English Garden Vintage Linen Sundress

Click on photos to enlarge.

 I love roses and beautiful English style gardens full of roses.  I think that you can really get a sense of how much I love old-fashioned English roses when you read my daughter's first name:  Victoria-Rose.  Unfortunately, I do not have a green thumb working with them in my hot, muggy, humid, buggy Florida garden.  I've tried...repeatedly.  I do have satisfying success in the sewing room, though.

Buttons are from the stash of that same elderly sewist.

 For the last of the most recent donations for my school music teacher's fund raiser, I used a lovely small piece of fabric full of gorgeous roses.  I do not know it's age or manufacturer.  It was gifted to me when a dear friend's elderly sewing friend died a couple of years ago.   I paired it with a vintage off-white linen hand towel with the most beautiful drawn thread work of primroses.  I used the Children's Corner Paulie for the sundress in a size two.  It was the first time using that pattern and I liked it.  It is a simple dress to sew.

Double tucks at the hem.

I am toying with the idea of playing along with the new sew along challenge at
http://projectrunandplay.blogspot.com/ .  I know a couple of the challenges will take me out of my comfort zone and trying to complete an outfit on a strict timeline isn't easy for me but I think it would be fun to try.  The first challenge is to use the bias skirt tutorial at http://www.nobigdill.com/ .  This is one of the challenges that is pushing me a bit because it isn't vintage, heirloom, smocked, embroidered, or traditional.  I have begun a little skirt set for a friend's two year old daughter.  I love the idea of Week Three's White Sheet Challenge and have just the right sheet to use.

This evening I have a wonderful date with my husband.  We are going to the famous Vinoy Hotel in downtown St. Petersburg to spend the night and then have their renowned Sunday Brunch.  Our Victoria-Rose will be home from college and will be playing the piano for four hours in the center of the restaurant.  To say I am proud is quite the understatement!  Victoria-Rose is talented and works hard but she is also the sweetest, gentlest, and kindest soul with a perfectly positive outlook on life.  She teaches me something everyday and has since her dear birthmother placed her in my arms.  What a gift!

Vintage Pillowcase As a Smocked Toddler Dress

 This was such a pretty vintage pillowcase with lovely pink, blue, and green hand embroidery! Just check out that gorgeous hemstitching on the hem.  Love it!  (Click on the photos to enlarge.)

 I had no one in mind when I found this beauty in an antique store in St. Petersburg earlier this summer but it 'called to me' and I decided to play with it.  I wanted to do something a little different with this one so I began looking through my AS&E collection (Australian Smocking and Embroidery magazines and books) for inspiration.  I found it in Designer Smocking for Tots to Teens.  I took the "Trendy Tot" halter top and lengthened it so that it would be a little above the knee sundress.

 I just used a simple trellis smocking design using the colors in the hand work at the bottom of the pillowcase. Then I added some blue flowers below the smocking.  I had some lovely pink micro check that went well with the pink in the embroidery and used that for the bias binding and ties.  I wish I had taken a picture of the back but it has a casing with elastic.  The bodice is lined with some of the pillowcase fabric that was left.

 I used the remaining pillowcase scraps to make a little sun bonnet.  I first drew a little line of flowers like those in the pillowcase and then traced the design onto the traced triangle shapes for the hat.  I again hand embroidered the little flowers using the same color floss as that in the pillowcase.  As you can see, I alternated the little embroidered wedges with more of the pink micro check.  The panties were made using a pattern in AS&E #53.  It is my 'go to' pattern for full panties.  I loved the ensemble and had intended to put it in my 'Grandmother's hope chest' but I took it to show one of the hairdressers at my favorite salon.  (He had spotted the stack of vintage linens, thought of me, and told me to go to the antique store where I purchased this pillowcase and several others.)  It caused a bit of a stir in the salon and I sold it within minutes.  (Quite a  wonderful surprise!)  I was in the midst of buying all those extra things a college girl needs/wants for her dorm room for my sweet daughter and was glad to sell it.  One of these days I will recreate the ensemble using another pillowcase for me to save.

All pictures are clickable to enlarge.

Ashley V's Suntop and Fancy Pants

A blue bow was attached to the center of the fancy pants before I gave it to Ashley's mommy.

This was another "Thank you"  outfit for a wonderful parent volunteer in my classroom.   This cute little cross over top and fancy pants were made using patterns I have used many times and they always come out so cute!  The top was made using the same pattern as this outfit and the fancy panties were made using the Tie Dye Diva Ruffled diaper cover.  The only change I made to the pants was to use bias binding in the leg openings instead of folding them over to make the elastic casings.  After Ashley tried it on, I moved the buttons up to make it a little shorter.  I wish I had made the top reversible but I didn't think of it at the time.

Such a little cutie-pie!

Reunited Vintage Linens

Click on the photos to enlarge for viewing!

 Aren't these just gorgeous?  What a lot of handwork went into the embroidery and the crocheted edging!  The tablecloth is a small one that has the hanging baskets in each corner.  It is perfect for a little tea table or to layer over another cloth on a larger one.  The four little napkins have the lovely matching work on one corner and the edging all around.  I found these little lovelies on two different days in two different antique shops!  It is obvious that they were made by the same needle artist.  The thread tension and formation of the stitches is identical.  How did they get separated? My best guess is that they were picked up by two different dealers at the same estate sale.  Perhaps they were in different boxes or set up on different tables.  However it happened, they were meant to be found by me and reunited.  They will grace my table...together!

Vintage Linen Dragonfly Petal Knot Dress

 As girly-girl as I am, I am fascinated by insects.  Butterflies are, of course, my favorites but I also adore the jewel colors and lacy wings of dragonflies and damselflies.  They hover like helicopters and can fly in six directions.   They are considered lucky in China and associated with prosperity and harmony.   Did you know that they are helpful to humans?  They are eating machines!  "They can eat food equal to their own weight in 30 minutes."  They keep mosquito populations down.  There are lots of interesting facts about this wonderful insect at:  http://www.dragonfly-site.com/what-do-dragonflies-eat.html .  If you have children (or you are a kindergarten teacher) you really need to visit this site.

 If you click on the photos of this Petal Knot dress you will see the cotton skirt fabric is printed with rows of dragonflies making stripes across the material.  I paired the print with lime green gingham and a vintage linen dresser scarf with the most gorgeous handmade eyelet flowers and basket.  This piece was perfect and therefore was used on my table for a couple of years.   When making this dress as a donation for a fund raiser for the music department of my school,  I remembered this lovely piece in the linen closet.  At first I talked myself out of using it because it was in such beautiful condition but nothing else would do once I saw the pieces together.   Isn't the cluny lace lovely, too?  Do click on the photos to see the long ago needle artist's beautiful eyelet work.

Sweet Baby Booties from Embroidered Linens

 Cross stitch is an easy hand embroidery stitch but it takes patience and practice to make all the stitches even.  The needle artist who did this work many decades ago did a lovely job combining cross stitch, French knots,  lazy daisy, and stem stitch onto a linen dresser scarf in shades of pink and lavender.  When I purchased it about 30 years ago it had several rust stains that I could not remove in the center of the cloth.  I used it on a sideboard in my dining room with a silver tray over the spots!  Perfect!

About 15 years ago I was making a birthday gift for a friend's little girl:  a lavender gingham dress with puffed sleeves and a full skirt... when I remembered the cloth in the linen closet.  I couldn't stop thinking about how pretty it would be as the collar on that dress.  So.... it was quickly cut (quick is less painful when cutting up something beautiful) and the dress ended up with a gorgeous large round collar.  The dress turned out prettier than it would have with my original design and my friend's little girl adored the dress!   It was worn for her birthday and for Easter and many, many Sundays.  The linen scraps were saved, of course, or their would be no post today!

 I came across the linen scraps recently and I started to think about what I could make with such a small piece of embellished cloth.  Baby shoes!  I had to stop everything to trace a ballet bootie pattern from an older Sew Beautiful magazine and move the pieces around on the linen.  Then I had to sew the wee shoes up right away to see how they would come out.  The shoes are not identical but I think that they are more charming because of that.  They are lined with soft white lawn and tied with lavender ribbon.  I really love them!

Underside of the baby shoes.

Emma B's Very Hungry Caterpillar Dress and Allister's Caterpillar Shirt

Photos are clickable to enlarge.

Another Eric Carle dress!

 My friend Karen has four of the most beautiful grandchildren!  I have sewn for both Emma and Allister in the past.  This little outfit was a request as part of a trade for watching my sweet puppy girls (8 year old shih tzu sisters) when we went on vacation this summer.  I made an almost identical dress before for my godchild Cassidy when she was in kindergarten and Karen loved it.  You can see by looking at the picture in the blog heading that just the ribbon and rick rack trim on the apron and the binding on the hem is different.

Dress Back

 I used the Petal Knot Dress by Portabellopixie again and four different Eric Carle prints from his Very Hungry Caterpillar line referenced in the last post.

 Allister and Emma are only a year apart and both go to my school.  Allister will be in my kindergarten class this year!  I just took a caterpillar from another of the prints in the line to applique onto a purple shirt so that he can wear it when 4 year old Emma wears her dress.

Both children will be reading Eric Carle books in their classrooms so it will be fun for them to wear their special things during the year.  I would love to see how other people have used this fabric line.  I have several more items to share soon!