First I had to stop and do some pressing and taking pictures of the little clothes I mentioned earlier. I'm still going to get some stain remover and do a little patching, but I wanted to stop and see where they stand.
The bonnet! It's just perfect with hardly a flaw - except for the fact that I don't think any amount of starch is going to make it stand up enough to frame a baby's face. It's almost like netting it's so thin.
Perfect little tucks along the brim.
The ties are not in good shape but what detail at the ends.
This is a bad picture of the embroidery on the crown, but it's beautiful.
This is the dress that supposedly goes with the slip from earlier.
There are some bad stains and tears, really shredding, and it probably can't be fixed too well, but I can still enjoy the work.
The bottom with the lace and entredeux.
The sweet little open sleeves.
I even like the placket and little buttons.
There are several reasons that make me think these clothes might have belonged to Mike's mother. First, they were in her cedar chest. Second, she didn't have any daughters, and third the little apron below has an E, and her name was Eleanor. The puzzling thing is why we never knew about them. I'm thinking maybe she received them from someone who discovered them and returned them to her after she was under the effect of the Parkinson's disease and she didn't understand what they were.
The apron with the embroidery on the bib and gingham binding and ties.
I love the little monogrammed pocket and the embroidery on the bib.
Now to my totally different sewing.I bought several pieces of the Andover Fabrics "Meet the Gang" when I thought I was going to be making twin boy and girl quilts for expected twins this spring. It turns out they're both boys, so I needed to use my girl fabric (and totally need to start on the boy quilts - but never mind - first things first).
Emily and Elise both liked them, so I decided to do us a purse organizer just for fun.I used the tutorial from The Giving Flower blog. This is just the first one I saw, and it looked easy (which it was), but doing a search for this tutorial, I saw many more and different versions of the same thing. I would maybe make this one an inch or so taller and an inch or so longer since I have a long billfold.
Here it is in the main fabric and a coral one with the little birds. I won't go through my steps. I don't sew "pretty," and no one wants to see pictures of the broken needle and scraps and thread all over the floor. Just see how I finished something. One down, 2 - maybe 3 - to go!
But I'm proud of the way this turned out.
I used the measurements suggested, but you can make the pockets any size. My main needs were for my phone, pens, and hand lotion. All the addresses and phone numbers from that address book are in my phone, but that's my security blanket, so I still carry it.
Standing up without the billfold in the middle. Stiff interfacing makes it stand up well.
It needs to be a little longer for me.
When you change purses, you can just pick up the whole thing and transfer. I do well to find one purse I like, so I change only with the seasons - and that's even iffy sometimes.
This is down in my purse. Fits nicely. I'll probably use one pocket for my camera since I'm always groping around for it and my phone at the bottom of my purse. And there are still extra zipper spaces in my purse for lipstick and keys and all the other stuff that collects.
So there! I did it. I've made this MY day. I do nothing I don't want to, and Mike doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to either. I hear him clinking and banging in the kitchen, working on some wayward cabinet hinges and touching up some paint - and occasionally bursting out with a self-congratulatory sentence or 2. No modesty there. Like me.
No telling what we might get done this afternoon after a lunch that neither one of us is going to volunteer to make. I did breakfast....
What a wonderful project to have. I'm so glad you're preserving them.
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