This blog is all about the fine art of smocking, shadow work, embroidery and heirloom sewing.
From the last post until now we have been very busy. We went to Orlando in July, moved our daughter to New York City in August and just got back from a 10 day trip to Europe. I have had several friends that recently had grandsons so I managed to get some smocking done. The […]
When my girls were young, I had a subscription to Australian Smocking & Embroidery magazine – a popular magazine in all the sewing stores at the time. Unfortunately it is no longer in production, but it was great for inspiration. Feeling brave, I decided on the pattern below from the Easter edition, for my girls […]
Nothing beats a classic style smocked dress. The Children’s Corner Bessie pattern is a prime example especially when paired with this Fabric Finders pink and green floral print fabric. The great thing about this fabric is that you can smock it in pink or green depending on your preference. For this dress, I matched the […]
The second dress I did for Easter was also beautiful. For this dress, I used Children’s Corner Lee pattern. The fabric I chose was light pink satin batiste from the Smocking Bird and I decided to use embroidered insertion for the band in the skirt with matching lace on each side. The embroidered edging was […]
Easter has come and gone, and I was very thankful it was late this year. I created two heirloom dresses for two beautiful girls. For the first one, I used Chery Williams Wedding Ring Dress pattern. The fabric is blue satin batiste with ivory lace. I procratinated on this dress because I had not shaped […]
Just like the Bishop dress, the yoke dress is timeless and classic. I don’t make many of these because they require a bit more time. However, seeing Princess Charlotte in the media wearing a darling smocked yoke dress, I had to try it again. I saw this adorable raspberry pink floral fabric by Fabric Finders […]
When it comes to doing holiday outfits, there are different ideas to choose from. This year, for two brothers, I let the fabric be the focal point. Since the oldest is 3, I made some pants to go with a plain white shirt. For the younger brother, six months, I did a bubble using the […]
Recently, I wanted to try more heirloom outfits. I started by using the pattern Baby Dress by Michie Mooney. This is a very versatile pattern and can be used for about any heirloom dress you want to make. She also has embroidery ideas included with the pattern which I have used before. This time I […]
There is nothing better than smocking on Liberty fabric. I know I’ve talked about this before, but never really explained the difference in working with Liberty Fabric vs. other types – it safe to say that all fabrics are not created equally. Liberty fabric is famous for two distinct reasons, the beautiful prints, and the […]
This summer I had the opportunity to make some cute summer girls outfits. The first one was a summer apron for a wonderful friend’s baby girl. She send me a picture of what she was interested in and, after a little searching, I found a cute pattern for it. White pique is such a great […]
Threading the Needle 