Reminiscing........

These are one of the first outfits I made for my oldest two nearly 20 years ago.  I'm surprised they are still in great shape.  The very first dress I made was awful!!  I didn't even keep it.  Everything after that first one is still hanging in a closet at home.  I had the embroidery done at a specialty shop in Savannah, since I didn't have a machine that could do it.  I always made matching outfits for the two of them every Easter and Christmas.  I'll have to see if I can dig up my santa pictures with them wearing these and post them too.

I made these the following year.  The collar is removable from the dress, so it could have been used on another dress if I had chosen.  The pattern is out of an old copy of Sew Beautiful Magazine.  I still have the copy!  The ribbon on the boy's outfit will have to be replaced, as it has taken a beating.  I just love these button on shorts.

This is a Christmas nightshirt I made for Britt when she was about 4.  Wow how time flies.  There used to be ornaments on the trees and ribbons on all the presents, but they have long since been gone.  I'll have to fix that when I hand this down to the future grandchildren.  Sheesh, I don't even like saying that.  It's too soon for grandchildren.  They need to wait a few more years.  The one on the right is one of my WIPs.  I will be adding "ho-ho-ho-ho" just above the ornaments on the right side on the diagonal.  I haven't found the right fabric yet.

 

This is a Strasburg pattern I made for Brittany for a wedding.  She was the flower girl.  I have to find the pictures.  She looked so sweet.  This was the second one I've made.  The first was a mint green for Easter.  I'll have that one posted soon too.  This one has not held up.  She didn't wear it very much, so I knew when I put it up, it was in great shape.  When I pulled it out to take pics, I noticed the lace and some of the batiste is turning colors. :(  I really hope I can fix that, so it can be passed down.

This is a matching Easter set that I made roughly 15 years ago for Britt and Austin.  They wore these 2 years in a row.   I simply moved the buttons down on Austin's shirt, and Britt just didn't grow that much.  I was lucky she was always so petite as a little girl.  This was the first dress I had ever made with lace.  This was also the dress that forced me to buy my Viking sewing machine.  My old machine ate roughly $40 worth of lace trying to get it on the dress.  I was so mad.  The new Viking Computer 500 was a dream.  No more ruined projects, and it has more than paid for itself over the years.  The dress has held up well except for the lace around the collar.  I wove a small ribbon through the french lace beading, but I should have tacked it in several places to keep it in place.  The way it's done, it tends to move around too much.  Both of these could certainly be passed down in another....oh say 10 years or so. hahaha 

This is the first nightgown I made nearly 15 years ago for Britt.  It has held up very well considering how many times it went through the wash.  She wore it all the time.  I made two others for my friend, Suzanne's, 2 girls.  She always passed down all her smocked dresses, so I reciprocated by making them a few nightgowns and dresses.  Incidentally, I have always washed these items in cold water on delicate and dried on low heat in the dryer except the lace collars.  I always hung those.




Angela