Category Archives: clothing

Jo’s Family Easter

Jo's family in their Easter finery. Every one (except Jo!!!!) is wearing one of her creations.

Jo’s beautiful family in their Easter finery. Every one (except Jo, unless she made the lavender sweater) is wearing one of her creations.

I just love seeing what you all have sewn up for holidays–or everydays!  So it really pleased me to see photos of Jo’s family all decked out in the Easter garments she made.   They are all color coordinated in lavender and yellow, with a paisley print used on several outfits.  Living in the cold, cold north, Jo chose corduroy for the little ones in the family.

As so often happens, in the midst of her rush to finish up, there were complications.  Most of the family came down with a terrible virus requiring huge amounts of laundry, at the exact time that her dryer died.  So while she tended to the sick, she was running back and forth to the home of a good neighbor whose dryer was put at Jo’s disposal.  All the while for those several days, Jo awaited delivery of her own new laundry appliance.

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In spite of these roadblocks, she finished everything up–dresses for the girls, a smocked Children’s Corner Johnny for little Gideon and ties for the big boys and her husband. Continue reading

Baby Bishop Bubble

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Psst!!! Ready-to-smock Smockables, have I told you lately that I love you?  As Elvis sang, could I tell you once again somehow?  Well, I am going to.

Two weeks ago (yes, 10 days before finish-the-Easter-clothes rush) I was asked by an extremely devoted member of our church to smock something for a fundraiser April 5.  Yikes!

Maria is at the church every day, working on one thing or another.  I Just couldn’t tell her no and I knew couldn’t possibly start until after Easter.  Smockables to the rescue!  I finished in just 3 days of “free” time (humphh!) between laundry, cooking, etc.

Having a few of these beauties in my stash makes me feel like SuperSmocker.  I may not wear a cape, but with these little treasures handy, I feel like I can do almost anything! Continue reading

Happy Easter 2013

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Robert and Laurel brought me this lovely, fragrant Easter lily. There are three more buds, so it will bloom for quite a while.

What fun family time we enjoyed this year as we celebrated Easter.  Our daughter, Rebecca, and her family arrived mid-week and our son, Ryan, and his family were with us all day Saturday, when we had our Easter dinner.

 

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Alastair adores his baby sister. She looks like the feeling is mutual.

Saturday began with the Bunny Lunch at church, always a big hit with our grandchildren.  Approximately 75 children along with their parents or grandparents participated. The event began with an Easter craft followed by lunch. Continue reading

Readers’ Easter Outfits

While it’s unlikely that I am the only Nana or Mama stitching right down to the Easter Sunday deadline, it’s nice to know that some readers are contentedly dying eggs, sampling gourmet jelly beans and buying chocolate bunnies.  Ahhh, I wish.

 

Courtney finished this gorgeous brother-sister set more than 10 days ago!

Courtney finished this gorgeous brother-sister set more than 10 days ago!  And  these aren’t even their church clothes!  See below.

 

Courtney shared  pictures of TWO brother-sister sets that she has made for Easter.

Her daughter’s first dress is cut from one of my all-time favorite patterns, Maggie  by Children’s Corner. The smocking plate is Bunny Luv by Ellen McCarn.  I love that she mirror imaged the chocolate bunny on the dress so they are facing one another.    Her color choices are as  lovely as her smocking. Continue reading

Lighting Candles, Playing Dolls, This and That

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crying Karoline

My mother, Dollie Manning, was a very gifted doll maker. Years ago, she made the as many as 80 porcelain dolls for each of the Sewing for Dolls events that Mildred Turner, Terri Johnson and I held around the country. Additionally, she provided dolls for several similar schools sponsored by Ellen Nickerson in the San Francisco area. Mom also made tiny 3-8″ dolls that Lezette Thomason marketed and for which Lezette had drafted patterns. Then there were the dolls she made for our daughter Rebecca. That’s a lotta dolls.

When 8 year old granddaughter Laurel discovered that there are 3 storage bins of dolls in the garage, she just had to see them. She was allowed to select one to keep and she chose this very unique baby who had lost a shoe through the years.

You don’t often see a doll crying but Karoline (the name given her by Laurel) had tears that looked real.

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The sheen on Karoline’s tears is from clear fingernail polish.

Then I told Karoline’s story to Laurel. Continue reading

“Found” Clothes for Vivian Rose

I’ve just returned from a visit with 7 week old Vivian Rose and her family.  She is smiling and holding her head up now, so it was exciting to see the changes in just a few weeks.

While I was there, my Rebecca rediscovered these baby clothes buried deep in her cedar chest.

The pink daygown above and the white one below with fagoted lace were made shortly after Rebecca discovered that she was pregnant the first time.  We expected a girl but got precious little Alastair instead.  So these gowns with their matching bonnets were packed away.

After Vivian Rose arrived, the gowns could not be found.  Rebecca thought I had them and I thought she did.  Finally, she checked her cedar chest and there they were, along with several other sweet things that we both had forgotten about.

Now, Baby Girl has a greatly expanded wardrobe, with no more effort from her old fashioned Nana!  Here are some of the finds……

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Alastair wearing his little lamb daygown

The lamb daygown was made for and worn by Big Brother Alastair, but I think it will be just fine for a little girl.  It will give her mother a break from all the pink she requested and received! Continue reading

The Lace Dress for Easter

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This is a beautiful, symmetrical dress–not cockeyed as it appears in this photo.   The wind would NOT stop blowing so it kept swinging on the hanger as I  tried to snap it in a moment of calm.  Note also that the hanger is an adult size, so the shoulder appears to be wider than the pattern picture.

But, hurrah!! Laurel’s Easter dress is almost done, lacking only buttons and buttonholes.  The pattern is one of Nancy Coburn’s at Ginger Snaps Designs.

 

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Laurel’s dress includes absolutely no originality from me.  I copied this beauty as is because I didn’t think there was any way I could improve upon it. Continue reading

Beautiful Booties

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booties by Mela Wilson

I love to see babies in pretty booties.  It’s true that the generic, elasticized, pull-on socks are very serviceable and sometimes stay on tiny feet better than the classic style.  Still,  it is a visual treat to see a wee babe wearing pretty booties, even boys. To me, such footwear seems to say, “This baby is special.”

Vivian Rose is wearing a pair in an  earlier post.  The three pairs in the above photo were made by Mela Wilson and purchased at Farmhouse Fabrics long ago.

pink cashmere flannel Mela Wilson booties

Pink cashmere flannel Mela Wilson booties have batting between the lining and the top.

For my own newborns, I knitted about a dozen pair for each and enjoyed every stitch.  Several years ago, a young mother confided to me that she and her friends had agreed that a baby can never have too many bibs, booties or burp cloths.  And that’s because they get lost or ruined.

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The diamond pattern that surrounds the bullion roses is such a nice detail.

Continue reading

Vivian Rose, Fashionista

COMPUTER STATUS UPDATE:  The computer is sporadically cooperative but  after a while, not.  Genius SIL Harvey fiddled with it some and thought it was okay.  It is better but…. When he has a break from the big project he is working on, I will ask him for more help.  Meanwhile, I appreciate your patience with my slow response to any comments or inquiries.

 

Vivian Rose 6 weeks old

Vivian Rose 6 weeks old

 

Rebecca just sent these pictures of Vivian Rose wearing some of her new clothes.  After her nap, she modeled the OFB bubble with the coordinated diaper shirt.  The silky texture of the Liberty tanna lawn seems to be a perfect companion to a baby’s tender skin.

 

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Her little diaper shirt is all askew, but this is the best photo of her sweet face.

Continue reading

Liberty Bubble and PR Diaper Shirt

The Old Fashioned Baby bubble set for Vivian Rose, my 5 week old granddaughter, is finished and I am pleased.  The bubble is made of Liberty of London tanna lawn and trimmed with tatted edging.

 

Hand embroidered in classic blue on white, the cotton diaper shirt was purchased in Old San Juan.  It has been modified slightly to coordinate with the bubble. Continue reading