Saturday, July 25, 2009

Calling for vintage tea towels and aprons

Recently I misplaced my sewing mojo and have felt pretty uninspired. Another Hoot? A skirt? A new pencil roll? Gah. Same old, same old. I've needed some new motivation to get going again.

And now I've got it. I've decided I'm going to make some aprons to donate to the dining hall I volunteered at for the Sacred Heart Mission. All the helpers wear aprons to protect their clothes, and some of the ones they had were pretty threadbare... and one of the leaders made an offhand comment about how they need more of them. Now that's something I can do!

Inside the hall it's very cheery, there are lots of hanging lamp pendants, with all the shades made out of vintage tea towels. It brightens up the bare space incredibly, and gives the whole place a fantastic retro feel. When you walk in, it just makes you feel .... cheerful.

And immediately I thought of the fantastic aprons that the lovely Ms Curlypops makes ... what a great idea Curlypops, thank you! I don't have an apron pattern but I'm sure I can find one somewhere.

This afternoon I went for a wander along High St on the lookout for old tea towels - they're actually harder to find than you might think. But I scored this fantastic Flo's Pumpkin Scones one for the grand price of $2, which I was pretty pleased about. It's Flo Bjelke Petersen! That's a real blast from the past.

If anyone would like to donate to the cause and send me a vintage tea towel - or even a modern one - I will very happily make it into an apron for you and put it in the package for Sacred Heart. Or if you'd like to whip up a whole apron of your own - either made with a tea towel or without it - that would be great too!

Those guys deserve all the support they can get, and it makes me feel good to donate my skills as well as my time.

If you want to be a part of this small effort, please leave a comment and let me know you're on board so I can get in touch with you. I get so much out of being part of our lovely crafty community - let's band together and use our talents to make a difference, even if it's just a really, really small one.

8 comments:

CurlyPops said...

I would love to help you out. Do you have a time frame for when they would need to be ready?

flickettysplits said...

Hi - thank you!! Especially seeing as you were the one with the great creative idea in the first place. I am thinking I would like to take them round on my next volunteer day, which is about a month away...

CurlyPops said...

Fantastic - I've emailed my instructions on how I make them and a little diagram to your gmail account. Weird that yours isn't working! PS I have plenty of tea towels if you need some donations too.

Michelle said...

Oh my goodness! I've been after a Flo pumpkin scone teatowel for ages. I maye have to start looking that much harder for it in the op shops.

Good luck with your quest for aprons! It is a great idea.

Jennie said...

I'll definitely keep a lookout for teatowels!

Margaret said...

I'll get my mum to work on sourcing tea towels - she is a great op shop shopper. And sing out if you need help running them up (especially since I am around the corner)... us happy band of [brothers] sisters!

Shannon said...

No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted.

I have no idea who said that, but your last line in your post broght that to mind right away.

lisette said...

happy to help out - they have some super kitschy tea towels here in the NT :) we're back next week so can hand it over pronto

cheers