The Old Fashioned Baby Sewing Room

Fine Heirloom Sewing, Smocking and Hand Embroidery

Sunday, May 19

Emma

The fix to the sleeve worked.

Emma is beautiful. And so is her (barefoot) doll!!

Friday, May 17

Emma's Frist Communion Dress. Part 2

While fixing the First Communion dress for Emma to wear,

I made her American Girl doll a matching dress.

Notice pink around the waist, just like Emma wanted for her own dress.

Here is Emm'a doll dress all finished and being worn by her cousins doll.

I didn't use all of the trims like I used on Emma's dress since the doll dress needed to be a much smaller scale.

Unlike Emma's dress, I didn't cut the fabric away behind the fancy band of insertion. This was easier and made it more stable so it can be taken on and off and on and off etc., etc. by Emma.

The fix to Emma's dress was to unstitch the underarm of the sleeve from the armhole all the way down to the Swiss beading. I overcast the raw edges with a seam binding so it doesn't unravel while being worn and I will remove the binding and re-sew it afterward. The ribbon at the sleeve will keep the sleeve in place.

Since Emma doesn't live here, I will have to wait until they receive the package and try the dress on before I know how it worked out.

This is real life, folks!

Thursday, May 16

First Communion Dress

My Granddaughter Emma is wearing her Big Sisters First Communion Dress for her own upcoming First Communion. I made it several years ago after much consultation with Big Sister and my daughter.

They wanted simple but pretty....and puffy sleeves.

But Emma's favorite color is Pink, not Blue. So I had to change the ribbon to pink.

Emma trys it on for me last year.

Needs a wash and an iron.

But, she likes it.

The hem is made from several lovely Swiss trims all sewn together.

They go with the center band on the front yoke.

The fabric is Dotted Swiss and I used Angel Lace for all the lace edging.

I changed the ribbon, had it pressed and ready to go. Then...

Emma broke her elbow. Nice bright pink cast.

But she couldn't get the dress on.

So it was sent back to me to fix. More on this dilemma next time!

Tuesday, May 14

Having Fun!

This is the crown of a bonnet that my friend is stitching.

I decided to celebrate spring in my garden with a couple of friends.

Isn't Spring beautiful?

This only looks like a plate of sandwiches and cheese.

But, it is a plate that I bought at a Paris Flea Market (I just love saying those words!) and has French Cheese on it.

Roses for my table.

Friends ebay treasures.

And friends who brought Show and Tell.

This vintage tatting was the inspiration for an entire outfit.

Sweet & Simple Baby Daygown Collections.

A Daygown, Bonnet and Slip.

The slip that sports the tatting is not shown.

The tatting proved to be too much for the Daygown. Isn't that funny how what we think will work and what really will work is often not the same thing at all!

I like her muted color choices.

And the design she is embroidering on her Bonnet Crown.

She used DMC 761 and 3815

Anchor converts to - 1020 or 1021 green and 877 or 875 pink.

Sunday, May 12

Stitching With the Atlanta Smocking Guild

Someone was kind enough to bring in this Baby Gown they made using my OFB pattern Antique T-Yoke, Gown and Christening Gown.

Her work is lovely!

On this day we were working on our Whip Tucked Baby Dress.

We were whipping the tucks and stitching the lace!

Eating with Sewing Friends is sew much fun! Notice the party favors.

Then a break for an amazing lunch.

Love the Aprons.

A talented member not only made this lunch but also the party favors to go with it! She used copies of old patterns for the cover of this notebook. Very clever.

Back to sewing.

The fabric was cut away from the lace and finished on the wrong side of the dress. I wish I had taken a picture of the front too. But, the wrong side of this garment is done very nicely indeed!

And then I went home!