Monday, November 16, 2009

Heirloom Baby Daygown


This was a labor of love for a dear friend's daughter having her first baby. It took more time than most projects but that was intentional and totally enjoyable. I do love handwork! She ended up dressing her little one in it to come home from the hospital, so I know it was something appreciated. The basic pattern came from Nancy Coburn's Baby Daygown booklet. I've made dozens over the years and they always work up perfectly.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Colonial Boy - It's all his fault


Colonial boy has been bugging me to make a blog. So here it is. He says my sewing is better than all the rest so I should post my awesome projects for everyone to copy. Copy - who me? Yes, I have no talent, it's all copywork. But, imitation is the finest form of flattery, right? I will definitely give credit where credit is due when I copy.

The boy was inspired after our vacation to Williamsburg and Jamestown, Virginia, and wanted a colonial boy costume. We all like the outcome, but there was much more involved in the process than I expected and it took twice as long (aren't most things that way?). It's a good thing I started on it last Sunday and worked a little bit every day.

We started at Goodwill - the best source for materials. The green outer vest was a man's suit coat ($3.00), the nicely buttoned vest was a ladies vest ($1.50), the pants were off the ladies' rack (sale $.50), and the ammo bag started life as linen slacks (also on sale $.50). Sister got the shoe buckles from her Irish dance shoes, made his cravat from the strip cut off the bottom of dad's white dress shirt (he didn't like the way it hung all the way to his knees so we chopped it!), and cut off some black stockings (tied with elastic string). He bought the hat at Williamsburg to complete a fabulous costume.