| Rissa's timely reminder that October is traditionally devoted to small
gifts at CQMagOnline set me to thinking of the vintage trinket boxes
and trays that I've been collecting with the idea of framing perfect little
crazy quilts in them.
One of the beautiful things that happens when you crazy quilt is the
meeting of friends who share your love of fabrics, found objects, vintage
bits and pieces. And one of the many talented and generous people I've met
in my journey is Caroline Phillips, who turned up practically in my own back
yard a few years ago. If you've ever had the good fortune to receive one of
Caroline's exquisite little fabric paintings, you'd understand why even the
tiniest flower sets your creative juices flowing; I knew her little Wild
Rose would make my trinket box very special.
Initially, I brought out all my best fabric pieces in those gorgeous
shades of sunset pink that have become my favorites. For variety I added a
few lovely greens, with a little purple for contrast and interest; soon I
had a tremendous pile of colors. I realized I was going to have to pare the
selections down drastically--the reality of the piece as seen through the
box lid template I made was that more than five pieces of fabric were not a
good fit!
After all that, the addition of a single piece of hand painted lace sent
my choices in a completely new direction. My intention had always been to
highlight and showcase my perfect little rose; and I decided a more neutral
color palette appealed to me even more than the sunset colors.
So I started pulling out lace; the challenge was to find textures and
patterns that complimented the painted rose; much of my lace stash had roses
of about the same size, and they competed for attention. My final choices
were more textural in nature, and I hand painted a piece of vintage machine
lace to balance the smaller piece of gold lace. For paint I used Lumiere
acrylic ; it has the added bonus of sealing the lace edges so they don't
ravel, enabling you to cut along the pattern edge if desired. (For more on
hand painted lace, see: CQMagOnline, October 2007).
A collage of tiny buttons and rhinestones again seemed too much; one
interesting shape would do, I felt.
Here are some things you'll need to make your own trays and trinket
boxes:
A small metal "dresser" or trinket box; little mirrored or glass
trays. You can find them reasonably priced in vintage or antique shops, the
ones I have are not that old. When purchasing them, you need to make sure
you can get the glass top out of the metal frame. Here you can see that I
was able to carefully pry up the little decorative prongs that held the
glass in place, and slip it out. I used the tiny screwdriver that came with
my sewing machine for this.
For this little tray, I simply pried up the metal ring that held the
glass in place.
Another example: this box, unfortunately, has so far evaded my attempts
to de-construct it. One way to judge if the glass can be removed is to
gently tug it between your thumb and forefinger. If the glass moves, there
is a good chance you can pry up the prongs; I bought this particular box
before I learned that! My finisher, Dave, assures me that just breaking the
glass is not a good option. Oh well, you win some........
Other things you'll need for the trinket box:
- Crazy quilted piece; try to use light weight fabric and thin lace.
Remember, you will have to wrap your piece around a cardboard cut out.
- Tiny screwdrivers
- Thin, strong piece of archival matte board
- Acid free glue
- Thin cotton batting
- Fine point Marks B Gone pen
- Sequin pins
- Light weight fabric to match your crazy quilted piece
- Modge Podge sealer
Directions:
After you take the glass top out of your box, use it to make a paper
template of the lid opening size and shape, as in Photo 3. This can be used
to check the positioning of your embellished piece as you work.
Cut two pieces of matte board slightly smaller than your template, so
they will fit under the prongs on the box lid.
To give my embellished fabric a slight rise, I used three layers of thin
batting cut in descending sizes; glue to your matte board cut out.
Cut the embellished fabric in the shape of the template, leaving a two or
three inch border--you might need room to adjust the position of the
embellished fabric. With the Marks B Gone pen, make four tiny marks on your
embellished piece: one each, top and bottom center, and then one each,
center sides. Use sequin pins to pin the embellished fabric to the matte board at these four
positions first. Continue to add pins until the embellished fabric lays
smoothly over the board.
If your fabric is positioned how you want it, trim excess fabric away,
leaving a 1/2" to 1" wide border.
Lay your embellished piece face down on a folded piece of toweling.
Carefully glue the remaining border to the back of the matte board, making
tiny pleats as you go to accommodate excess fabric; if necessary, cut wedges
of fabric out to make the border lay as flat as possible. I chose to use
glue here, rather than crossing the back with long stitches because the silk
used for the foundation was very thin and would not stand the stress of the
tight stitches necessary. Let the glue dry over night.
Glue another piece of thin batting to the other piece of matte board.
Check to see if this piece will fit into the box frame; trim as necessary.
In the same manner as above, glue a matching piece of silk to the matte
board over the batting. Let the glue dry. This will be the inside lining of the lid.
When both pieces are dry, put the lining piece into the frame. Add the
embellished piece on top to check the fit. Hopefully, both pieces will fit
snugly into the frame. If they don't, try finger pressing the edges of the
embellished piece firmly. You might also have to remove the batting from the
lining piece--you can either leave the board as is, or try gluing matching
silk to the very outside edge of the matte board cut out. You could
also paint a thin piece of cardboard, cut it to shape and use that as the
lining piece.
When you see that both pieces fit correctly into the lid, glue them
together and maneuver them in under the little prongs. Gently bend the
prongs over the edges of the embellished piece. It is not lost on me that in
time, the metal prongs may corrode the silk. I brushed a double layer of
Modge Podge acid free sealer on the inside and outside of the metal rim
frame to inhibit any corrosion.
You might also like the Shabby Chic look below for a matching set; the trinket
box and tray are painted with a lovely chalky paint made by my friend Chris.
She mixes a small amount of regular house paint with Plaster of Paris! Add
the Plaster of Paris to the paint by heaping teaspoons until you get a
consistency of heavy pancake batter.
Add a little water to smooth just a bit. This gives the paint a very vintage look, at a fraction of the cost of real
chalk paint. Thanks Chris!
And, in farewell, I'd like to express my thanks to Rissa (and Nora) for
allowing me to be a part of CQMagOnline for these eight years. I laugh to
remember that I barely knew what email was, let alone all the computer-y and
photograph-y things I had to learn to get my articles to Rissa, who was
everlastingly patient.
Knowing that I'd never keep up with a blog like so many of you great
stitchers out there, I hoped to do my part for our Crazy Quilt world by
sharing what I knew, what I learned, and who I met every four months.
My very best wishes go to Rissa and my fellow staff members, and to all of
the wonderful crazy quilters who keep us inspired with their phenomenal
work.
Image courtesy of Vintage Feedsacks. Thanks and love must
always go to my support team here at home - my son Devin for the gargantuan
job of teaching me all things computer; darling daughter Hailey for
collecting beads, fabric and what nots from all her friends, and most of all
to my go-to guy of forty years, Dave. |
