Sunday, June 23, 2013

More vintage luggage used as storage: a Bar Harbor square case


I love this cutie pie. It's tall and boxy and shaped like no normal, self-respecting suitcase.


The tag is tiny, just an inch or so long, and reads "Bar Harbor by Dresner", with tiny pictures of a cruise ship, plane, train and auto.


I use this one to store handbags.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

More antique wardrobe trunks

I found another old wardrobe trunk last week. I will share some photos of it when I get some taken. It's pretty special. In the meantime, here are pictures of another that we have had for some while. I think I got it at an auction. It's a Hartmann Trip-Lex, meant for mass transit business travel, probably 1930s or 1940s vintage. It looks like this:




It comes apart in two sections. Just one latch holds it together and closed, but that latch does a great job because of the careful design.




The section shown on the bottom here is for hanging clothes, while the removable section is covered with a dust cover.




It came with wooden hangers. The metal bars on which the hangers are sitting extend so you can spread the hung clothes out to air once you are unpacking.


I use this trunk to store seldom-worn formal clothes. Here are 3 dresses on the hangers. There's a nice bar that clips in to hold them all in place.

On the other side, the dust cover unclips and folds back to reveal two folded-goods compartments with stabilizing ribbons.


Here are more of my too-fancy-to-wear-in-real-life clothes, tied neatly into the compartments.


Clip the dust cover back in place, and the trunk goes back together and latches.


Here's the Hartmann label. 



And here's my paper label so I don't have to open all my trunks to find what I need. We store out-of-season clothes and bed linens in old trunks, as well as music CDs and family pictures.

I'll post more of our trunks and old cases soon.

In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more about the Hartmann company, which is still producing wonderful luxe luggage today, click here for the company's history on its website. And to read about wardrobe trunks in general, with some great photos of different makers' work, click here.

Sunday, June 09, 2013

DIY Vinyasa Scarf from hammersandhighheels.blogspot.com

Britta asked me to try making her this DIY version of the Lululemon Vinyasa Scarf  from Hammers & High Heels, which I did. I actually made two of them from the same piece of soft, flowy grey jersey knit, one for her and one for me, but I am afraid they are fragile, so I will give them both to her so she doesn't feel as bad if hers rips. See, after the fact I learned that the original uses snap tape, not snaps placed directly on the fabric, and just in playing with this one I am seeing that the snaps are going to pull right through that soft fabric. Next time I will track down matching snap tape.

Disappointing, because it turned out pretty!