Fine Heirloom Sewing, Smocking and Hand Embroidery

"Baby will be well and smiling in little garments made by Mother, Auntie, Grannie and loving friends!"

Please join me as I teach the old fashioned techniques and skills needed to sew baby clothes. You will find lessons that start at the very beginning and take you step by step as we sew little baby clothes together. May you find much joy and pleasure in making them.
It's easy and it's fun!!

Visit My Heirloom Sewing Webshop www.oldfashionedbaby.com




Showing posts with label English Smocking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label English Smocking. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 19

Cute Smocking from Mary's Antiques and Collectables


This is a cute little Smocked Diaper Shirt.

It was for sale at Mary's Antiques and Collectibles in Ponchatoula when I stopped by the other day.


It is very crisp and perky with the pink and blue smocking against a soft white fabric.  

And I love the old fashioned Bullion Flowers!


All Designs Are Copyright Protected copyright 2015 Jeannie

Friday, January 21

The Art of Smocking

I am lucky enough to own this little gem of a smocking book!

Circa 1925

I love that it says "A Collection of Beautiful and Useful Patterns".  
Beautiful and Useful!! My favorite kind!
It has some interesting information in it.  And smocking designs too.

I love her shoes as well as her dress.


I plan to share this little book with you!!

This is my first sharing.   See you soon with more!




All Designs Are Copyright Protected copyright 2011  Jeannie Baumeister

Tuesday, June 1

White Wednesday - Ruffled Brim Smocked Bonnet

Ruffled Brim Smocked Bonnet.
This Smocked Baby Bonnet is from "Baby's Smocked Layette".
Click on the photo to enlarge and see the embroidered Bullion Rosebud on the Smocking.
Made from Swiss Batiste and French Lace.
The Brim is folded back, pleated and  hand smocked. Click on the picture and you can see that I attached the lace to the ruffle with machine Pin-stitching


"Baby's Smocked Layette" pattern.

for more pretty white things....visit Faded Charm!

All Designs Are Copyright Protected copyright 2009 Jeannie Baumeister

Friday, March 12

Thoughts on Smocking!


The Daygown from Smocked Baby Clothes.
This little Daygown is made from Swiss Flannel.  A lovely soft creamy fabric that promises sweet dreams.  And it is perfect even for air conditioning in the summer.  The daygown was made for a Sew Beautiful article about Honeycomb Smocking.  If you look closely at the yoke you will see it is smocked mostly with the  Honeycomb stitch.
Roses on the Collars and Roses between the Buttons.  I love Roses!
Notice that I used lace edging where the smocking meets the yoke.  Just a dainty little detail.
Cute smocking on the sleeves!
I pleated the sleeve in half spaces to give me more control of the small design as well as the soft fabric.
  You must pay close attention to your tension when you smock in cables.  They don't have much give and you don't want the sleeve to be too tight.
Pretty little sleeve.  All Done.  
Smocked sleeves are a great way to gather the fabric at baby's wrist.  The smocking gathers the fabric in so it fits baby and doesn't fall down to cover the little hand but it stretches, so it is not too tight.


This cute  picture of little girls knitting came from the blog "Little Jenny Wren".

I love this picture.  In my mind, the little girls are smocking!  Jenny wrote her thoughts about knitting.  Allowing for a difference in technique, you can almost substitute the word Smocking for Knitting.  Both are such leisurely pursuits, worked with your hands, done for the pleasure of it and always with the the thought "oh, I will do just one more row" before I put my work down. And of course I do several more rows.  I love to see the design develop right before my eyes!

Excerpt  from Little Jenny Wren blog:  "It is joy, isn't it, sometimes frustration and sometimes I guess like when you knit when you sit with a sick child in hospital you maybe are knitting your worried feelings into your work but they are the worried feelings of love.
I can't knit when I am angry, can you?"

 I love the last line!  She is right.  I can't smock when I am angry!





Sunday, March 7

I Love To Smock!

I love to smock!  
Above you see an example of my smocking.  

I have  taught Beginner Smocking classes.  Everyone is  nervous at the beginning because they think it is sooo hard.  And after they have stitched awhile they begin to smile and realize that it is not hard at all.  But!  But, they complain, their work is not as pretty as mine.  It is not as good. Oh??  "Your smocking is way better than mine"  I tell them.  And then I bring out my pride and joy to show them.
I Smocked this little dress 37 years ago.  It was my first Smocking project.
I love baby girls in little Smocked Dresses.  I made this one for my daughter before the era of pleaters.  You hot stamped dots on the fabric and then you actually smocked as you picked up each dot with embroidery floss and who knows what needle!  You had to pick up the dots in the correct order for the Smocking design to work out right.
If you can't see how wonky my stitches are, click for a close up!
There was not one woman in my class whose smocking did not look better than this dress.  And I love this dress.  I thought it was  beautiful!  I had my daughters portrait (well, a K-mart portrait) taken in it.  She was beautiful.  The uneven stitches didn't concern me.  I only saw how cute my daughter was in this dress!  I can still see the beauty in this dress.  I see the beauty of the colors, the dainty fabric and the sweet stitched  design.  And the beauty of the love my fingers worked into this little dress.  And the beauty of my baby who wore it.

And no one disagreed.

So, here is to beauty and not perfection!

Tuesday, March 2

White Wednesday Featuring Smocked Baby Clothes Gown

The long gown from the pattern Smocked Baby Clothes


Lovely gown with Smocked Sleeves and a Lace trimmed collar. Fabric is a pretty lawn.
Delicate colors are used for the Smocking. See the little pink Rosebuds!
The back of the gown is comfortable for baby.  Flat instead of gathers with a little inverted pleat for extra wiggle room.

To see more Wonderful White Blog posts visit  Faded Charm.
To see more Wonderful White Baby Gowns see IvorySpring.

Thursday, January 14

Sweet Baby in "Baby's Smocked Layette" Daygown


Baby Mary Margaret wearing the OFB  "Baby's Smocked Layette" made by her loving Mother.
What a lovely baby!  She is wearing the Daygown version from "Baby's Smocked Layette" pattern made in a soft pink Swiss Flannel.  The long sleeves and the center front are smocked using  white floche and there is lace at the neck and sleeves.  She looks so soft, comfortable and snuggly!  Her Mom took this amazing picture!
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