Vintage Linens

 Avaleigh's Vintage Pillowcase Sundress

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I have been missing from the blog world for a long time.  I still check some blogs and love to see what other people are sewing, cooking, reading, and crafting and... I have not been idle.  I have LOTS to share!  I now have lots of free time to do so now that I have retired from teaching after a 46 year career. 

This little dress was made for a dear friend and colleague's first grandchild several years ago.  I used a gorgeous hand embroidered vintage pillowcase for the skirt.  Check out that pretty crocheted edging!  (I believe that I may have the 'sister' to this case in my stash.  At least I hope I do!)  The fabric for the bodice is a lovely pansy print that matched perfectly that I had left over from making my daughter's Easter dress when she was two and a half.

The pattern used was an old one that can still be found online: " Medora's Sundress and Jumper" by Beaucoup.  I have used it many times before.  It slips over the head easily and ties on the shoulders.  It is cool and comfortable to wear in the summer heat.

I made a little tied bow headband using Little Lizard King's "Winnie Pinnie" pattern to go with it.

Using someone's beautiful handwork made long ago makes me so happy!  

I hope you have a day filled with happiness!

Zooey's VFT 'Cosette' Dress

Zooey's Third Birthday Dress

CHILDREN want the same things we want,

To LAUGH

To be CHALLENGED

To be ENTERTAINED

And DELIGHTED.

Dr. Suess

I do think Zooey was delighted!

Zooey is the charming youngest granddaughter of my dear friend Karen.  Karen is the data prep specialist at my school and we have been friends for at least 20 years!  I made the Christening Ensemble for her grandchildren when her oldest grandson was born and many other outfits for the girls since then.   (I can't believe that I never blogged about the Christening Ensemble!  I will have to do that soon!) I made many things for her oldest granddaughter Emma who was in my kindergarten class.  (See HERE and HERE and HERE for a couple of examples.)

Zooey loves the Disney movie 'Tolls' and her mama choose to 'entertain and delight' her with a Trolls themed birthday party.  She wanted a special Trolls dress for Zooey to wear but was dismayed by the cost of bespoke clothing on Etsy.  The two Karen's to the rescue!  Grandmother Karen purchased the Trolls fabric and I made the dress as my gift.  Everyone was happy!

Patterns:  Dress:  VFT (Violette Field Threads) 'Cosette'

 and AS&E # 53 for the bloomers.

Fabric:  Licensed Disney Trolls Fabric, raspberry pin dot from JoAnn,

 white satin batiste for the bodice panel

 and white Kona cotton for the skirt lining.

I lined the skirt of the dress to give the skirt more fullness and twirl factor.

All toddlers need bloomers with their dresses!

Back view of dress.  Love the flutters and the adjustable tie!

Isn't Zooey adorable?!

Linking to: Shabby Art Boutique at  https://www.shabbyartboutique.com/2019/10/create-bake-grow-gather-party-389.html

Kate's LLK Charleston Baby Set

I am fortunate to have some wonderful volunteers in my kindergarten classroom.  I am blessed!  I have never had a field trip that was under chaperoned and have had amazing help over the years putting together large portfolios full of school work and scrap-booked photos for my students.  My daughter Victoria-Rose is one that comes through for me every year and makes the portfolios something to be cherished.  Another mother came in this past year and spent many Friday mornings helping to build these large binders full of memories.  To thank her, I made her littlest one an outfit.  Little Kate is two and a little blond beauty.  Both mama and Kate love purple and I wanted to make a PDF pattern I had purchased from Little Lizard King (Link: HERE).  It turned out to be the perfect combination!

Pattern:  Little Lizard King  "Baby Charleston", size 2 with a 3 length

Fabrics:  JoAnn 

My little lopsided mannequin is too small for this size but was adequate for the photos.

I made three buttonholes on the straps for adjusting the fit as Kate grows.  The little bloomers have a decorative lavender shell button to denote the front for little Kate's attempts at self dressing.  "Button over your belly button!"

The inside of the pattern finishes nicely.  I was assured that it fit well and that Kate loved the outfit.   I enjoyed sewing a new pattern and love the batik fabric.  There really is no right or wrong side and washing the fabric, as I always do before cutting, didn't create lots of wrinkles. 

 This was a very pleasant sewing experience!

Thank you for reading!  Have a wonderful day!

Patriotic Summer Time Halter Dress

This little size two halter dress has a bit of a back story.  It started life as a little gingham apron with "Chicken-Scratch" embroidery!  I found it (in perfect condition) and about four of its sisters at antique stores over the years.  The embroidery is handstitched over the grid created by the gingham checks.  I used a favorite halter style dress and adjusted for the width of the apron.  I also had to make two cuts and then sew the three seams (one down the back) matching up the embroidery.  Tricky!  I used some red Kona cotton broadcloth for the ties and the bloomers underneath.

This little set was gifted to my heart-sister Jana to give to her great-niece Emmaline.  I thought the red/white/blue was perfect for the Fourth of July and throughout the summer.

Unfortunately, these photos were taken with my phone and 

I neglected to take close up shots of the embroidery.

Patterns:  Dress:  Simplicity # 1472

Bloomers:  Australian Smocking & Embroidery # 53 "Child of Nature"

This embroidery must have taken the needle artist 

many, many, many hours to complete.

I like to think that she would be pleased that a precious little girl

has gotten the pleasure of wearing/using her careful work.  

Project Run & Play #17 Sew Along: Willy Wonka!

A Sugar Sweet Dress for Sweet Rory

Here I am being a "Last Minute Lucy" with my entry to Season #17 of Project Run & Play.  I have just about 35 minutes to get this posted to meet the deadline!  

School has started and I have 19 little five year olds in my kindergarten classroom.  It is the time of setting routines and procedures and getting to know one another.  It is one of the most exhausting times of the year!  I have been too tired to sew at night and only got this put together today.  Needless to say, I have no modeled photos of sweet three year old Rory wearing her new dress.  Perhaps next week!

The photos are not the best.  It has been raining since I completed the dress and the colors are just not right.  The closest to the green in the actual dress is in the photo of the caramel apple pocket.

Pattern:  Portabellopixie Petal Knot Dress, size 3 (1/4 inch added to bodice sides for ease)

Fabric:  Green embroidered polycotton (stash), white satin batiste, & old white sheet for skirt lining

Trims:  inherited vintage brown piping, stash scraps for appliques,

 white cotton lace edging (skirt lining)

Inspirations:  1971 version Oompa Loompas:  green hair, 

white & brown outfits, and candy, of course!

The lollypop, candied apple, and wrapped candy appliques are hand cut

 and zigzag satin stitched.  I do not have an embroidery machine. 

However, the caramel apple and the lollypop were copied from images

 on Pinterest of beautiful machine appliques from planetapplique.com. 

The wrapped candies were inspired by a gorgeous pieced quilt made by Greg Jones using "Sugar Candies" by Nadra Ridgeway.

Changes to the pattern:  

*Piped the bodice

*Piped the hem band

*Added pockets

*Added a skirt lining

*Added fullness to the skirt (72 inches around)

The dress pattern was chosen specifically for Rory because she loves a
Dr. Suess Petal Knot dress I made for her sister that she has inherited.  

She even wore that dress hiking in the mountains this summer!

Lining:  Dress on the right is inside-out.

Must link up now! :)

Please check out the other sew along entries as well as the official contestants for this fun challenge at Project Run & Play!  (HERE and HERE)

Project Run & Play Season 16 Signature Style Sew-Along Part 1

Sweet Summer Sisters 

Oh my stars!  These girls!

These sweet little sisters are Harper (age 5) and Rory (age 3) and I have the delightful pleasure of not only working with their mommy, an amazing kindergarten teacher, but I have the pleasure of seeing the girls often.  They always seem very pleased with the little gifts I make them and enjoy wearing them.  When Rory was given another skirt recently she said, "For meeeee?", and hugged it!  

I think these two have me wrapped around their fingers almost as tight as Chloe does!

I originally thought that these would be posted for the "Sew Your Stash" sew-along challenge on Project Run & Play.  I had them sewn and we photographed them at the children's museum on the same day as the three entries I got blogged in time for that contest.  I just couldn't get this set blogged quickly enough.  There are enough details in the outfits to qualify for what I consider My Signature Style so I decided to save them for this week.  

Harper's outfit consists of two pieces using Oliver + S patterns.  The top is a free pattern for a ruffled halter top and the skirt is a favorite pattern, the  "Swingset Skirt".  I have lost track of how many times I have made it and in how many ways.  Maybe I'll make a post someday on just that skirt pattern!

Patterns:  "Swingset Skirt" by Oliver + S, size 4

Ruffled Halter Top by Oliver + S (free:  found HERE), size 5/6

Blouse Fabrics:  Leftover eyelets from previous projects and Venice lace

Skirt Fabrics:  Floral mystery fabric that has "mellowed" in the stash for years and leftover white satin batiste for the lining.

The only changes made to the skirt were to add a button on the front waistband to denote the front for a five year old and to use just one 3/4 inch wide elastic in the waist casing.  Changes to the blouse:   I cut the fabrics on the bias but just couldn't leave them raw.  I narrow rolled hems using a hem rolling foot on my machine and added lace to each ruffle and under the drawstring casing at the neck.  

The bandaids are badges of courage.  Harper had her five year old
shots for kindergarten that morning.

 Rory's sun dress is made with the same floral print with added ribbon, buttons, and Swiss edging and insertion from my stash.  This is a free pattern from The Cottage Mama.  I particularly like that the bodice front and back is lined to the underarm section making the the underarms finished without a bias binding.

 Pattern:  "Summer Picnic Dress" by the Cottage Mama 

(Free:  found HERE), size 3

The biggest change I made to this dress was to increase the width of the skirts by three inches and to increase the width of the ruffles.  Adding the trims to the little bodice and the bottom of the skirt was the "icing on the cake"!

They are really as sweet 'in real life' as they are in these photographs!

 Harper is so intelligent and has such a tender heart!  She is such a good big sister!

Rory is fun and funny as well as so loving!

Sisters & Best Friends

I enjoyed making these outfits for these cuties and the photo shoot was my "icing on the cake"!

Please check the fabulous contestant entries HERE 

and the Sew-Along entries HERE at Project Run & Play.

  So inspiring!  

Project Run & Play Sew-Along Challenge: Streak, Stroke, Stripe Part 3

Chloe's Raindrops & Stripes

I had so much fun photographing sweet and sassy Chloe!

Left:  Chloe at her fourth birthday party in a vintage pillowcase sun dress over her bathing suit that I made for the event.  Right:  Chloe at almost eight years old.   

 
Chloe is my dear friend Kaye's youngest daughter and I have been sewing little gifts for her since before she was born. The first things I made were a few little hand embroidered and ruffled diaper sets for Kaye's baby shower.   I also had the pleasure of having her in my kindergarten class a few years ago.  She is sweet and spicy and so much fun!

Sewing for Chloe's style (and Mama's taste) has pushed me into this decade more than anything else!  They have helped my sewing style evolve from very traditional and heirloom into more 'trendy' and 'boutique'.  Sewing for Chloe these days requires more input from Chloe on patterns and fabrics.  For this dress, she was given the choice of four fabrics in three options of placement.

 The dress is a combination of two patterns:

Bodice Pattern:  Tadah!  Tea Party Dress with the racer back.

Skirt Pattern:  Violette Fields Threads "June"

Fabrics:  All selections from Hawthorne Threads "Parapluie" line.

Blue Shell Buttons & Striped Piping:  my stash.

I had to be on my toes when sewing this dress!  The bodice pattern is in centimeters and the skirt pattern used inches.  I made a change to the bodice lining by sewing the lining down by hand. I added piping to the pocket and pocket side panels in the skirt.

The biggest change I made to the skirt pattern was to cut it in one piece (rather than two) and create a bias bound continuous placket.  I usually prefer this to having a seam up the back, especially when using a border print. 

The bias bound placket provides a nearly invisible opening in the top of the back skirt.

 Right after Chloe changed into the dress where we held the photo shoot, I spied the mirror and asked her to stand in front of it so that I could get both sides of the dress at once.  That was all I needed to say!  She went into full model mode and I got so many adorable photos!  Unfortunately, the ones where she was cracking herself up were to blurry too use!

Chloe's verdict on the dress:  She loved the pockets and the front of the dress.  She wasn't as fond of the racer back as was her mother.  Both she and her mother would like me to deconstruct the dress when it gets too small/tight (which will be shortly as she grew since I took her measurements at the beginning of May!).  They would like me to turn the bottom of the dress into a skirt with a flat waistband in the front and elastic in the back.  I can and will do this.

Love the buttons!  They were the perfect color.

I loved the racer back and little shoulder caps.

Chloe made this so much fun!

I hope you liked this little bespoke dress! 

 Check all the wonderful "striped and streaked" creations at Project Run & Play HERE and HERE!

Project Run & Play Sew-Along: Streak, Stroke, Stripe Part 1

Rory's 1930's Playset

 Among my vast collection of children's patterns are some treasured original vintage ones from the '30's, 40's, and 50's.  (Let's not talk about the patterns from the 1960's-80's.  They can't be vintage because that would make ME vintage, too!)  I don't have very many of these because they are hard to find and very expensive when one does find them.

But I have discovered a marvelous source of legally copied and reproduced vintage patterns on Etsy.com.  

Frank at A PATTERN PEDDLER has an entire shop filled with gorgeous reproduced vintage patterns with envelopes just like the originals.  The copies are printed on sturdy paper and are very clear.   In addition,  all the big pieces are cut and taped together for the vintage sewing enthusiast.  I have purchased about 15 of these patterns so far and this is the first one I have made up.  (BTW:  I am not affiliated with this shop in any way, except as a very satisfied customer!)

I was anxious to make this pattern up because of those cute shoulder/arm ties!

Rory reminded me so much of Shirley Temple in this outfit and those sweet curls!

Original copyright:  1934.  From A Pattern Peddler on Etsy.com.

Pattern:  Vintage McCall 7813, size 2.

Although the pattern has sweet little shorts included, I opted to make a pair from one of my go-to shorts patterns in Australian Smocking & Embroidery # 78 in a size 2.  (Rory is a slender three year old and these fit perfectly.)

Fabric:  Poly-cotton plisse from JoAnn Crafts purchased ages ago.

I did make one change to the pattern.  I added a placket and a ribbon tie to the back to facilitate dressing for a busy three year old.

Those curls!

Love this sweet pose!

  I have another dress I am working on to enter for this striped   

Sew-Along challenge for an almost 8 year old young lady.  It just needs buttonholes and buttons. 

 I hope to fit in a photo shoot and get that one blogged before Saturday's deadline!  

Be sure to check out the Project Run & Play Stripes challenge and Sew-Along challenge HERE and HERE.