Personalized Sewing Drawers

I am a big fan of personalizing one's space, maybe that comes from having the name Shayla which could never be found anywhere as a kid or maybe it comes from being squished in a small room with two sisters and zero personal space, anyway I love remaking things or just creating something new that represents me, especially for my sewing area.

Do you remember when I showed you this lucky thrift store find?

Turned out to be an Ikea drawer box, which sadly, they do not make anymore, and was just dying to be turned from bland into beautiful.  So after a bit of searching for some public domain designs, I found a bunch of fabulous children's book illustrations in primers and poem books from before 1922 (at least) to use.  Lucky me, I have a sister who is uber-talented at pyrography (wood burning) and traded her a vintage Singer sewing machine (her first real sewing machine, no, the toy one from childhood doesn't count... sniff, I'm so proud) in a sewing cabinet for some artwork.

Now check out my thrift store box...

You can see the natural color variations that come from the different bits of wood used when creating the box.  I love that little bit of quirkiness that wood has!

Gorgeous isn't it?!  And it is one of a kind!  I have two little wood boxes with children's book illustrations on them already, so I decided to stick with the theme--I just adore antique children's books.

Here's some closer views of the drawers:

Upper left drawer--currently holding my snaps, grommets, and hooks & eyes.

Upper middle drawer--currently holding doll/animal safety eyes and my sewing machine light bulbs which I always manage to misplace.

Upper right drawer--currently holding velcro.

Middle left drawer--currently holding my elastic, well some of it anyways.

Middle right drawer--currently holding my embroidery floss.

Bottom drawer--this one holds all my zippers, now they won't get bent!

When you consider that each drawer is only around three inches high, that's some crazy amount of detailing.  I tried to get images from similar time eras so that they would sort of coordinate. 

I also found larger images for the sides and top.  Here are the two sides:

This is me telling Stars, "You musn't keep running through my tulips!"

I just love this image of the little girl wading.  I wonder what she's looking for?

You can see how much little detail work there was on this one!

And the top:

 

I love swinging, so how could I resist this adorable image!

She also signed the bottom with a lovely little note.

 

 

I really think I got the better end of this trade.  My little thrift find is now an heirloom!  Have fun personalizing your sewing space!

 

 

Thrify Finds

I thought I'd share some of my latest finds at the local thrift stores.  Do you love thrift shopping?  I sure do, it's like a big treasure hunt that changes almost everyday!  We recently had a huge Goodwill store open just a few blocks away (I love it when things are within walking distance.) and I have been having fun going and checking things out.  (We also have a nice little Senior thrift store in town and, of course, garage sale season is starting.)  I also like pushing my creativity with some upcycling projects---like this messanger bag tutorial that I'll be trying out soon with some cargos I traded my sis for.

I just love pretty little plates.  You can use them for holding treats on a garden party table, homemade soaps in the bathroom, change holder, children's tea parties and so much more.  I'm always on the look out for a pretty plate.

Am I the only one in love with Fire King?  I love the blue and pinks the best.  This bowl is just screaming for some ice cream with fudge sauce!

I found this pattern with these three pieces of fabric inside.  The pieces are each around 1/2 yard or larger.

Doesn't look like much, an embroidery hoop and metal tin.  The tin, along with another two, had colored craft buttons inside.  I plan on painting them and then creating a pincushion in the center of each lid where the hole is.  Love having future projects planned.

I kind of splurged on this wooden drawer box.  $12.99!  Not to sound terribly cheap, but I'm a budget, so I normally don't spend that much on my thrifty shopping.  This lets me have fun shopping without wasting a lot of money.  However, I really could use a better way to store my sewing notions or thread and this will do nicely for one of those jobs.  A light sanding and then some woodburning by my talented sis, and this will be one stunning sewing box.  Update:  I found out this is one of the discontinued Ikea Moppe drawers, sadly they're harder to find now except through their UK site.

These little horses say made in Norway.  They fit nicely in the hand and would make great toys.  For now, they'll sit on a bookshelf in my sewing area.  I think I'll name them Freya and Johan.

Here's an adorable little child's ironing board!  It even folds down.  I found it for only $3.99 and plan on recovering it with something more vintage-y. 

The wooden iron on the right is actually attached to the ironing board by a cord.  The adorable little red iron is metal with a wooden handle.  My sis found it for .99 cents and when she saw my ironing board she gave it to me--thanks sis, its perfect!

Wooden village found altogether in an organza bag for $1.99.

I'm not sure what those three colored objects on the left are supposed to be, but you can see the houses, some trees, people and reindeer.

The village buildings, walkways, trees, people and reindeer herd.  A bit of touch up on paint and these will be perfect!

Okay, I'll admit, I probably didn't really need this stuff (come on, it's not like a small wooden village is essential for survival)...but I like it and am going to have fun having it and working on my upcycling projects!  What's your favorite find so far this year?