or as evidence of enforced domesticity; but the truth is, aprons have a practical role in modern lives too. Grandma always said you should be proud of your work around the house; you should be proud to take care of your home and family, [...]