OFB Smocked Layette Part 2: Completed!

Well,  my Old Fashioned Baby smocked layette project didn’t turn out to be a knocked down and dragged out saga like my smocked baby daygown. You see, I couldn’t dilly dally because this particular outfit was supposed to be worn for Easter this year (and it WAS completed in time for Easter!):

It was such a fun project. I think I am going to make another one with a floral fabric for a less formal look. But for now, here is the lacy fancy hem:

The coordinating slip. I embroidered a teeny rosebud right below the neckline just for fun:

Have a great Monday and week, everyone. I will catch up with you later!

p.s. Please click here for Part 1.

OFB Smocked Layette Part 1: Getting Started

This week, I have been working on a smocked layette. The pattern is by Jeannie Baumeister of Old Fashioned Baby:

The smocking is very simple by very sweet, with super sweet embroidery on the smocked sleeves:

This is what I have done so far:

These are the French Val laces I will be using to attach to the hem – I have a thing for lacy hem:

Thanks for stopping by! It’s always great to hear from you. I hope you are enjoying your day. Till tomorrow!

Completed: Lemonade Smocked Daygown

I am enjoying some down time from quilting deadlines, and am pleased that I am able to complete some heirloom sewing UFO’s. The latest is my lemonade smocked daygown:

The pattern is from Ginger Snaps Designs. In fact it is identical to the pink daygown I completed a couple of weeks ago. But as you can see, the fabric and thread color make a huge difference in the final look. The pink one (Imperial Batiste with tone on tone smocking) looks prim and proper, while the lemonade one (Dotted Swiss with contrasting smocking) looks playful and lively:

I decided to also leave the front geometrically smocked without any embroidery:

The smocked sleeves:

Closeup of the Swiss embroidery lace edging (isn’t it sweet?):

Ah, it’s always good to get something completed. Another monkey off my back -just so that I can pile on even more monkies! :)

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone! I will catch up with you tomorrow.

Peachy Pink, Pink, Pink

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I hope your week is going well for you so far.

I completed the embroidery on the baby daygown slip. I realized after the fact that using an entredeux would have probably been better before attaching the lace:

Once the embroidery was completed, I felt compelled to finish constructing the daygown. The ensemble is made of a peachy pinkish Imperial Batiste. The daygown pattern is from Ginger Snaps Designs, and the slip pattern is from Old Fashioned Baby:

I opted to just do geometric smocking on this daygown to give it a touch of simplicity:

I just think smocked sleeves are the sweetest things, especially on babies:

Thanks for stopping by. I will catch with you tomorrow.

Dainty Hand Embroidery

Okay, as if I don’t have enough to do, I went ahead and did some hand embroidery on a slip for a pink baby daygown where no one would see since the slip is worn underneath the gown. The design is another winner from Old Fashioned Baby:

Nonetheless, it is a fun exercise for a more serious undertaking in the future! I will post more pictures once I am done with this little detour project – I say “detour” because I still have a couple of quilt commitments that I need to fulfill! But I am going to enjoy the hand embroidery for now.

Have a terrific Thursday, everyone!

OFB Smocked Daygown Part 10: Completo!

My dear friend Annelle came through for me AGAIN! The Old Fashioned Baby Daygown is now complete:

Thank you for all your encouraging comments throughout this looong saga! The latest and all pink issue of “Sew Beautiful” featured a similar gown made by Jeannie Baumeister (desginer), except the smocking part feature honeycomb smocking and there is additional embroidery on the yoke. It was absolutely stunning — I might have to make another one!! So many pretties, so little time…

(Previous posts on my daygown saga: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9)

OFB Smocked Daygown Part 9: It’s about time!

I did manage to attach the collars to my Old-fashioned Baby daygown yesterday – many, many, many thanks to my dear friend Annelle! I even sewed the bias band down – that’s how excited I was about these collars!!! [There is actually a picture of the same daygown made by Jeannie Baumeister (designer) featured in the latest Sew Beautiful magazine – it’s toward the end of the magazine!]

All I have left are the buttonholes, buttons, and the slip (pieces already cut). I hope I would be able to get those completed within the very near future.

The next Old-fashioned Baby pattern I intend to attempt is the Smocked Layette – I love all of Jeannie’s designs:

(Previous posts on my daygown saga: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8)

Meanwhile, I am going back to doing some quilting – hadn’t done much of that this week, and I have some catching up to do. See you tomorrow!

OFB Smocked Daygown Part 8: A bit of progress

I added the sleeves to my daygown. It was quite challenging for me to have to sew something as tiny as infant-sized sleeves. All I can say is, heirloom sewing is vastly different from quilting.

I am glad that the daygown is looking more like a daygown, and less like a… like a… like a…. muscle shirt! ;)

Now, I am supposed to stitch this tiny tiny lace by hand (about 1/4″ wide) to the collar before I can attach the collar to the daygown. I am usually not afraid of handwork, but I have to say this part does overwhelms me a bit. Nonetheless I am going to do it as soon as I get a breather from my quilting deadlines:

(Previous posts on my daygown saga: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7)

Missy, who is also into heirloom sewing, graciously awarded me (thanks, Missy!):

OFB Smocked Daygown Part 7: Hang-ability!

Another Happy Monday to you all! I finished piecing my first of two quilts for “The Quilter” over the weekend. As a treat, I allowed myself to do some heirloom sewing. Now, my Old Fashioned Baby Smocked Daygown has “hang-ability” (ability to be hung!) because I french-seamed the shoulder seams!! You can also see from the picture how the fancy hem looks on the dress:

I also learned to attach the front placket. An edge-stitch foot really came in handy for that!! A piece of cake for some, but a MILESTONE for me. I actually also learned to do release pleats, but the picture doesn’t quite show it (next time, I promise!):

My remaining checklist for the daygown (I think, unless my wonderful teacher says otherwise):

1. Slip

2. Collars

3. Buttonholes

4. Sleeves

5. Buttons

I hope to be able to show you prettier pictures once the collars and sleeves are attached.

(Previous posts on my daygown saga: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6)

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Carrie graciously awarded me with this (Thanks bunches, Carrie!):

(She and I hit it off right away because we are both daughters of the King, and we are both dish-aholics! I always enjoy her posts on tablesettings and dishes among her other excellent posts).

OFB Smocked Daygown Part 6: Fancy Hem just got FANCIER

Another HAPPY MONDAY to you! I had a wonderful weekend. I started and almost completed another small wholecloth project to honor the 9th President of the United States, President Harrison. I am hoping to show you some pictures in a couple of days.

Meanwhile – the fancy hem on my baby daygown just got fancier. I weaved a very thin double-faced satin ribbon through the lace beading, and this is how it is looking:

Compare the present look with the previous pictures:

Now, you know why I had embroidered my rosebuds pink:

A few tips that might be helpful to you if you weave the ribbon through the lace beading:

1. Use a large tapestry needle with a large eye to “thread” the ribbon for weaving

2. Always check to make sure the ribbon does not “turn” on you onto the other face as you weave – it will save you a lot of heartache especially if the ribbon will be sewn into the placket as in a front placket

I appreciate you all being involved with my daygown saga (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)!!! Like I had mentioned to some of you, garment construction is an uphill battle for me… I am hoping to be able to complete the front placket to show you in a couple of days. So stay tuned! I also have other news. But for now, I need to focus on finishing the background quilting on my Harrison project as I am on a deadline.

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Meanwhile, you still have a bit of time to leave a comment for my “Pieceful Garden” pillow giveaway!

OFB Smocked Daygown Part 5: Fancy Hem

From this…

… to this with entredeux in between the laces (attached to the hem of the daygown):

The view of the dress with fancy hem attached:

For those who are interested in the technical side of things regarding the lace assembly before attaching the whole thing to the hem of the dress –

1. I found lightly spray-starching and pressing the laces before doing the lace assembly a big help. That stabilizes the laces very well especially when I was dealing with long lengths of laces.

2. I used a clear foot so that I can easily keep track of the stitching:

3. I also made full use of my magnifying glass whenever I feel like I need it to magnify the entredeux holes when attaching the lace to the entredeux:

4. I used a zia-zag stitch (with W=2.2, and L between 1.0-1.2, adjusted as needed)

The shocking math of all this — just for this little infant daygown, the amount of laces/trims used was 8 1/8 yards of French Val Lace, and 8 1/8 yard of entredeux!!!

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I hope you enjoyed the progress report on my Old Fashioned Baby Daygown, and I hope you have a Marvelous Monday, all my bloggy friends!

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The complete saga of my OFB Smocked Daygown: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4