Ooh la la Dress

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The dress is badly wrinkled, I know, I know.  But it was finished just this afternoon, popped over dgd Laurel’s sweet head in the church parking lot, worn to the pot luck supper for VBS and then worn home–lots of good reasons to be wrinkled. When I asked her to let me take a few pictures, she replied, “Please hurry, Nana!  We’re going for a night swim!”   So there you have it–this was the best I could do.  Please imagine it freshly pressed, as it was before the church supper.

 

 

 

All About Blanks carries these 60% ramie/40% cotton dresses ($24) and they are wonderful.  There is a double row of drawn thread work at the hemline while the neck and armscyses are bound with self bias.  They come in white and pink sizes 12M to 6, though currently many sizes are temporarily out of stock.  It also comes in yellow dotted Swiss ($28) but only up to size 4.   Note that they run almost a size large. Eight year old Laurel is on the small side of average and wears this 6 quite comfortably.  I made up a white one last year (size 5) that she can still wear.

 

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Now about the embroidery, about which I am pretty pleased.  Continue reading

Daygown in Waiting

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More than this daygown is in waiting.  My daughter and her husband are expecting their second child and I can hardly wait to find out the baby’s gender.  We will be delighted with a baby boy or girl, but I desperately want to know which it is!

When Rebecca was pregnant with her first, Alastair who is now 3, I sent her a package every Monday to help tick the weeks off.  Sometimes it was a complete outfit, like this daygown and bonnet, and other times it was just a bib.  But every week something was sent.

It’s a very long story about how Alastair was expected to be a girl, but that’s why there were so many pink and frilly gifts sent and which now lie in waiting.  So this  time, I am waiting for confirmation of gender before I begin any pink or blue projects.  That news may come as early as next week.

Meanwhile, we are tied up with our other two grandchildren, six year old Robert and 8 year old Laurel who are spending the week with us.  They are attending Vacation Bible School at our church and it will be a hectic week.

 

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So until I finish and can show you the cute little French dress (see Lulu in Paris designs) I’m working on, I hope this re-run of the Daygown in Waiting will serve to notify you that I am still alive and kicking and blogging.

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Contemporary Heirloom?

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This pillowcase and its mate will be included in a wedding gift I am putting together for my cousin’s daughter. The first and only time I saw Jordan was when she was 14 and spent a week with us learning to sew. Now she has just graduated from University of Nebraska and will be married next week by her father in the church he pastors.

Sewing for others always requires at least a cursory consideration of their personal taste. When her grandmother (my sweet Aunt Rheeta) told me the wedding colors were black and white, and then the very contemporary invitation arrived, I knew Jordan was a 2012 Thoroughly Modern Millie.

But she is a beautiful young lady, both inside and out, who will be a lovely bride and a loving wife. She is entitled to her own taste. Continue reading

Heirloom Bow Dress Hand-me-Down

"Rebecca's Bow Dress" lengthened

“Rebecca’s Bow Dress” lengthened

It seems that I have spent a lot of time strolling down memory lane lately. This dress is yet another project from the past, 28 years past to be exact. What memories it evokes, what an interesting history it has! This dress has been around the world.

I first saw a version of this pretty thing at the very first SAGA Regional Seminar in Spartanburg, SC, in 1982 (I think). My mother, my dear friend Mary Hale Hoffmann (a PlayGroup Mama) and I attended this life-altering event.It was also the first time that either Mary or I had left our children at home while we “gallivanted” and the first time that we experienced the world of smocking and heirloom sewing outside our circle of three. Lots of firsts on this trip!

But first let me give you the details of the dress itself for those of you who have no interest in ancient history.

The pattern is Rebecca’s Bow Dress, which I did for Martha Pullen.

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Continue reading

Another Smocked AG Doll Dress

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This dress was made many years ago, before embroidery machines, before grandchildren and before I had any idea that grandparenthood would be such a busy time. Again and again I am grateful for all my class samples, like this dress, which seem to have been lying in wait to be worn or played with by a grandchild.

When Mildred Turner and I were doing our Sewing for Dolls schools around the country, we designed unique, personalized wardrobes for porcelain dolls, made by my mother Dollie Manning, an extremely telented and well-known doll artist, and included in the class kits.  Each school had a different doll–the same body but different face and hair, like American Girl or Cabbage Patch dolls, so all the clothes and patterns were interchangeable.

Each doll was like a participant in the Witness Protection Program. She was given an identity and fictional life, even an adoption certificate, then outfitted to fit the character she became. Continue reading

My Estate Sale Treasures

33" luncheon cloth in tiny cross stitch

Oh, my! This estate sale was more fun than when the circus comes to town.  Actually, I’m not a fan of circuses, but you know what I mean.  Being in that house was like stepping into a 1925 time capsule and bringing whatever I wanted back home to 2012!   And I wanted a lot…..  But for budgetary limitations, I’d have just bought the farm.

The set has 4 matching napkins.

Several of my friends wanted in on the fun, so we made it a girlfriend field  trip.   We caravaned into the quiet neighborhood, each shopper in her own vehicle, so that we had plenty of cargo space to carry home our booty.

I had been to the house earlier in the week to help  evaluate the textiles for my friend who was running the sale.  I should have left a trail of bread crumbs. Continue reading

Readers’ Creative Projects

The past week has been a blur!  We had our precious 3 yo grandson Alastair with us for 5 days, that big estate sale that I couldn’t keep myself away from (more on that in another post), and a family cold that clobbered me.

 

Alastair just gave out, clutching his beloved E=MC2 (squared) blanket.  His mama calls it his nerd blankie.

 

Six year old grandson Robert,victim #1, had it first and shared it with  #2 Cousin Alastair  who spent two of his 5 days with us in abject misery.  Then a day later, my number (#3) was up and Bad Bug morphed into bronchitis and Black Plague.  Well, it felt like what I imagine Black Plague did.

Now, hale and hearty Granddad (#4) is sneezing.  Even Alastair’s father Harvey (#5), an aged-out Eagle Scout (motto Be Prepared),  keeps his handkerchief handy. We’ve gone through A LOT of orange juice, Kleenex and vitamin C.

The really good news is that my PREGNANT (hurrah!!!) daughter has nary a sniffle.

But I am eager to get back to blogging.  One of the best things about this blogging activity is viewing the photos of projects made by you dear readers.  I love getting these pictures!

Today, I’d like to share a few with you.

 

Shirley made the doll dress with designs from a Custom Keepsakes collection. The sweet doll was rescued from a thrift shop.

Continue reading

New Sundress, NewTechniques

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The past two weeks have been very, very hectic.  Aside from an increase in the busy-ness of everyday life, I’ve been learning more about my Brother Quattro sewing/embroidery comb machine.  This little sundress is the result of my first attempts at using a few of the amazing features.  I’m just blown away with the impact of technology on today’s sewing machines.

Somewhere, I have a booklet printed in 1900 which celebrates the advances in Singer sewing machines up to 1900.  In that little publication, it was stated that every advance possible had been included in the newest Singer sewing machine model. Again and again, it stressed that there were absolutely no more improvements possible!  The machine stitched forward and backward and stitch length that could be adjusted.  What more could sewing women want?  The machine of 1900 was perfected.

They were wrong.

But first, here are the specs on the dress.  The pattern is Martha Pullen’s Summer Separates.   Now that my granddaughter, Laurel, is 8, I am happy to have a pattern that reaches up into the big girl sizes. Continue reading

Estate Sale~Shop Now!

NOTE: If you see something you want, let me know ASAP so I can snap it up for you Friday morning.  Leave a comment or e-mail NCcabin@aol.com

crochet 80 x 84" ~~$40

In an earlier post there was information about an upcoming HUGE estate sale.  Check that post for prices on the items shown there.

one textile pile before being sorted

If you are in the area, you will want to be there.  The sale date is Friday, June 9, 8:00 or 8:30 a.m.  I’ll find out for sure sometime today (Wednesday).  The address is 812 W. Highland, DeLand, Florida.  Because the street is just one block long, this location can be hard to find so check your GPS, google maps or some other map source.  It is in the southwest corner of DeLand.  Tip:  The house directly across the street is a charming cottage with a yard full of flowers.  The front walk is lined with pots of red geraniums.    The estate sale house is a gray/blue two story. Continue reading

Shirley’s Beautiful Altar Cloth

hardanger embroidery with hemstitching on altar cloth point

After whining about my  communion cloth disappointment, I was so heartened and touched by the kind comments posted by several dear readers.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.

Terri’s words really struck home and I am holding on to it.  She said, “.. the day is not about your linens, but the Time with our Lord and the communion… Say a prayer and give it to God. HE is the only thing perfect!”

Then I followed  your unanimous advice and pressed the heavily starched “linen look” cloth.  These past few days, it’s been really hot here in Florida, so we’ve kept the air conditioning running non-stop.  I hope that helps the fabric maintain the artificial crispness from today’s session at the ironing board.

Without seeing it, the Worship Committee said to put the cloth on the altar this morning before worship service.  That will give me an opportunity to take pictures which I will post soon.  With the whole view of how it hangs, you can better judge if it is acceptable.

Shirley, who is extremely accomplished in a multitude of needlearts, wrote privately with sweet words of encouragement as well as some very interesting information about sewing church linens. Also included were these pictures of a spectacular altar cloth she just finished, one of a set of three.

She has been a church organist for many years and has been played in many sanctuaries.  She said: Continue reading