French Vintage Industrial Beauties

These lovely wooden vintage industrial shuttles and bobbins where used to weave fabric and ribbon silk jacquard and come from a ribbon factory in the Lyon region of France. Lyon was particularly associated with the manufacturing of silk ribbons as this was a traditional area of silk manufacture. This industry played an important role in the economy and by the 19th C Lyon had 310 silk factories not only exporting their goods to America and England but also India and even China. 

These industrial beauties with their aquiline and graceful profiles are made from a blond wood and many of them, over time have developed a wonderful patina through being handled and used.

Complementing the bobbins and shuttles are these original ribbon patterns. These works of art are hand painted in gouache and show just a small variety of the colours and patterns that would have been manufactured. They come from the mid to late 1800's with hand written notes on the back in French. The penmanship is exquisite with many of them including the designers signature and the date it was designed. These pieces are magnificent mementos of a bygone era.

 

From Paris with Love............

We just had to share our most recent haberdashery find. 

Beautiful vintage French ribbons in a variety of sorbet colours. The moire (watermarked) ribbons that are over 18cm's in width are exceptional.  

In store now.

What Mary Made - 1920s inspired headband tutorial

There’s a new craze in town and everyone is going wild for the Roaring Twenties! In celebration of the new Great Gatsby movie, here’s L’uccello’s tutorial on how to make your very own 1920’s flapper headband.

You will need:

•Stretch velvet ribbon (enough to wrap snugly around your head with a little extra, $6.75 per metre at L’uccello)

•A feather (small ostrich feathers $3.50 each at L’uccello or an egret feather $7.95 at L'uccello)

•A decorative embellishment – this could be a piece of decorative lace, a vintage button or some sequins!

•A needle and thread (or you could use a hot glue gun instead)

Step 1:

Wrap the stretch velvet around head and trim to a comfortable length. It should be stretched, but not too tight – remember to leave approx. 4cm for an overlap.

Step 2: 

Trim feather to desired length and hide it’s end in the overlap of the two ends of stretch velvet. Sew or glue the two ends together, making sure to secure the feather in place.

Step 3: 

Sew or glue a decorative embellishment over the join, making sure to hide the ends of the velvet.

Step 4:

Now it’s time to hit the town with your fabulous 1920s inspired headband!

Psst! I heard there’s going to be a wild party at Gatsby’s tonight - you should come along! Don’t forget those dancing shoes!