A tribute to Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois Recognized for her work with sewing and spider imagery

Restoring Vintage KUBUS West German Nesting Blocks

Nesting Blocks Restored for Actual Play

We had a pretty beat up set of German Nesting Blocks in the attic. Parts of the paper and wooden structure were damaged and broken. The bottom, outer block was half destroyed. 

I of course forgot to take a good photo of how bad the toy looked before I got started. Here is an image from Etsy that looks about like what I was confronted with. This set is missing three blocks. I have nine, unfortunately missing the smallest plain inner block.

 Using red Shurtape, I renewed the edges. This step covered up some of the original image borders, but to me it was worth it, in order to make the toy attractive enough for my living room.

Without tape on left, with tape on right

The Biggest Block: the biggest headache

After some re-gluing and hammering the broken split wood, I filled in gaps with air dry clay and acrylic gel. Then I repainted the missing image sections with acrylic paint.

Patching done, ready for paint

I had to guess as to what was missing in the image - BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Same block with taped edges

Finished stack of nine

 I miss the blue and white striped edges but sometimes sacrifices can be made....

This set in better shape was sold on ETSY

Vintage Sewing Patterns to Give Away

I am cleaning out my studio and decided to reduce my pattern collection. 

I need to part company with vintage mostly 1950's and 1960's patterns plus a few from more recent decades up until about 1990. 

Maybe I could sell them. 

Or 

better yet, 

maybe you are in luck - 

or you know somebody who could be.  

EBay or my Etsy shop are options, but the truth is,  I would rather the patterns found an appreciative home without much hassle. You see, there are almost 100 patterns (97 to be exact).
I cannot imagine finding the time to check each envelope to make sure all the pieces are there. Chances are they are, because I spot checked a few. Vogue, McCalls, Butterick and Advance are the pattern companies.

Here are some eye-catchers:

 

Below is the collection:

Click on the picture to see it bigger.

 

If you are interested, comment and I will get back to you.

For FREE historical Costume Patterns