Thursday, April 11, 2013

Smocking and Lace Details for Project Run & Play Sew-Along

You can enlarge the photos by clicking on the images.


 This week Project Run & Play has challenged it's designers, and those that 'sew along', as I do, to make something that showcases details.  This project was made for a friend to give as a gift to a relative's new baby girl.  The little outfit is full of details but smocking and/or embroidery and French lace are featured on each piece of this 5 piece outfit.  The delicate, faerie lace on the bonnet, dress, and pant*ies is so airy and pretty.   I had the lace in two sizes and used the widest piece on the bonnet.  Can't you see a sweet little face framed in that lace?!  It was so pretty to work with that I smiled each time I touched it, just imagining it on the little recipient!
I used the Smocked Baby Layette pattern by Old Fashioned Baby for the little dress and slip and an old Grace Knott pattern for the bonnet.  The outfit is made in a 6 months (or so) size.

I designed the smocking design for the bonnet myself using two pink floss colors to echo the pink rosebuds in the dress fabric.
I embroidered the full-blown roses on the bonnet ties to hide the stitches attaching the ribbon to the bonnet and to add a little more embroidery.  (I can't help myself!)
The full-blown rose and little French knot flower buds complete the design at the center of the smocking.
The dress is made with a sweet little fine cotton print that I bought online a while ago.  I am sorry that I can't remember the site.  The neckline is edged with entredeux and the gathered French edging is applied by hand.
The smocking design is taken from Ray of Sunshine in issue #25 of Australian Smocking & Embroidery.  The rosebud is my addition to the design to complement the fabric print.
The little puffed sleeves are smocked with the same pattern.  What is truly magnificent about smocked sleeves is that they 'give' with the wearer.  This little sleeve will fit close around the baby's arm but will not leave marks like elastic does when it is too tight.  Smocking 'gives' because the pleats are held together at the top third of the pleats.  My own daughter had many smocked sleeves on otherwise unsmocked dresses because she hated the tight feeling of elastic but loved the look of puffed sleeves with edgings.
The back is closed with embroidered buttons!  This is a detail that will get noticed a lot because of the way babies are carried.

I used the hem facing for the fancy hem on the pattern but straightened out the scallops as they wouldn't show enough through this fabric.  Tiny French seams were used throughout and the hem was put in by hand.
The little pant*ies were made using the Ray of Sunshine pattern from the AS&E magazine mentioned before.  I added the little rose at the center front to indicate the front of the pant*ies but also as another excuse to embroider.  The little socks were embellished with the last of the lace and a little more embroidery.
With the smocking, these pant*ies will never leave marks on chubby little legs.  The only elastic on this outfit is in the waistline casing.  Twenty or thirty years from now the elastic will be useless and can easily be replaced for this little girl's own baby.
The little slip has a different, narrower French lace and the baby's first initial embroidered on the front.  Two tiny, tiny antique shell buttons close the slip at the shoulders.  The buttonholes had to be so small that I had to do them by hand!  Truth be told, that was the most difficult detail for me on this entire ensemble! I redid them three times!
Here is the whole ensemble together.  My daughter's question when she saw this when she came home from college was,  "Ooooo, I like this!  Is this going in your grandmother's hope chest? No?!! Well, you can make one just like this anytime you like... for me!"  Needless to say, I have already put the fabric I have left aside in a drawer with others she just loves and now just have to find more of that lace!  (I can not tell you how glad I am that she likes smocking and heirloom style clothing!)
I hope you enjoyed all the details on this little set.  Check out all the creations made by the other sew-along designers HERE at Project Run & Play!

25 comments:

  1. It's just beautiful and the details you added are amazing.

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    1. Thank you for stopping by and leaving such a lovely comment!

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  2. Karen, oh my!! Beautiful!!!! Some mommy is going to be so happy to dress her daughter in this!! Absolutely beautiful (I especially love the flowers on the bonnet!)

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    1. Thank you, Sarah. I really loved working on this and was actually sad when I finally finished it...and it took a LONG time to do all the handwork and lace work!

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  3. Absolutely amazing details to each piece in this precious ensemble!! I don't think I can even pick one favorite element as I love it all but the embroidered buttons are pretty special!! Beautiful work!!

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    1. Thank you, Gina! I love the embroidered buttons, too. My favorite piece of the ensemble is the bonnet, though. I loved smocking and embroidering it.

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  4. I am so glad you linked up! I always love your detail work. Thanks for sharing! My sister Al, did embroidery for the first time this week-http://shaffer-sisters.blogspot.com/2013/04/concentric-circle-dress.html#comment-form . We think she did a pretty good job
    Maybe some day we will even try smocking!
    with love,
    -Jo

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  5. Very, very detailed as always!! **And that button.....{SWOON}.....

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    1. So glad you like the outfit! I love the detail work you two always do, especially your embroidery.

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  6. I'm so, so glad I came to have a look! This is divine, and such incredible details, I would never in a million year thought of embroidery on a button. And your daughter loving it? - well that's just the icing on the cake:-)
    Thanks for your lovely comment on my raincoat

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    1. Thank you, Angela! I am so glad my daughter appreciates garments like these and will actually dress her child in clothing like them some day. She knows she wore her own dresses all the time and that I always said that I would rather she wore them into shreds than left them in the closet.

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  7. Beautiful work, Karen!!! I love the little bullion rose on the ribbon at point of attachment. I don't think I've ever seen that done.

    Yes, I do think you should start on your Grandma's Hope Chest NOW!!!

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    1. Rett, thank you! There are three outfits in the chest/closet now but I thought if I got one or two things accomplished a year for future grands that I'd be ahead of the game. Unfortunately, almost every time I make something, I give it away! LOL! I WILL make another of these outfits, though, because my Rosebud loved it so much.

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  8. Very rarely, whenever we go spend a day at Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains, do we not run into a group of Menonites. And I'm always so excited when it happens! I can stand 20 feet away, and still, see well enough to admire the perfection in the sewing of their garments. My entire life flashes before me, wishing geographical distance had not been a culprit that kept me away from conning my grandmother to teach me to sew halfway as nicely. I am reminded of those things every time I visit your blog. And I can never leave without smiles and appreciation for knowing somebody out there carries on such prized traditions! You should teach around the country!

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    1. Oh,my goodness! I think that is the loveliest comment I have ever received! I can only imagine the sewing skills of the Menonites, as I have never lived near a Menonite community. From what I understand of their culture, though, everything they do is done well, to the best of their abilities, without shortcuts and made to last. I do strive to do my personal best each time I create something and so I am so appreciative of the comparison! I hope you are doing alright. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

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  9. Wow...I am blown away by this. I would have loved to receive a special little outfit like this, with so much beautiful attention to detail. I LOVE that the buttons are embroidered, and you're right, they will get shown a LOT. This is so incredibly sweet, and you are so incredibly talented!

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    1. Thank you for the lovely compliments! This was a lovely project to work on.

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  10. What a lovely ensemble! You even smocked socks to go with it! I LOVE how you made the prospect from behind beautiful as well!

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    1. Thank you! The socks were a fun little addition to the ensemble. I just love fancy socks and they don't seem to be offered in stores as much as they used to be. Finding simple plain white ones to embellish was a challenge!

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  11. That has to be one of the most beautiful sets that I have ever seen in my entire life! WOW!! Just so delicate and detailed!! Amazing!!!



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    1. Thank you so much! I really appreciate the lovely complement!

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  12. This set is just amazing... I love how delicate and beautiful everything is. I really love that you embroidered roses where the bonnet ribbon is attached and on the buttons. It's so beautiful!

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  13. Thank you, Charity! I really love to embroider!

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  14. Lisa, you are so talented! Your design AND execution are just perfect. But this is the sort of over-the-moon set you make for your own children or grandchildren. I can't believe how generous you are. Lucky friends you have!

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    1. Thank you, Janice! I really do enjoy making these things, especially when I am allowed to 'do my own thing'. I can be creative and enjoy the process. I do want to make one of these eyelet sets for a future granddaughter to wear someday, though.

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