Pink of Perfection

Remember that vintage fabric my friend sent me after finding it in a relative’s North Dakota attic? I didn’t know how to properly honor it, and a year later, here’s the answer I settled on.

I first saw embroidery hoops used as fabric frames at Purl Patchwork as a way to display their Liberty of London swatches. (I’ve always loved the black and blue feather print.) But when I kept seeing them in shelter mags and on design blogs, I thought it was a decorating device too “over” to do in my own house.

But you know what? Screw that. It might have taken me a few years to finally cop to my desire to get pretty fabrics on the wall any way I can, but now that I have, I find the results ridiculously cheering. Who cares if something is “everywhere” (Keep Calm and Carry On, anyone?). If you love it, make it yours, bring it into your house, and let it bring you a bit of joy every time you pass down the hall.

This project is just my kind of skill level: Iron your fabric. Then slip the fabric into the embroidery hoops, tighten the screw and pull the fabric taught. Cut off the excess fabric, and hang them on the wall on tiny nails. Done and done.

Jenny Hart is, of course, the empress of embroidery. Julia is the master of fine cooking, M. F. K. is the goddess of well-crafted words. The ladies of Craft, Craftster, Supernaturale, and Get Crafty inspire and motivate creativity in countless astounding ways. In each of our efforts to live creatively, thoughtfully, and beautifully, there are teachers and experts all around us.

But I am not an expert. In all my writing and in each of our videos, I hope you’ll remember that’s exactly the point of this blog. If you, too, are not an expert, you’re in good company. None of us needs a degree from Le Cordon Bleu to cook delicious food or enjoy stepping into our kitchens to prepare dinner (although, man, wouldn’t cooking school be a blast?). Fine cooking, in my estimation, isn’t about trickery, slight of hand, or even accomplishment, so much as providing for yourself and the people at your table and warding off more than one kind of hunger. Likewise, you needn’t have your own Etsy shop to get your hands dirty making things. All of us can apply our personal brand of whimsy, imagination, and curiosity to the day to day in order to make the business of living more fun and more beautiful. What you’ll find on this blog is what I believe to be the stuff of small, everyday magic. And any of us can do it.

Continue reading “Pink of Perfection Primer: Embroidered Handkerchief” »