{"id":8367,"date":"2010-07-26T21:44:44","date_gmt":"2010-07-27T01:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=8367"},"modified":"2012-11-06T01:16:10","modified_gmt":"2012-11-06T06:16:10","slug":"vintage-white-baby-dress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/26\/vintage-white-baby-dress\/","title":{"rendered":"Vintage White Baby Dress"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This sweet round yoke baby dress is the last of the six that hang in the nursery here at our home (see post Nana’s Nursery<\/em><\/a>).\u00c2\u00a0 With a numerous embellishments, it clearly took considerable time to make.<\/p>\n

As usual, I thought about its maker and wondered if the dress had been made for a child, grandchild or perhaps a niece.\u00c2\u00a0 Obviously, it was lovingly stitched.\u00c2\u00a0 Due to the range of skills exhibited, I even wondered if it had been a group project, perhaps mother and daughter working together.<\/p>\n

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The simple but extensive embroidery appears to have been done by a very competent needleworker.<\/p>\n

The three petal rose pattern is worked between the rows of tucks on the bodice, along the round yoke itself, between\u00c2\u00a0tucks on the puff sleeves\u00c2\u00a0and in a cascade down the skirt front.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The coordinated designs are carefully stitched.<\/p>\n

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But the tucks tell a different story, one perhaps of perseverance rather than skill.\u00c2\u00a0 On the bodice, the tucks are uneven, but still effective.<\/p>\n

On the back,\u00c2\u00a0twelve larger 1\/4″ tucks add pleasing fullness to the skirt.\u00c2\u00a0 Their parallel placement is more accurate than the thirty-six bodice tucks.<\/p>\n

But a casual look at the sleeves raises the question, “Why?”\u00c2\u00a0 Why were they spaced so irregularly?\u00c2\u00a0 Were they stitched by a younger family member and left as\u00c2\u00a0witness to budding skills?<\/p>\n

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The cutwork edge at the neckline and cuff edge again appear to be stitched satisfactorily.<\/p>\n

What we see is handwork at a higher level of achievement than the machine work.<\/p>\n

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After\u00c2\u00a0I purchased this dress, I saw this ad for a similar dress in a Herrshners’ catalogue.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0As I read that the dress and “Gertrude ” (slip) could be purchased ready-made, stitched in the Philippines, I was reminded of many of the Chinese made embroidered bed and table linens.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So many have lovely handwork but painfully inept machine work.\u00c2\u00a0 Often, it appears that the machines were very inadequate\u00c2\u00a0for the job.\u00c2\u00a0 Often you see wads of thread on the bobbin side and skipped stitched everywhere.<\/p>\n

Is that what story of this dress?\u00c2\u00a0 Of course,\u00c2\u00a0we will never know.\u00c2\u00a0 These old beauties keep their secrets and keep us guessing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  This sweet round yoke baby dress is the last of the six that hang in the nursery here at our home (see post Nana’s Nursery).\u00c2\u00a0 With a numerous embellishments, it clearly took considerable time to make. As usual, I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,4,25,28,5,33],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8367"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8367"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24835,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8367\/revisions\/24835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}