Repurposing vintage jewelry

I purchased my first piece of vintage jewelry when I was 10 years old, for 10¢ at a church bazaar. It's a lady's Art Deco watch, which I still wear. It has read 6:20 for decades, but since no one has ever asked me for the time, this has never been a problem. 

My childhood was spent visiting antique shows with my parents and Goodwills with my grandparents. On these excursions I picked up inexpensive baubles from 20s through the 70s. The memories from these family outings lives warmly in my heart. As an adult, I was fortunate to have inherited my mother's and grandmothers' jewelry. Nearly every day I wear a memory of these ladies. 

It has been fun finding new ways to repurpose some of these pieces. Below is an Art Deco shoe adornment. Sadly, it became separated from its mate, which put it in the right budget for a teenage collector.

Sad no more, this lovely item was the perfect piece to add just the right formal touch to a jersey dress, when the wedding invitation requests "Formal, comfortable attire."

These pins belonged to my mother and date back to the 1940s. They were originally designed as lapel pins. I used them here to alter the neckline of a dress I wore in the Southern Women's Fashion Show.

The brooch below was attached to a vintage hat that was gifted to me. It now serves both a decorative and functional purpose, holding the back of my dress together. Who says jewelry has to be worn on the front?

Who says jewelry even has to be worn on your clothes? Below is a new use for another old brooch. She is missing one stone, but no one ever notices that in her new role has curtain fastener.

The repurposing idea is not exclusively mine, of course. Certainly others do this all the time, most notably, the beloved style icon Princess Diana. She famously repurposed a vintage emerald choker, passed down from the Queen Mum, as an exquisite headband.

Her gown looks suspiciously like my curtains in the picture above.
Hmmm. There may be more repurposing in my future.