Just For Me

Have you ever found something that you loved, but wanted it to be uniquely yours? This amazing Tasmanian made Dish Pig tea towel caught my eye about two years ago. Subway signs were very new and 'in' at the time but this was the first sign that I had seen that had significance for me. The tea towels are based on an old bus roll for the bus tour company that serviced Tasmania. I remembered those signs and I remembered catching those buses, and visiting or living in those towns listed. But I wanted more than a tea towel.

It took around two years of searching and patiently waiting to finally find a vintage picture frame that I liked and more importantly that was the right size to complete my project. Once found, the next step was to clean it down, lightly sand, and prime it.

I always knew the frame was going to be red, I love red and it seemed the perfect fit to go with the black text and white background, the question was, what shade of red?

In the end I went with a glossy fire engine red, I didn't take a picture, I'm pretty sure it was a little tin of Dulux.

Two coats of the red and it looked a treat! One of the big problems of course with vintage frames is that they often don't come with the glass still intact. If you find one that does, look after that glass! I went to a glaziers and had this cut on site. It cost $25AU to have a piece cut, I am now much more careful with the old glass that I already have.

I said the frame fit the tea towel and that's true,  but it required me to first unpick the hemming around the tea towel. Once that was done I stitched it to stop it from fraying. 

A wash and iron was next.

I then attached the tea towel to a thick piece of card that came with the original frame. Nothing very fancy with this, I actually just used masking tape, so that if I made a mistake I knew I could re-do easily.

The next step was just to put it behind the glass, add a piece of thick card to the back and tape. The frame already had the screws to attach picture wire, I just added new wire, leaving a good amount (10-15cm) over both ends and wound it around itself for added strength.

Voila!

Here it is inside, I'm really happy with it, and this one IS a keeper. Lisa xx