I’ve been searching high and low for a set of vintage sweater clips or guard that I suit my fancy but to no avail.  Then one evening it dawned on me that I could make some!  I have a large collection of vintage millinery flowers that is oft admired but rarely used and I figured some little velvet flowers would a perfect way to decorate a cozy sweater.

In this post I’ll show you two versions: one with flowers (velvet brown pansies to be precise) and one with tiny velvet bows made from ribbon.

Tools you’ll need:

• A ruler or something to measure with
• Scissors (for fabric)
• Glue (more about this later)
• Small wire cutters
• Smooth-nose pliers
• 4 alligators clips
• Optional: pinking shears, another set of small pliers and fine grain sandpaper

Supplies to make 1 set of flower clips:

• Millinery flowers (these pansies are approximately 1″x1.25″)
• 2 pieces of felt, 1 1/8″ x 3/8″ each, cut with pinking shears (Instead of felt I cut these strips from a damaged millinery leaf.  Just use something that won’t ravel or cause a mess.)
• 1 piece of Medium-weight chain (4″ chain, approximately 3mm wide, is shown.  You may want a longer or shorter chain for yourself.  Use wire cutters to cut desired length.)
• 2 - 24mm alligator clips with holes
• 2 – 5mm jump rings (big enough to hold chain and fit through the holes in the alligator clips.)

1. Optional: if the teeth of the alligator clips seem a little rough you can smooth them out with fine sandpaper (the kind used for jewelry).  Or you can glue tiny pieces of felt or ribbon to the insides; that way your sweater is protected.  Let glue dry.

2. Glue felt strips to the tops of the alligator clips.  Included in the Tools photo above is beading glue which, in hindsight, was not the best choice.   Something like E-6000 would be better: it’s both waterproof and is thick enough to make it easy to work with.  (Just make sure to use proper ventilation!)  I didn’t have any on hand so I just used the glue I had.  Use the alligator clips from the Tools list to hold down the fabric to the clips.  Let glue dry.

3. Attach the chain to the clips with the jump rings.  Use the pliers to open and close the rings.  If you have 2 sets of pliers (one in each hand) this might be easier.

Make sure that the chain is not twisted when you attach the other clip.

4. Squeeze a small drop of glue onto the top of the alligator clip and position flower(s) as desired.  Repeat for other clip.  Let glue dry before attaching to sweater.

Now you have a pretty accessory to wear…or better yet, a nice little homemade gift for a vintage gal!

…..

To make the velvet bow sweater clips you’ll need the same tools as before (except for the pinking shears) and:

• 1 – 7″ piece of ribbon 3/8″ wide
• Matching thread
• 1 piece of Medium-weight chain (I used a 3″ piece for this set.)
• 2 – 24mm alligator clips with holes
• 2 jump rings big enough to hold chain and fit through holes in alligator clips

1. Cut Ribbon into 2 – 2 3/8″ pieces and 2 – 1″ pieces.

2. Take one longer piece and fold down the ends to meet in the middle (forming a loop) and sew into place.

3. Take a shorter piece and tightly wrap it around the center of the loop overlapping ends, covering the loop’s ends and sew into place.  (You’ll likely need to trim the short piece of ribbon depending on how tightly you wrap it around the loop.)

4. Repeat #2 & 3 for the remaining pieces of ribbon.

5. Glue each bow to the top on an alligator clip.  Use remaining alligator clips to hold down bows while glue dries.

Of course you can use various other kinds of ribbons too.  Or you may glue other ornaments on your alligator clips like brass stampings, little crocheted flowers, etc.

Enjoy!

Hi sweets.  Some holiday gift tags, especially for you.

Look, Spoo Kee is dressed up like Santa!

Just print the pdf on letter-size paper and cut.  There’s room at the tops to punch holes, for ribbon or twine.

» Download gift tags

Wow, I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is almost here!  And it’s only Monday and I already feel like this week is getting away from me.  I spent my Sunday evening watching season 3 of 30 Rock on Netflix and trying to get through an early 1940s (or is it late 1930s?) dress for the holiday festivities.  Yes, I still get excited, just as I did as a little girl, over the prospect of having a new dress to wear for a special occasion!  But the sleeves – oh, the sleeves!  The puffed sleeves were really trying my patience.  I guess I can’t do puffed sleeves no matter how much I try to convince myself.  It remains my goal, however, to finish this dress but now the sleeves have been pared down quite a bit.  We shall see how it goes!

Anyway I have a couple of recipes to share with you.  The first is a Berry Crumble.  The crumble topping is similar to what you may find on top of a banana or blueberry muffin.  There’s no egg and it’s very crumbly.  I think the trick to making a good crumble is to make sure the dough clumps are not too big  and are spread out evenly over the fruit (so they can cook thoroughly).  I also don’t like my fruit too sweet or syrupy and I don’t use much sugar in the filling.  This recipe is so easy it’s great to whip some up after a trip to the farmer’s market.  (Which is were I got these beauties!)  You can vary the amount fruit depending on how much you have and how deep you want the crumble to be.

Jen’s Berry Crumble

Dough:

6 T unsalted butter, softened

1/4 t light brown sugar (or white sugar)

1/2 c all purpose flour

1/4 c instant oatmeal (the plain, unflavored kind)

1/8 t. salt

2 t. water (Optional)

Filling:

2-4 pints berries (I like to combine blackberries with strawberries)

1 T sugar

> 1/2 t. lemon juice (Optional – I usually leave this out)

Cooking spray or melted butter

Cinnamon or nutmeg, ground

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees F.  Spray a 9″ baking pan with cooking spray (or brush with butter).
2. Cut up fruit if desired.  Spread fruit out in the pan and sprinkle with sugar.
3. Mix all dry ingredients for the dough.  Mix in butter – this might be easiest to do this with your hands.  Add a little water if dough seems too dry.
4. Crumble dough evenly over fruit filling.  Sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg.
5. Bake for 30 minutes.  Sometimes I flip the broiler on for a few minutes to brown the top without overcooking the fruit.

Jen’s Pumpkin Pavlova

My friend Michelle introduced me to pavlova many years ago and has since been one of my favorite desserts.  It’s so light it hardly seems sinful.  (Hee hee!)   This recipe is fairly easy as well (a recurrent theme in my kitchen).  I originally planned to make some today but at this point I probably don’t have time with all the other pre-holiday planning (including finishing up some work!).  SO, here it is, in pdf format.  Perhaps I’ll be able to update this post later with a photo.

» Download Jen’s Pumpkin Pavlova Recipe

Enjoy!

I hope everyone’s week is off to a good start!   This past weekend was nice and chilly and I spent a lot of time knitting for the holidays (a certain nephew needs a hand-knit stocking for his first Christmas).  Anyway, I have a little gift for you…

I’m giving away a bunch of “Our Tree Dresses” holiday cards!   A blank card for you to keep or use.

Instead of selecting 1 winner for a big prize I’ve decided to have a lot of little prizes for many of you this year.

SO, here’s how it works:

• Leave a comment: You don’t have to say anything in particular BUT I would love to know what you’re looking forward to this season. It could be holiday or non-holiday specific!
• Make sure the email address you enter is correct.  I’ll collect the emails and send you all a message (from dearliette {AT} gmail {DOT} com) at the end of the giveaway.
• Reply back with your mailing address.  (Don’t worry, your personal info is safe with me and won’t be sold, distributed, etc.)

The giveaway closes Sunday night, November 22th OR when I run out of giveaway cards, whichever happens first.  One card per reader; open to everyone.

Happy Commenting!

Update: Silly me, as Tracey kindly pointed out, I never mentioned what I was looking forward to this season!  Two every exciting things are happening: 1) My husband and I are celebrating our marriage (Reception #2) with my in-laws and 2) My dear little nephew’s first Christmas!