One of my clients inherited quite a few vintage silk scarves from her grandmother. Lots of Liberty of London and Vera.
We’re putting the collection to good use. One will be framed and several others made into pillows. One of my favorite scarves is a sweet blue Liberty of London floral that will go on a chair in the nursery. It looks just like this one, available here:
Both Martha and Eddie Ross have featured this same idea for turning scarves into pillows and shared their instructions here and here.
image via Eddie Ross
image via Martha Stewart Living
Framing vintage scarves is another great idea.
Domino
This framed Vera scarf hung in the Rockefeller Center Anthropologie.
If you’re not lucky enough to inherit dozens of vintage scarves, check out eBay for an incredible and very inexpensive selection. Here are some of my favorites up for auction right now:
For my color-loving Canadian readers!
Red and gray Vera
Navy polkadots!
Blue and orange stylized floral
Make two boudior sized pillows out of this long Vera floral
Kick start your collection of LofL scarves!
Emerald green (the color du jour for me)
Any other great ideas for repurposing vintage scarves?
So pretty. I love the one for the nursery and the cityscape. A friend of mine has a Hermes scarf framed in her condo and it is definitely a focal point. You always have such great ideas. Your clients are lucky.
I found the most amazing Harrod's of London scarf thrifting a few weeks ago–I love the idea of using the silk scarves as accents in our library, which is being re-done on the (way) cheap.
Sorry about deleting my prior post – had a typo! I have long loved the idea of making a pillow out of scarves! Another option is to make a broach, although it requires more work! I saw Eddie Ross speak before and he made a pillow out of a dress he found at Goodwill…the pillow was so pretty (the kind of jeweled one you buy at a very high end retailer).
Gorgeous scarves. What a great idea for some of my "problem" walls.
If you have scarves you can't find uses for, they can make really cute tops for little girls. . . I did one here . I don't know if you sew kids' clothes, but you seem to do everything else so why not?
wow those are GORGEOUS…i love them. the "image via the Vera Co blog" floral one is my favorite…it is perfect.
Great tips…
now if only i had a bundle of vintage scarves…nana, you hear that!?
jen
I have been meaning to repurpose a couple scarves as pillows, and I think I just found the extra inspiration I needed to do so. Thanks for sharing!
Great idea. I just got a bunch of my grandmothers old scarves and I was thinking about making a silk eye pillow filled with lavender out of one but wasn't sure what to do with the rest. Now I have several options.
Haven't done it in years, but when I was living in an Francisco and had unlimited access to amazing thrift stores, (and therefore amazing vintage scarves), I used to make them into purses. Little clutches and bigger hobo-style bags.
This post has inspired me to go back through the scarves I have and repurpose them in other ways!
Beautiful! I especially love the framed scarves. (We have had a problem with our puppy chewing our pillows, so I have a sort of built-in tendency to shy away from them…I'm afraid they will just become puppy chews!) I have lots of scarves in a closet drawer, and a new house to decorate on the cheap…as soon as the snow let's us start moving in! Thanks for sharing!
Lovely. I really like the idea of framing the scarves.
I have several old dresses, as well as several saris, that my mother gave me from her time spent living in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) as a teenager. I made several into throw pillows for her and made some hella-cute dresses for my little girl. I ALWAYS get compliments on the results! Of course, I'm huge into reusing and ripping apart old dresses for just those very things. =)
A fabulous idea and way to give these special items the proper attention they deserve. I have a collection of my grandmother's hats, I wish I could find a way to give them the special treatment!
Janell
yay for a Canadian shout-out!!
We're going to North Africa with work this summer and I'm totally going to buy some of their amazingly colour-rich scarves and frame them a la Country Living. Thanks for posting this!
What a good idea that I never thought of before! One questions, do you just put the scarf in the frame and make sure it's tight enough in there by adding an extra layer of backing or do you have to adhere it somehow?
Brilliant idea!
http://www.lindseybalbierz.blogspot.com/
i love that idea–such a quick and affordable way to add some pop of color. thanks!
Practical and stylish post!!! My favorite combo. You have the best posts!
Funny, I just blogged about that exact stripey red one the other day. I was hoping someone would snag it. It's a vintage Vera.
I spotted a duvet cover made of scarves which was stunning….now to find that image! I think they were Hermes scarves.
pve
I love the one you are using for your nursery – will look so pretty! I'm a colour-loving Canadian (yes, we spell colour differently!) but that one you found on ebay – yikes!
Yay!! I seriously have like 20-30 inherited scarves from my Grandma and her mom. Now I have some good ideas of what to do with them. I've been storing them since I was like 10!
Love all your posts!!!
I made pillows from Missoni scarves and backed them with dupioni silk in complementary colors. They are like art on my pair of sofas and add so much to the room. I love the idea of framing scarves. I've seen it done by my friend Ron Morgan @ LOOT. I believe he framed a very large vintage Hermes and it was over the top!!
Gorgeous! I love any idea that gets our heirlooms out in the open. Life is short we should always enjoy our pretty things instead of storing them away!! I'm sure that's what all our grandma's wanted when they passed their lovely scarves/jewelry/art down to us.
My great aunt had a beautiful silk jewelry box. While I have no idea how to go about doing this out of a scarf, something tells me you could turn it out beautifully! Marija
In my crafty room (we call it my magic room) I have stuck double stick mounting tape on the back corners of vintage hankies and scarves and put them directly on my wall in a cascading pattern I will have to send you a picture. I saw a picture of an artist's studio that was covered from ceiling to floor in vintage scarves and handkercheifs. I love it.
I love this idea, and coincidentally inherited a boat load of scarves from a relative recently. Can't wait to frame some of them!!
We are on the same path…I posted about using shower curtains for pillows. But scarves…how luxurious!
I just swooped up a few of the ones you posted as gifts for the hosts of my upcoming bridal shower. Thanks(as always) for the inspiration.
I remember an episode of House and Home TV that featured a home of a young lady who inherited several gorgeous Emilio Pucci scarves from her Grandmother, they were bold, graphic and gorgeous! She had them all made into pillows that were amazing. I wish I could see that episode again! Thanks for the great post.
Jenny,
My mom and I framed some of my Grandmother's scarves for gifts and what absolutely MADE it…was framing it between two pieces of glass and letting the 2-4 inches of glass surrounding be the mat. Almost like a floating frame but with a gorgeous frame around, not cheesy. Plus, with beautiful wall colors it can be just beautiful! Good luck with your project!
LOVE this idea! And these are such great finds too… :)
Yet another fantastic idea to add to my design folder! Thanks
Great idea!
Loooove these ideas!!!
I once heard of a lady inheriting vintage scarves and displaying/storing them in a glass apothecary jar. She could then grab one on the way out the door to wear if she was so inclined!
Emily
I framed one of my scarves too and I blogged about it here!! http://asweetconcoction.blogspot.com/2009/08/bits-baubles-recipe-4.html
another coincidence, this is my first time visiting your site and I saw you posted about your Home Good find of the lattice mirror and I JUST posted about how I made that into a coffee table. how funny! :) you can find my entry here:
http://the-ensemble-project.blogspot.com/
xoxo
Wow – this is such a brilliant idea! Framing scarves. What a beautiful piece of art it makes! I will definitely be looking into doing something like this. Thanks!
Alaina
I will say this: You must have the patience of Job to have uploaded that many pictures in Blogger. I do it all the time and half the time when I'm done I want to cry!
Beautiful scarves, too. ;)
OOh I love vintage scarfs and tea towels, I make pillows out of mine.
I just opened an Etsy shop.
I forgot to leave a link for my etsy shop!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39825724
This is a great idea! So simple but amazing! Thanks for the great ideas love your blog!
I've always loved turning a gorgeous scarf into a pillow. Thanks for posting this!
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