Raglan Daygown

I love love love daygowns. I never had made one before a couple of months ago. Now, I can't make them fast enough or often enough. I love OFB's patterns and this one is particularyly great for embroidery. I did the embroidery that was included in the pattern which made it so easy.
The fabric is blue swiss batiste. I loved stroking it and working with it.

I used ecru entredeaux, lace and embroidery. I love the classic look of it.

This pretty embroidery design was in the pattern and it turned out so much fun to do all those lazy daisies and so pretty.

These sweet sleeves make me smile. I can just see chubby little fingers and a chubby little hand with dimples peeking out them. Oh, I just can't wait to play dress up!!!!

And because every proper young lady needs a matching slip, here is this one. My shell stitching needs more practice, but it coming along nicely.

Okay, back to work! I have lots of sweet things cut out on my dining room table just waiting for embroidery designs. Did I tell you I was having too much fun? So many patterns and ideas and so little time!

Sweet baby bishop

Yes, I know, Christmas was yesterday and I should be sitting and resting, but I am on a tight schedule now. I have about a month before my little one gets here. So today I cut out slips and diaper covers and something to sit and smock. I should be all set for the next couple of weeks with projects. I just hope to get them all done. I am also thinking of Easter already. I hope to get that finalized by the end of January so I can get started on them. I am thinking after the baby is born my sewing time will be cut for a while. If memory serves me correctly...

Here is a little number I finished about a week or so ago but just now getting around to sharing. All that mistletoe and cooking and wrapping has gotten in the way.
Now, I ask you, is there anything sweeter than a baby in a bishop? I don't think so! Here is a 6 month bishop smocked with Ellen McCarn's April pattern minus the flowers. Very simple but sweet. I have enough for Sydney to get a blouse out of this for Spring. I am thinking a pink skirt and a sweet blouse and they will be adorable together.

I did the eyelet on the sleeves and used it to detail the growth tuck at the bottom of the dress. I also piped the neckband with a pink gingham mini-piping. Hard to make it out in the pictures though. I need to get better at my photography skills. I am just not used to all this sun down here in Florida. Something I plan on working on to get better at in 2011.

I love that bishops can be worn for such a long time. Makes all the time making them seem more worth it. Now, what to smock next? I can't sew fast enough these days. That pesky sleep keeps getting in my way! These last few weeks of pregnancy are making me very sleepy. Hope your holiday weekend is relaxing and you are getting to do what you like today.

Cold Weather Lillian

Here is a quickie! Just a Children's Corner Lillian pattern and a shift dress for my little one. I love this pattern because it goes together in less than an hour and takes up about one yard of fabric. It is fully lined in a cranberry broadcloth and I did black grosgrain bows on the slits on the side.
This featherwale corduroy has little mushrooms and squirrels on it. Very sweet!

This was taken last week when the weather was still cool.
It was about 50 degrees when I picked her up from school, but she has boots like it is a snow storm outside. She is fitting into the Florida lifestyle just great. If it is below 70 then everyone here has a coat on. Totally cracks me up!

Christmas and beyond

Call me practical, but this year I just couldn't get myself to make Sydney a dress that she could only wear for a short while. So when I went stash digging a couple of weeks ago I was so excited to find about 4 yards of this Fabric Finders pima cotton floral. It has all the right colors, but it sure could work for Spring too. And then once Sydney saw it she said she wanted a twirlly dress and it was sold.
I chose to do a classic bodice dress. I love this one from Collar's. Great pattern. Wonderful fit and I love the curve in the front that curves down. It fits their cute little tummies that tend to bow outward. I did the view with the eyelet trim to fancy it up some. I just love eyelet trim. It looks so little girly to me. It makes me smile to see it on a sweet little girl dress.

I also love a large sash in back. I wished I would have lengthened this one a bit though. The directions called for it to be 25 inches. I think about 30 inches would have been better. But for potty breaks this one is probably safer.

Here is a close-up of this sweet floral and the collar. I have about one yard of this fabric left and I think the new baby will definately need a sweet baby dress out of it. Sydney is more excited about that fact than anything else. Which just makes me so happy. I love doing sister dresses. I feel so blessed to finally get to do them for my own little ones.

Well, that is the end of my Christmas sewing for this year. Tomorrow the shopping must start. I have a very lonely Christmas tree as you can see from the pictures. Tomorrow Sydney and I will do damage to the Visa card. I am thinking we need to go out to breakfast first though. Have fun this holiday season.

Another look at Christmas past

I am on the hunt for inspiration right now. So as I was looking at fancy Christmas dresses I have made in the past, I thought I would share some with you. I know, I said I was not going to do a fancy one this year, but Sydney's Girl Scout group is having a fancy tea on Monday (yes, this next Monday) and on the invitation it states that they should wear their Christmas dress. So...here I am on Tuesday night frantically trying to decide if I have enough time to smock something or if I should just go with hand embroidery. My husband thinks I have lost my mind at this point.

This is still one of my favorite bishops I have ever made for Sydney. It is Christmas Mice smocked on white pique. I thought she looked like an angel wearing it. I still remember putting all those glass seed beads on while she played in the bathtub. She wore this for two years and I was sad when she finally outgrew it.

Here is a close-up of all those beads. I think I got a little carried away.


A couple of years ago Sydney wanted a red corduroy dress for Christmas. I fell in love with this swiss edging and incorporated it into a slip. I had just enough to make Dolly a matching dress. I am so glad I did too because this was the last Christmas that Dolly went everywhere with her.

I made the collar detachable. I was afraid of washing white linen with red corduroy. I did a very simple shadow embroidery and added tatting.

Here she is with Dolly. I love this picture.

Here is Dolly in her Christmas dress too.

And the slip details. I loved how all this fabric just poofed out that dress so well. Here you can see the swiss edging I just had to use.

And I even did matching socks with a little satin bow and eyelet that I zig zagged on to them.

And she was a doll when she met Santa. Oh, man, why do they have to grow up?

Okay, off to the sewing room to figure out what I can make in less than a week that still will live up to what my baby expects out of a fancy holiday dress. Wish me luck!

Paisley Purse

I never thought I would need so many warm clothes for my little one when we moved here to Florida. I kept thinking that I would have my large stash of corduroy forever just waiting for a cold spell to pull it out. Well, we are freezing here!!! So I have been digging thru all of it and thinking of warm things to make.
Yesterday I made this quick outfit for Sydney. This is a corduroy that Sydney picked out at Joann Fabrics about a month ago.

Possible Coming home outfit

I am not sure what to make to bring home baby in late January. I was told by a wonderful friend of mine to go for Grace Knott's Nightgown because it will be small enough for a newborn. This is made from a swiss flannel in white. I smocked it in a pale pink and no real bells and whistles on it. I think the simplicity of it is why I am not completely sold on it for a coming home outfit. But the feel of this cozy fabric is swaying me.

I do love this swiss edging. I bought it at the SAGA convention a couple of years ago and I have 10 yards of it. So you will be seeing it alot in the next couple of months. In fact, a bishop I just finished has it. I will post that on another day.
Sydney had to show off a little too. I call her Vanna because she loves to show off things that I make. It also shows just how tiny this outfit really is. You will just have to excuse her outfit. She got hot and took off her cute top and just had an undershirt on.

Peppermint girl and a baby coat

Here is another Christmas Quickie. I am loving these this year. This is just a plain long sleeved t-shirt that I did a machine embroidery of a peppermint on and some fun quilter's cotton that we found in my stash. It has lots of cute peppermints all over it. I used my go-to Children's Corner Sassy skirt pattern. I am loving these on her. This one is view B which is just a gathered skirt with a lining. I lined it in white Imperial batiste and did it the exact same length so it sort of shows when she moves. Thankfully, we are having a warm day and she can wear it with knee highs and not a thick pair of tights.


Now, because we are having these cold days I figured it might be a good idea to make the new baby a coat. I used Collar's Layette and did a coat and a bonnet. This wonderful fabric is from Heirloom Imports. It is a brushed twill. It feels like a wonderful soft flannel. And in this wonderful blue flowers with a pale green I think it will be so pretty on our new baby. I just love a baby girl in blue. I had just enough to squeeze out a coat and matching bonnet. I lined it in a pale blue swiss batiste.

Love the bows on the bonnet.

This fabric was first used to make Sydney a Children's Corner Maggie. I pulled it out yesterday and wished my baby was still small enough to get into it. Why do they have to grow up so quickly. Makes me sad. I also don't understand why they are getting older yet I stay the same.

An Easy Holiday Quickie

I decided this year to make Sydney some warm, casual things. She really doesn't have many pants and I am determined to make her more. My girl is a dress and skirt girl--no matter how cold her legs get.
I took the Bonnie Blue pattern Jillian pants and did them in a knit. I like the legs on these pants and Sydney having a shapely figure these pants work well for her booty. We can never find any pants or jeans off the rack that are made for a child with a booty, so I have always made them for her. Which, of course, is fine by me.
These quick pants and a t-shirt with a quick S and here is her outfit. I think this entire thing was done in a little over an hour. And that is only because the machine embroidery took over 20 minutes to stitch out. Gotta love those instand gratification outfits sometimes.

Okay, back to my sewing room. Tomorrow Sydney should have another new outfit for school.

Skating Elves

I bought this really cute quilter's cotton a couple of years ago when I went to The Children's Corner School in Nashville. I got it at a wonderful fabric store there in town. I only bought one yard of it because I really had no idea what to make with it. I think at the time I was thinking I would be making Sydney a pillowcase for the holidays out of it. Anyway, last weekend when Sydney and I went diving into all my fabrics and pulled out all the red, green or anything that looked like a fun fabric for the holidays she fell in love with it.
Since I had such a limited amount of it I knew it would only work as a skirt for her. And right now her favorite skirt pattern is Children's Corner Sassy Skirt. Which looks so cute on her not to mention they are so fast to put together.
I did the underskirt in a Fabric Finders twill that really brought out the fun in the whole outfit. Then I found this really cute machine embroidery and I was off and running. We did this yesterday afternoon while she wrote out her Santa list.

Here is a close up of those cute little skater elves. I love their hats and their cute outfits. It just brings a smile to my face.

Christmas sewing

It is all red and green in my sewing room lately. I pulled out all my Christmas fabrics the other day. Now, I have a mess only one of Santa's Elves would love. I don't know what I was thinking. I have rick rack, fabrics, trims galore in there all over the place. Maybe I can make something fun out of it all. Sydney was so excited you would think it was Christmas in there.
This little dress I did for a customer yesterday. This is one of my favorite little girl dresses. It is so fast to smock with just these little places but the impact is huge.

Even the back has some smocking on it. And what is more crisp looking than white pique? I love a little girl in a white Christmas dress. I think it looks better with Santa too. Red just blends right into him and doesn't work for me.

This little girl is really really into puppies lately. So to make her happy with the dress I added a scottie dog with a huge bow to the bottom of the dress. I fancied him up with some seed beads. I hope she likes him!

A Look at Christmas Past

I always go back and take a look at what I have made previously for Christmas before starting new creations. Here are a few of my favorites that I would like to share with you. Most of these were for Sydney, but last year, I did alot for customers. It was fun, but boy, alot of work to get them all out in time for their Holiday pictures. I was very pleased when I would open their Christmas cards to see a little dress I made for their special little ones.
These first two are for the cutest little blonde sisters. This was featured on the cover of one of the last Creative Needle Magazines. It was designed by my good friend, Bridget.

These were their more formal look that they wore for Christmas that same year. This is an old Children's Corner Claire pattern. I just loved making these. I embroidered holly leaves between the red covered buttons. Very simple but what a great impact these had.

My little one gets lots of fun comfy jumpers. This one I used a new jumper pattern and I forgot to lengthen it. So I ended up making her leggings to go with it. She loved it. She is dancing here like Santa.

This next one is my Grinch creation. I used this same dress for two years in a row for a silent auction. It always gets a great bid and he is just so much fun to make.

I made these two jumpers last year for a mother who wanted something festive for her twin two year olds but didn't want them to just scream Christmas.

Lastly, I will share with you something a little different. I had a call from a customer who was taking her 2 year old son and 4 year old daughter on the Polar Express. The children are to wear pajamas. I chose some ticking fabric in red and white flannel. She loved it and it is still one of my favorite Christmas cards I recieved. Something about children in their pajamas is so sweet!


I have tons more, but this way I can make it last all month long. Now, to get back to my smocking. Have a great day. I hope you enjoyed this little look at past Christmas creations.

Baby Rattle

Here is another one of my new little ones little daygowns. This is, of course, from Old Fashioned Baby patterns. This is the Raglan sleeve day gown. I love that this version uses bias. I have tons of it in different colors and this is a great way to tie it into my design.
I did a very simple rattle for my shadow work and on the hem I did a long running stitch and then went back with my floss and used those stitches to weave my floss through.

This is just made from Imperial batiste. I love the 100% cotton as much as anyone does, but sometimes the idea of just out of the dryer and hung up is nice.

I really want to do another one of these. I love the fact that there is all this room in front for whatever I want to design or copy on there. I might go cut out one of these today. I could have it done by Monday if I just get busy!

Turkey Girl

Sydney requested orange and khaki for a Thanksgiving dress.  Right now, she loves a Lucy the best.  She told me that it isn't too much fabric on her legs and it swings.  I have to agree with her.  Those cute legs need to be seen!  So I used a very girlie looking turkey on a beautiful stretch poplin fabric I had in my stash.  I have yards and yards of this glorious fabric.  I bought it last year when I was making uniforms for Sydney in Williamsburg.  I did this jumper reversible in the same fabric.  The other side has her monogram in brown. 

I love making matching blouses with jumpers. I love how it pulls the whole outfit together. I used the orange microcheck on Miss Turkey's body and made her a button up the back blouse to match. Sydney picked a smocked sleeve. So glad my 6 year old appreciates smocking and still wants it. I asked her, "Do you want a piped cuff for the sleeve or a smocked sleeve?" She looked up from her coloring and said, "Smocking! Smocking! Smocking!" I was pleased with that answer as well!

Now, I need to get out my Christmas fabrics and start on some holiday things. I have lots of fun ideas this year I can't wait to make.

Sweet and Simple in lawn

This is my newest Sweet and Simple day gown. I told you I loved this pattern!  This one is from stash completely.  I love that even more!  This is a lawn fabric in a pale green.  I used the embroidery pattern right from the pattern itself.  Sweet and simple!  And these are really pretty mother of pearl buttons.  I am starting to have a love affair with mother of pearl buttons!  I just love the depth of them. 

This lace is about 5/8 of an inch and a little larger than the other lace I have, but I just loved it so much I had to use it. I think it took me longer to hand whip that lace than it did to actually put the whole dress together. But I didn't mind one bit!

I loved the embroidery and doing the featherstitching and tiny bullion rose buds was so much fun, but I wonder how my tracing got off. If you look carefully, you can see how after the first button, my embroidery is off to the left. (I know, if I didn't point it out, you might not have noticed it, but just in case you did and thought I would bring it up.)

I have a slip cut out to match this dress. I have a doctor's appt. that I think I will take it along and do all my shell stitching then.
Sydney is feeling a bit neglected so I think I might work on a couple things for her next. She needs some cooler weather things. You know for those days when it is in the 70's here instead of the 80's! Have I mentioned how much I love this Florida weather? Well, I do!

Baby bishop

I love bishops on little girls.  They just frame their cute adorable faces.  I have done lots of them and each time I get excited to see the finished product.  I thought today I would show you some of my favorite bishops I have done in the past for Sydney and for others and then show you one I have recently finished for my new baby.
This first one was a copy from an old AS&E smocking pattern.  I worked on it entirely while Sydney played in the bathtub.  It was so much fun trying to see how many roses I could get done before she was ready to get out.  She was about 3 at the time. 

Here is a close up of all those roses.

I don't mind spending so much time doing bishops because they can be worn for so many years. They are a true labor of love. Also, they are the reason I started doing smocking in the first place. I just loved them in boutique's but we just didn't have the means to dress my little one in them all the time. So I became obsessed in learning everything I could about smocking so that my little one could be in them as much as possible. Here are just a few of my favorite bishops I have smocked. Each one has special meanings or were for a special occasion. I have saved these for my new little one. They are already hanging in her closet just waiting for the day I can pull them out and dress her.



As Sydney got a little older I made her a bishop as a top instead. She loved this outfit and wore it to death. It was made from a wonderful Heirloom Imports brushed twill.

These next two are for the cutest little blonde beauty of a child you have ever seen. I was blessed enought to make these for her. Her mother is one of my best friends and she loves a little one in bishops too.


Okay, enough of the past, here is one I have recently done for my new bundle of cuteness. It is a Children's Corner Missy pattern. I used the same diaper cover from Michie that I did on the last post. This is a pink dot on white pique. I love the weight of this fabric. I made this one short so those cute little legs will show.

Okay, I am off to smock. I am inspired to work on the one I started the other day. I think it might be what we bring home our newest little one in. But knowing me, I will probably have a couple options for that day.