Tag Archives: Feather stitching

Christmas Fawn Daydress

Christmas is just around the calendar corner and it’s rush, rush, rush for me and many of you. I’ve just finished this Swiss batiste dress for Baby Beatrice.

I’ve written in earlier posts about Baby Bea, our new granddaughter via our church. Neither of her parents’ mothers is living, so months before she was born they asked me to serve as her official Nana. That was a happy day! And, of course, she is a doll, just now 4 months old, which for me has been at least 120 more happy days.

Her daddy is an avid hunter, especially for deer. Bea’s little daydress is a reminder NOT to shoot Bambi or his antlered father.

But back to the dress……the pattern is Old Fashioned Baby‘s Baby Daydress.

Like all of Jeannie B’s patterns, this one is a delight to sew and offers several design options. I love the Scriptures and embroidery designs she places in the blank space around the pattern pieces.

The shadow work fawn is from Joy Welsh’s Applique for Kids. It stitches just beautifully with her instructions. The greenery beneath the fawn was extracted from another design which I cannot recall right now.

The holly at the neckline is another design whose origin I cannot recall. I need to keep better records of what I embroider.

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Free ME Fil Tire’ Heart Design

To receive the free machine embroidered heart design, state your request as a comment at the end of this post. The .pes design will be e-mailed to you.

fil tire’ hearts on Swiss flannel baby shawl

The previous post which showed Judy Day’s Valentine outfits for her granddaughters reminds me that this celebration of affection is just around the corner.

For Laurel, my 7 year-old granddaughter, I am smocking a pink bishop nightgown with a matching one for her AG doll.  But I have left a small section at the center front with no pleats.  Machine embroidered in this area is the fil tire’ heart.

 

I’ve used this design several times for Laurel, most recently on last year’s Easter dress.

My overly ambitious plan was to have these nighties finished by now, feature them in this post and offer the design free to readers.  I thought this might give you enough time to use it on some Valentine project.

This is just a very small token of my gratitude for those of you who read this blog, those who have made purchases to help me in my de-stashing efforts, and those who have offered your friendship.  I do so appreciate each one of you.

Well, neither gown is done but ….tick*tock*tick*tock…time passes by.  So I am re-running this  Pink Diamond Baby Pillow post and a photo above from the Heart Swag Baby Shawl post to show you what the heart looks like.  It also includes detailed instructions for stitching it out.

fil tire’ heart in winter colors, 1.56″ x 1.92″

So, Dear Readers, happy Valentine sewing to you.  Just leave a comment requesting the design and I will e-mail it to you in .pes format. Continue reading

Linen Machine Shadow Embroidered Pillow

linenshadMadeirababypilwhole

 

 

I love projects for babies and this is one of my favorites.  From design to execution, this linen pillow has some interesting details. The open ends of the pillowcase offer the opportunity to give more balance to the overall design, with color and embroidery at both ends.

The handwork techniques used on this baby accessory look convincingly like they were stitched in the traditional manner, but they were all done entirely by machine. Thanks to the miracle advances in sewing notions and machine technology, Madeira appliqué, feather stitch, pinwheel roses and shadow embroidery are quickly, easily and quite perfectly done.

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Old Fashioned Baby Bubble

zoldFashionedbubble

This is a delightful little bubble, old fashioned in appearance but with all the convenience of a modern garment.   It looks soooooo much better on  Baby than on the hanger.  When I showed this to Rebecca, she paused a moment before saying, “….uh..thanks.”

But after she saw it on 5-month old Alastair, she really liked it.

 

OFB A standing

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Butterfly Baby Blanket

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.

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Little Lamb Daygown

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