Chloe's Autumn Mix & Match Wardrobe

Click on the photos to enlarge them to see details.

Project Run and Play has some wonderful inspiration for this season's themes!  I had so many ideas for this week's challenge "I Am an Autumn"  that I couldn't stop at just one 'look'.  I decided to make my friend Kaye's little Chloe a 'mix and match' wardrobe.  Planning this set reminded me so much of the mix and match sets for Barbie and Midge that I would save my allowance to buy back in the early 60's.  This was fun!  There are five pieces to show you here but there were seven pieces planned.  Unfortunately, one blouse and one skirt didn't get finished in time for the challenge.  They will be completed and shared in another post.

Two blouses, two pairs of shorts, and an heirloom skirt were completed and we had a little photo session this evening.  Now shorts may not be Autumn attire in most of the country but I assure you that here in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida, it is still HOT and will continue to be for a long while yet.  The shorts will get lots of wear!

Peasant blouse (Simplicity) and 'walking' shorts from the book Sewing with Whimsy by Kari Mecca.

The color isn't true here.  The green is better in the other photos. I was gifted this bottom weight fabric so I can't tell you where to find it.  It has some polyester and holds a crease beautifully.  

Tatted medallions were given to me by a friend as was the lace attached to the hem and sleeves.  The buttons were also given to me by other people.  I have been the fortunate recipient of many people's family button boxes. 

In the next picture, Chloe models her Autumn Heirloom Skirt with the floral peasant blouse.

The skirt is made from an antique all hand-stitched square tablecloth that I found in an antique store.  It is an ivory color and was a great match to the various ivory laces in my stash.  I cut the cloth in half and sewed the halves together to make a skirt that is approximately 66 inches around.  I lined the skirt with white cotton and attached two inch wide ivory French lace to the bottom of the lining so that it would show below the skirt.

I wove three stands of DMC floss in the hem stitching of the skirt and attached green glass leaves, yellow glass flower beads, and tiny red and gold beads to the design hand embroidered by a long ago needle artist.  

A pretty vintage button to go over her belly button to help Chloe keep the skirt on straight.

The lace attached to the lining.

Here Chloe is wearing the skirt with the second blouse:  a mottled ivory cotton embellished with some hand embroidery (by me) and the same two inch French lace used for the skirt.  I used the Class Picnic Blouse by Oliver + S with some length removed from the sleeves and hem to accommodate the wide lace and shorten the sleeves a bit.  I also added two inches to the fullness of the skirt portion of the blouse in both the back and the front.  

She is such a sweetheart!

Hand embroidery and whip-stitch piping.

Full of personality!

Just the right amount of sassy, too!

The ivory blouse is paired with a pair of cranberry shorts made using the same pattern as the green ones but with a self drafted wavy cuff and bias binding.  There are little acorns and leaves in the print.

A little hand embroidered squirrel.

Chloe is such a pleasure to sew for!  She was also a pleasure to teach.  She was in my kindergarten class last year.

Chloe is a little sister to two much older siblings and the big sister to the little cutie in the last photo.  What is it about boys and sticks?!  Hudson turned one last month and is a busy, busy little fellow.  This was the least blurry of all the photos I took of him!

Thank you for reading all the way to the end of this very long post!  

May your day be filled with blessings!