Category Archives: clothing

Elves and Merry Christmas!

Three year olds Alastair and Aliya, share a hug. Don’t they look like elves? They are all jammied up after watching the nighttime Christmas parade. Their joy and excitement are infectious.

The world has been celebrating Christmas for nearly 2000 years now.  In the past 100 years, there have been many  changes documented in my beloved vintage Needlecraft/Home Arts magazines. Alastair and Alyia, in their knit and serged holiday pajamas are dressed very differently from this little guy in 1928.

But it this 1936 Home Arts shows that footed sleepers are not new. Continue reading

Sweet Baby Duds

The scallops and embroidery are a very soft pastel yellow, not nearly like the bright color that shows up on my monitor.

The scallops and embroidery are a very soft pastel yellow, not nearly like the bright color that shows up on my monitor.

I’m approaching the panic mode as my new granddaughter concludes her cozy stay in utero. So few items have been sewn for her! A few smocked daygowns (Liberty of London, striped Swiss dot), a smocked white pique diaper shirt, a Swiss flannel slip, the ho-hum bassinette sheets, and the bassinette skirt.

On my cutting table sits a tall, tottering stack of fabric and patterns which I expected by now would have been stitched into an even taller stack of sweet baby garments.

back w pants

So now, with less than a month to go, I have launched Plan B. rather than begin the elaborate beauties I long to stitch. This plan consists of making ruffled diaper covers to match the precious embroidered diaper shirts I bought in Puerto Rico. On one of my teaching trips to San Juan, almost 9 years ago, these shirts were purchased a few months before the arrival of my first granddaughter, Laurel. Continue reading

Updated…Compromises-Play it again, Sam!

Though nothing like this was heard at the formal Stetson Christmas Concert which is central to this post, the video below is is too special not to share. Thanks, Shirley, for bringing this to my attention. I promise you all will want to see this to the very hilarious ending.

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I’m being forced to make creative compromises.  It is absolutely impossible to sew all that I want and to regularly dress my grandchildren in the classic clothing I’ve always wanted for them.

Torn between making baby clothes for soon-to-arrive granddaughter #2 and sewing Christmas outfits for the three grandchildren who are already here, I am making compromises I never thought I would accept.

I’m re-doing, recycling, and taking shortcuts with holiday clothes, not to mention cooking and housekeeping!  This year’s Christmas frock for granddaughter Laurel is 2011 all over again.  It’s the same burgundy velveteen collar dress, though he collar has been replaced with one I made for my daughter 24 years ago.

This doesn’t even meet the bridal wardrobe standard of “something old and something new.”  This is just something old and something older!

Seven year old Robert joined us this year for the Stetson University Christmas Concert.   He looked handsome in a nice red sweater (off the rack, not even handknit by Nana), while Laurel, 8, wore this dress.  But they certainly didn’t compliment one another’s outfits.  Oh well.

The concert was absolutely spectacular and incredibly moving.  My scalp prickled and my eyes teared. Continue reading

Swiss Dot Daygown and Thankfullness

Thanksgiving Day sewing

 

I hope you all had a joyful and happy Thanksgiving.  This is the first turkey day celebration in several years that both of our children and  their families were gathered around the harvest table. In order for that to happen, we scheduled our festivities for Wednesday.  That allowed for dinner with their in-laws.

It’s been a lonnnnnnng time since I’ve posted, for no other reason than busy, busy, busy-ness.  A lot of time has been spent with dear friends who are dealing with heartbreaking and life-threatening health hardships.  These continue even now.  High on our Thankful-For List is good health.  I am reminded yet again that sewing is not the most important task on my daily to-do list.  But it’s still near the top.

I have sewn a little and finally finished smocking the striped Swiss dot daygown which was started some time ago.  Just last night, I pleated up a matching bonnet so that and a pair of pink knitted booties will complete  this little outfit.

 

gown all

I have to say again that this is one of the most luscious fabrics I have ever handled.  And now I’m beginning to wonder about the fiber content, as it seems to be nearly wrinkle free.  That would be a real bonus.

 

yoke-002 xx

 

These photos have given me fits as I’ve tried to adjust them to reflect the true colors.  Trust me, the pink is as soft as baby’s cheeks and the smocking is slightly darker. Continue reading

Candy Corn & Halloween Fun

There are sooooo many adorable Halloween applique’ designs for machine embroidery!  For granddaughter Laurel’s outfit, I finally narrowed the field down to this candy corn design, primarily because I had already purchased the spider web/candy corn fabric for fun.  This design just seemed right.  Candy Corn Cutie is from Embroitique.com

The girls A-line jumper in  Applique’, Martha’s Favorites by Martha Pullen’s has always been one of my favorites.  I bemoaned the fact that it went only to size 6 when it occurred to me that I could use the same quick and easy lining technique with any similar pattern.  I found just what I needed with a commercial pattern (on sale at JoAnn’s for $1.99!) and whipped up this piece for Laurel in no time.

It is lined with yellow cotton batiste because 1. I had it on hand and 2. because it is a relatively cool, lightweight fabric.   In Florida, Halloween season can be and usually is very hot.  Top stitching is worked around the hem, neckline and armscyes.  At the them, three rows of ribbon echo the white, yellow, and orange layers on the candy corn.

The leggings with a knit ruffle at the ankle are from Sophie’s Stitches.

NANA FUN—Our daughter, Rebecca, came for a few days with her husband and 3 year-old Alastair.  We had so much Halloween fun with the little guy.  Every year Granddad (Bob) decorates his shed which is the background for the bonfires the children love so much.   Often, they pause from running around or eating s’mores to climb up on his John Deer tractor housed in the shed, or pretend to drive the golf cart which also resides in this man cave.

It was late, so Alastair was in his jammies.

Sadly, cousins Robert and Laurel were tied up with football practice, piano lessons and Girl Scouts so they couldn’t make it over while Alastair was here.  But 4 year-old Alysha, our goddaughter’s child,  came for the bonfire and a day of fun. Continue reading

Daygown~Lessons Learned

Liberty daygown

 

LESSON:  Haste makes waste…or dissatisfaction with a rushed project.

After my idle hospital stay, I was desperate to stitch.  But I was restricted for another week from driving or using my sewing machine, specifically from using the foot pedal.   As soon as I was home, I grabbed up the supplies for the daygown that I had planned while hospitalized and rushed to cut it out and begin smocking.

 

daygown goods

 

Pleater use was allowed, but I could not sew up the shoulder seams.  Ah, but I had heard about seamless pleating.  That should work. Continue reading

Back to Halloween

Getting back from the hospital didn’t mean getting back to sewing.  Until two days ago, I was restricted from even press the foot pedal on my sewing machine!  But now I’m really back to my sewing room which features stacks of projects in various stages of readiness.

Halloween is just around the corner so these tee shirts were embroidered for the grandsons, one orange, one black.  The cute design is from JuJu Designs #444  Jumbo Halloween Sampler.  (Wow!  I just checked and this collection and all of her others are now on sale for $6!)  It was very interesting to stitch out, as the sequence, to my surprise, included a reverse applique’ sort of technique midstream.  I had to study the design in BuzzEdit to get a grip on what and why. Continue reading

Making a Scene~Bassinette Skirt and “Francesco”

Side 1 is almost finished. A pretty bow will be made from the wad of ribbon sitting above the pleat.  A 3-dimensional bell will be hung from a silk ribbon and tied around the neck of the plain sheep on the far right.

Though it is not yet finished, this bassinette skirt has been such fun to embroider.  It is for our daughter who is expecting her second child and first little girl.  When she bought the bassinette, she saw the blank, unadorned side panel skirts as blank canvases. Continue reading

Pink Antique Lace Daygown

ant pink lace daygown all2

 

I love antique laces.  I love the extra detail in the pattern, the unusual colors, the history of previous owners and previous uses about which I speculate while I am sewing.

I love this daygown.  I love the materials, the techniques, the details that I so enjoyed adding and the daydreams I entertained while fantasizing about grandchildren in my future.  Can you tell I love heirloom sewing?

Yet again, this is not a modern project for an old fashioned Nana.  I needed grandchildren before I realized the importance of easy care.

Through the years, I have sniffed out some incredible finds.  This lace was one of them.  At the end of this post, I will tell you about how I became the final owner of this unused, antique lace. Continue reading

Exquisitely Detailed Vintage Baby Dress

circa 1940 organdy baby dress

circa 1940 organdy baby dress

 

The bassinette skirt I’ve been working on is coming along, but it surely takes a lot of time to arrange the designs.  So while I continue working on that,  I thought you might enjoy looking at this sweet baby dress which has so many exquisite details.  It was given to me by a friend but she knew nothing about its history or origin.

The fabric seems to be a soft organdy, if there is such a thing.  It may just be that it’s old and has lost some–but not all–of its crispness.  Labeled Tiny Tots Originals  hand made Philippines, every stitch is done by hand.  I googled Tiny Tots and could only find references to a company by that name in the garment district of New York City.

The search also turned up other Tiny Tots Original garments for sale on etsy or eBay.  The information is not corroborated, but those garments were dated 1940-1960, though every vendor seemed to be giving it their best guess.

But my-oh-my the details! Continue reading