Category Archives: smocking

Jo’s Family Easter

Jo's family in their Easter finery. Every one (except Jo!!!!) is wearing one of her creations.

Jo’s beautiful family in their Easter finery. Every one (except Jo, unless she made the lavender sweater) is wearing one of her creations.

I just love seeing what you all have sewn up for holidays–or everydays!  So it really pleased me to see photos of Jo’s family all decked out in the Easter garments she made.   They are all color coordinated in lavender and yellow, with a paisley print used on several outfits.  Living in the cold, cold north, Jo chose corduroy for the little ones in the family.

As so often happens, in the midst of her rush to finish up, there were complications.  Most of the family came down with a terrible virus requiring huge amounts of laundry, at the exact time that her dryer died.  So while she tended to the sick, she was running back and forth to the home of a good neighbor whose dryer was put at Jo’s disposal.  All the while for those several days, Jo awaited delivery of her own new laundry appliance.

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In spite of these roadblocks, she finished everything up–dresses for the girls, a smocked Children’s Corner Johnny for little Gideon and ties for the big boys and her husband. Continue reading

Baby Bishop Bubble

baby bishop bubble all

Psst!!! Ready-to-smock Smockables, have I told you lately that I love you?  As Elvis sang, could I tell you once again somehow?  Well, I am going to.

Two weeks ago (yes, 10 days before finish-the-Easter-clothes rush) I was asked by an extremely devoted member of our church to smock something for a fundraiser April 5.  Yikes!

Maria is at the church every day, working on one thing or another.  I Just couldn’t tell her no and I knew couldn’t possibly start until after Easter.  Smockables to the rescue!  I finished in just 3 days of “free” time (humphh!) between laundry, cooking, etc.

Having a few of these beauties in my stash makes me feel like SuperSmocker.  I may not wear a cape, but with these little treasures handy, I feel like I can do almost anything! Continue reading

Happy Easter 2013

lily

Robert and Laurel brought me this lovely, fragrant Easter lily. There are three more buds, so it will bloom for quite a while.

What fun family time we enjoyed this year as we celebrated Easter.  Our daughter, Rebecca, and her family arrived mid-week and our son, Ryan, and his family were with us all day Saturday, when we had our Easter dinner.

 

VnA lying down

Alastair adores his baby sister. She looks like the feeling is mutual.

Saturday began with the Bunny Lunch at church, always a big hit with our grandchildren.  Approximately 75 children along with their parents or grandparents participated. The event began with an Easter craft followed by lunch. Continue reading

Readers’ Easter Outfits

While it’s unlikely that I am the only Nana or Mama stitching right down to the Easter Sunday deadline, it’s nice to know that some readers are contentedly dying eggs, sampling gourmet jelly beans and buying chocolate bunnies.  Ahhh, I wish.

 

Courtney finished this gorgeous brother-sister set more than 10 days ago!

Courtney finished this gorgeous brother-sister set more than 10 days ago!  And  these aren’t even their church clothes!  See below.

 

Courtney shared  pictures of TWO brother-sister sets that she has made for Easter.

Her daughter’s first dress is cut from one of my all-time favorite patterns, Maggie  by Children’s Corner. The smocking plate is Bunny Luv by Ellen McCarn.  I love that she mirror imaged the chocolate bunny on the dress so they are facing one another.    Her color choices are as  lovely as her smocking. Continue reading

Antique Baby Bibs and Grandbabies

ant bib 1

 

Antique textiles offer so much creative inspiration.  Suzanne Sawko and I found this elaborate antique bib at the once-in-a-lifetime estate sale mentioned in earlier posts.  It appears to have both machine and hand stitches on a fabric similar to light weight pima broadcloth or a heavy weight Swiss batiste. Continue reading

Lighting Candles, Playing Dolls, This and That

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crying Karoline

My mother, Dollie Manning, was a very gifted doll maker. Years ago, she made the as many as 80 porcelain dolls for each of the Sewing for Dolls events that Mildred Turner, Terri Johnson and I held around the country. Additionally, she provided dolls for several similar schools sponsored by Ellen Nickerson in the San Francisco area. Mom also made tiny 3-8″ dolls that Lezette Thomason marketed and for which Lezette had drafted patterns. Then there were the dolls she made for our daughter Rebecca. That’s a lotta dolls.

When 8 year old granddaughter Laurel discovered that there are 3 storage bins of dolls in the garage, she just had to see them. She was allowed to select one to keep and she chose this very unique baby who had lost a shoe through the years.

You don’t often see a doll crying but Karoline (the name given her by Laurel) had tears that looked real.

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The sheen on Karoline’s tears is from clear fingernail polish.

Then I told Karoline’s story to Laurel. Continue reading

“Found” Clothes for Vivian Rose

I’ve just returned from a visit with 7 week old Vivian Rose and her family.  She is smiling and holding her head up now, so it was exciting to see the changes in just a few weeks.

While I was there, my Rebecca rediscovered these baby clothes buried deep in her cedar chest.

The pink daygown above and the white one below with fagoted lace were made shortly after Rebecca discovered that she was pregnant the first time.  We expected a girl but got precious little Alastair instead.  So these gowns with their matching bonnets were packed away.

After Vivian Rose arrived, the gowns could not be found.  Rebecca thought I had them and I thought she did.  Finally, she checked her cedar chest and there they were, along with several other sweet things that we both had forgotten about.

Now, Baby Girl has a greatly expanded wardrobe, with no more effort from her old fashioned Nana!  Here are some of the finds……

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Alastair wearing his little lamb daygown

The lamb daygown was made for and worn by Big Brother Alastair, but I think it will be just fine for a little girl.  It will give her mother a break from all the pink she requested and received! Continue reading

Easter Dresses from the Past

Courtney wrote a sweet note asking about Easter dresses I have made in the past.  For her 2 year old daughter, she is designing an heirloom confection for this same celebration.  She was curious about my granddaughter Laurel’s earlier special frocks.

bunny bubble

 

She was just 10 months old, crawling at lightning speed when her first Easter rolled around.  A bubble seemed to be the most sensible solution for a baby who spent most of her waking moments on her knees.  For details of this little outfit, headband and matching bib for Easter dinner, see the post Baby Bunny Bubble.

 

 

1st birthday~Easter dress

 

Laurel’s first birthday was two months later.  She was toddling around, making it easy for me to justify making the heirloom dress of my dreams.  I absolutely loved making  this.  For details and more photos than you will want to look at, check the post First Birthday Dress.

 

slip

 

For me, the matching slip was the finishing touch.

Her second Easter fell just a few months before our daughter’s wedding, Continue reading

Smocked Polka Dot Gown~My Attempt at “Contemporary”


As I began planning Vivian Rose’s layette,  I pulled out my favorite baby patterns, including this Baby’s Smocked Layette.    Making it was just a pleasure.

I love this pattern.   Because of the simple design an excellent directions, the gown practically falls together.  I especially like the illustration of the drawn up neckline in preparation for binding.  It includes precise measurements for the width of the front and sleeves at the neckline.  The back opening buttons all the way down to the hem, making it easy to dress Baby. Continue reading

Baby Comes Home

Vivian Rose sleeps sweetly in spite of he jaundice.

Vivian Rose at home, sleeping sweetly in spite of her jaundice.

 

Vivian Rose is home with her family and I am here helping, but mostly enjoying this precious baby. Of course, she is beautiful and strong, and we are pretty sure she can talk and read. She just chooses not to.

This polycotton daygown, which was intended as an everyday, utility frock, was promoted to Coming Home Outfit  because the other garments– of   Swiss batiste, Swiss flannel, dotted Swiss stripe, and Liberty  were much too large.  Even this newborn-3 month size enveloped her like a gunny sack. Frankly,  I think the yellow Old Fashioned Baby gown would have been the best fit.  But yellow is not a good color for a baby with significant jaundice. Continue reading