Vintage Fashion Plate Table Numbers
We just adore these table numbers--of course you could use any image that strikes your fancy, but we secretly love this excuse to play with vintage paper dolls!
Materials:
-Vintage fashion plate images. These can be acquired from books, or search on sites like Flickr. Choose images with a simple, white or colored background if possible.
-White card stock for backing the ladies
-White or colored card stock for making the bases, and for the table numbers
-Rubber cement or a glue stick
-Craft glue
-Number stencils from an art supply shop
-Xacto knife
-Bamboo skewers
-Heavy scissor for trimming the skewers
Instructions:
1. Print out the fashion plate ladies. If your ladies are not on a plain background and you have some skills in a program like Photoshop, you can remove some background elements as necessary. What you want is a thin border around each woman.
2. Glue the ladies to your white card stock with rubber cement or a glue stick.
3. With an Xacto knife, trim around each of the ladies, leaving a rectangle of paper at the bottom, similar to the way a paper doll is made. This rectangle will fit into your stand so the ladies will be upright. Make it at least three inches. You can always trim it down later if it's too long.
4. Trim the bamboo skewers to the size you'd like, and glue them to the ladies with craft glue, in a position so that it appears that they are holding them.
5. Use your stencil to draw numbers onto your white or colored card stock. Use your knife to very carefully cut out each number.
6. Glue the numbers to the end of each skewer using craft glue. Let dry.
7. Cut out strips of card stock to make the circular stands. Make the strips about 1/2" wide and at least 7" long. Form each strip into a circle and glue ends together with craft glue. Let dry.
8. With your knife, cut two slits in the circle, one on each side. Slide the lady's base into the slit and she should be standing upright!
Note: If she seems unbalanced, try making the circles bigger. Bamboo skewers are quite light, so this shouldn't be too big a problem.
Credit: Sweet Sassafras and photos by Jillian Kay