Laurel with gentle old LeRoi
Right in the midst of her princess phase, Laurel turned three. At DisneyWorld, she had seen Cinderella and knew that was what she wanted to be when she grew up. Of course, the theme of her birthday party had to be princesses.
Posted in boys, girls, heirloom sewing, party accessories and ideas, smocking
These little teepee bags, whose zippers are approximately 8″ long, were party favors for granddaughter Laurel’s 5th birthday, a My Little Pony/Unicorn party. Ignorant as about all things Pony, this Nana was on a steep learning curve. Only when Laurel became enamored of the hairy, rubberized little equines did I realize that I needed to check it out. Continue reading
Grandma quilts have love in every stitch. Author Unknown
Just before his third birthday, Robert became enamored of the I Spy books he checked out of the library. With this in mind, I decided an I Spy quilt would be a great gift for his birthday.
Robert spies his quilt.
Robert was so pleased with his I Spy quilt. After he opened the package, the other children were quite intrigued and began examining the items in each square. Feeling a little overwhelmed by the festivities and his guests’ enthusiastic manhandling of his special quilt, Robert announced that he was going to take a rest. And please would Nana come with him.
With one hand he grabbed a corner of the quilt and with the other he took my hand. We went to his room and snuggled a little while before he was ready to face the bedlam that attends 3 year-old birthday parties. Ahhh…Nana heaven! Continue reading
Two things I dislike about my granddaughter–when she won’t take her afternoon nap, and when she won’t let me take mine. ~Gene Perret
This Swiss flannel blanket is one of my daughter Rebecca’s favorites for her baby Alastair. It is embroidered with designs from Hatched in Africa. The floral “C”  is from their Daisy Monogram and the butterflies are from Daisy Heirlooms 1.
Alastair's Lambs
This is NOT a modern project for an old fashioned Nana. It is as traditional and old fashioned as it can be, made of 100% cotton Swiss pique and hand embroidered with enough French knot sheep to fill an Irish hillside. But I loved making it and love seeing him in it.
This design is from Wendy Schoen’s book, Embroidery for Boys. From the moment I laid eyes on “Counting Sheep”  when the book was first released about 15 years ago, I knew I had to make it. Finally, Alastair, the baby boy of our dreams, wears the gown of my dreams. Continue reading
Posted in hand embroidery, heirloom sewing, infant clothing
Tagged Embroidery, Feather stitching, Madeira applique
More details about the quilt are posted here.
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When my daughter and son-in-law got the good news that they were to be first time parents, they requested a Harry Potter nursery. I was at a loss. How was I to make this look soft enough for a baby and yet maintain the requested theme? I like heirloom style and soft colors. Harry Potter is neither.
With all the visual fodder in the lengthy 7 book series, it was necessary to narrow the focus.
Keeping in mind that Rebecca specifically requested bright colors, I went to the drawing board. I like to start a nursery decoration plan with a quilt. That establishes the color scheme and allows many spin offs and opportunities for accessories.
After deciding on “fantastic creatures” I set to work, looking for designs that could be edited and customized to meet the description of critters from unicorns and fairies (the easy ones) to a thesteral, Pygmy Puff and snidget. Continue reading
Posted in baby accessories, machine embroidery, quilts, serger
Brother-Sister Pals
Frankly, it looks like Laurel is enjoying this sibling hug more than her brother. But they did look so cute in their matching smocked frog outfits. Both garments are “ready-to-smock” in blue microcheck polyblend fabric, the smocking is two different frog plates.
Robert’s insert, probably 45″ pleated up, had plenty of pleats to make cute, crisp little frogs from the Cross Eyed Cricket Frog Pond plate. But when I tried to smock just one at the center front of Laurel’s dress, it looked like Jabba the Hut and would have scared any children in the area. Continue reading
Yet another ready-to-smock customized to achieve the look I wanted. My gorgeous grandson was just too pretty to suit up in denim bib overalls, but the smocked ruffled sleeve was more fuu-fuu than I wanted.
So after adding blue embroidered Swiss trim and entredeux to the front, I cuffed the sleeves instead of smocking them. The cuff is trimmed like the front, with entredeux and blue Swiss trim.
Like most of the ready-to-smock garments, this is wash and wear. My daughter doesn’t mind ironing the little bit of Swiss trim.
Ahhh…a daughter and grandson to warm the cockles of this old fashioned Nana’s heart.  And a son-in-law who indulges my love of classic baby clothing. Ahhhh….life is good!
Made from the Easy-Sew Sundress pattern in Sew Beautiful issue #119 (baby on cover with Dorset feather stitches dress), this is one of my granddaughter’s favorites. Being ever mindful (well, almost “ever”) of the busy life my daughter-in-law lives, it is a true wash and wear dress.
With green and white Imperial batiste, polycotton blend pink gingham check and a unique poly machine cross stitch insertion (available soon from the JaniceFergusonSews.com store), it goes right from the washer and dryer to the hanger.
Posted in girls
This ready-to-smock frock was smocked and dressed up for Laurel’s 5th birthday. She loves rainbows and unicorns, like all 5 year olds, so this garment really tickled her pink.
I combined Ellen McCarn’s Unicorn plate and an old Martha Pullen rainbow plate. With the advantage of a completely constructed and pleated dress, the smocking went very quickly.
After smocking, the first challenge was to hand embroider the collar without any stitches or knots showing on the underside. To accomplish this, I employed the same quilter’s knot technique used on Alastair’s bubble (see that post).
Next, I wanted to add Swiss trim to the collar, sleeves and sash. To avoid unacceptable overlap of trim at center front, I first measured out the amount of trim needed to gather around each collar (a ratio of one to one and one half  is my personal preference). Then I tapered each end to a point.
Over white quilting thread, I rolled and whipped, using my beloved Madeira Cotona 80 wt. thread. After the trim was pulled up to the appropriate length, it was hand whipped just below the piping.
Unicorn Dress Back
Entredeux/Swiss trim was added to the tail of the sash in the same manner as the sleeves.
Finally, I dealt with the back yoke. Legendary sewing diva Elizabeth Travis Johnson always advocated putting something attractive on the back of garments, either children’s or adults. She always wore a brooch or some small decoration on the back of her clothes for church. She thought it broke up the tedium of all those plain backs the in pews.
The “utility” quality buttons on the ready made dress were replaced with mother of pearl. These bright rose buttons were purchased at an antique shop, many of which have vintage sewing equipment and notions. Every time I find colored pearl buttons, I snatch them up. Finding them in shops or on-line is difficult.
Then, hand embroidery to match the collar was stitched between the buttonholes. The hem was turned up. Done. And in a fraction of the time it would have taken to construct the yoke dress  from scratch.
What’s not to love about ready-to-smock garments?
