More for the Portrait Gallery

I am adding a few more pictures to the Portrait Gallery (see side bar of my blog). The picture above is of darling Natalie and her grandmother's dog. The dress is one of my favorites and is smocked with a Pat Garretson design. Her beautiful smocking designs can be found at http://patgarretsonheirlooms.com/index.html.
Here Natalie is wearing an adorable bonnet with a scalloped brim and a lace trimmed frill framing her beautiful little face.

This is the lovely Catherine in an eyelet dress nearly identical to Natalie's with the same smocking design stitched in shades of pink. I really think these eyelet dresses make lovely special portrait clothing. They are classically pretty and so very feminine.

If you have the time, check out the other sweeties in special outfits made by me.

Emma Models!

I love this shot! Emma had so many 'poses'. So cute!
Emma looks so much like her mommy in this picture! I remember her in elementary school!

The dress fit her perfectly and she loved it.

Cassidy's Bunny Dress

This is one of my all time favorite creations. I made it three years ago for my godchild Cassidy's third birthday. My inspiration was the "Teddy Bear's Picnic" dress in AS&E # 75. She adores that stuffed gray bunny and has since very shortly after her birth. 'Bunny' appears in many pictures of Cassidy over the years. He really bears no resemblance to the bunny he once was but like the Velveteen Rabbit, he has become 'real'. He is so precious that he no longer leaves the house for fear that he might get lost.

I used another pattern in the same AS&E issue to make the size 3 dress and based the flowers and bees on the ones in the floral cotton print. As I had hoped, the dress was beloved and will be a keepsake to be saved along with 'Bunny'. I hope that I will be able to create a similar dress with an embroidered 'lovey' for her baby sister (due in May) someday!

Emma's Flights of Fancies

Happy Easter! Happy Spring! I hope that you are having a lovely day with your families or friends. My sweet daughter sang in the church choir this morning. Lovely! Later this afternoon we will be going to my wonderful sister's home for dinner. She is having more than 22 people! My only job is the deserts. My husband's job is to bring extra chairs and tables. We sure are getting off easy! Thank you, Kathleen!

What can be more evocative of Spring than butterflies? (Especially PINK ones!) This little size 2 outfit was made for the cutest little blonde blue-eyed charmer. This is the sixth special outift I have made for her. I finished it last Sunday and I believe Emma wore it to see the Easter Bunny this past week.

I used a pattern from one of the Big Four companies but altered it a bit to make it more heirloom in appeal. The original pattern called for a single layer bodice, bias binding at the neck, and a back zipper. I completely lined the bodice and changed the closure to a button back style. The little buttons in the back are mother-of-pearl flowers.

Back View

The sleeves are cute with the little inverted pleat at the bottom.

I will post pictures of this one modeled by Miss Emma soon.

Aurora's Eyelet Easter Ensemble

Oh, I really love white eyelet dresses! I love pink and green, too, and roses are my favorite flower. Can you tell that I enjoyed making this three-piece ensemble?

Sweet Aurora is 9 months old and is visiting her grandparents here in Florida for Easter. Her grandmother's reaction when she first saw the dress really made my day. She cried! Unfortunately, my photos aren't good. I took them at 6:30 AM in a big hurry and the bonnet pictures were the worst. Please take my word for it: The bonnet was just darling (even if I do say so myself!). The bonnet ribbons are silk satin and I embroidered the same rose on each bonnet loop as the roses on the smocking. The back closes with button loops and mother-of-pearl buttons in which I embroidered more roses.

The dress is one that I have made before but with a different smocking plate. This time I used a 1987 plate by Ellen McCarn called 'Katherine'.

Charm's First Nightie Part 1

This is the little daygown front and sleeves that I started a few weeks ago. The smocking and bullion embriodery are complete and this is awaiting construction. Charm is due at the end of May and the baby shower will be at the end of April. Charm will be her nickname and her given name is still undecided. (Third sweet daughter for my dear friend: "Three times the charm!")

The smocking plate is "Taylor Rae" by Peanut Butter-n-Jelly Kid's Designs. The roses are more full-blown than those on the plate. Since there would be only three of them I wanted them to really make a statement. Charm's mommy asked that I not make anything white (my favorite for babies) and really limit the lace. She also wants things that are easy-care so this is Imperial Batiste with the tiniest French lace I have in my stash.

This little trailing vine of flowers will go on the little bonnet brim. This will be it's only adornment (I am trying to make 'plain' but it is so hard for me!!!)

I have had to put this aside to make two outfits for customers but I hope to get back to it next week.

Portrait Gallery and a Little Inspiration

Since I have been in a little bit of a sewing slump the past couple of weeks, I thought I would share one of my favorite Easter dresses. I made this for my sweet baby girl 14 years ago when she was almost 2 and a half. The dress is smocked from the shoulder. I combined two old Australian Smocking and Embroidery designs and added my own embroidery around the neck and the bottom of the smocking. I hand feather stitched the hem up. (Goodness, that took a LONG time around 90 inches of skirt!). The dress was roomy enough and long enough that she was able to wear it through two springs and summers. I loved it on her! My godchild, Jordan Leigh also wore the dress for two years a few years later. It is now packed in acid-free paper awaiting Victoria-Rose's little girl. (I sure hope she has at least one daughter with all that has been saved for her!!!)

This is a picture of my mother with Victoria-Rose. I have added another shot with the two of them and Logan in a pleated and feather stitched shirt and blue gingham short-all in a new section of my blog: Portrait Gallery. There are three posts there already showing some of the cuties in things that I have made. Please check it out! It is under the section to the right called My Other Creations. I will be adding to that section from time to time.

I am very happy to report that I am officially out of my 'sewing slump'! Hooray! All it took was giving myself permission to put aside the things that I had been working on to begin the special baby things for my dear friend Lauri's baby girl due in May. Oooooo how I love to make baby clothes! I have the smocking begun on a little daygown that I hope Lauri will use to take the baby home from the hospital. I'll give a sneak peak soon!