Sewing Essentials Part 3 - Ironing Essentials

Anyone who sews knows pressing and ironing are an essential part of sewing. Seams have to be pressed to seal in the stitches and then pressed open or to one side. Hems are ironed in and sleeves are steamed. Below are items I use in my sewing studio every day and where you can purchase them.

I. An extra large ironing board the one I use is wider than the normal size ironing board and has a place to rest your iron on one end. It is called the Honey-Can-Do Adjustable Deluxe Ironing Board with Iron Rest

Honey-Can-Do Extra Large Ironing Board

2. I wasn't crazy about the striped cover that came with the ironing board so I purchased one with extra padding. Padded Cover

3. My ironing ham is used for so many things like ironing open seams. The curved seams conform to the shape of the ham. There is a cotton side and a wool fabric side.They are acually called a Dress Makers Ham and you can purchase one by Dritz online at Farmhouse.  https://farmhousefabrics.com/pressing-tailor-s-ham-by-dritz-8-28-20

There are also lots of You Tube tutorials on how to make your own.

4. The rajah pressing cloth is used to to press in creases or take out creases. The heat of the iron releases a chemical that is like magic. The chemicals won't harm your fabric. I purchased mine and Farmhouse fabrics and here is the link: https://farmhousefabrics.com/rajah-pressing-cloth

The fat quarter silk organza pressing cloth Available at Farmhouse Fabrics is a great pressing cloth. You can use it to delicate fabrics plus it protects your iron from getting residue and sticky spots. https://farmhousefabrics.com/fat-quarter-silk-organza-18-x-22-soft-white

5. Parchment paper is very useful when ironing. It protects your iron and your fabric.

6. I discovered the wool pressing mat while watching a Farmhouse Fabrics Gab & Gush. The heat gets into the wool and both sides of your fabric is pressed. Below are two links where you can purchase a wool pressing mat. Amazon - https://amzn.to/3NtBRQ0 or Farmhouse Fabrics- https://farmhousefabrics.com/wool-pressing-mat-thick

7. Now let's talk about starchs. There are several opinions on when and if to use starch on fabrics. I use three types of starch depending on what I am working on. First is Mary Ellen's Best Pressed Starch. This is my favorite starch to use with heirloom sewing. It is light weight and gives a beautiful finish to the garment. 

https://amzn.to/41eFbV5

If I use Magic Sizing for "touch-ups". It is a light weight finish and gives so much body to your garment.  https://amzn.to/4498xpg

Faultless Starch has been around for years and is a trusted brand. There are several types but I like the gold can the best. You can find it at grocery stores and big box stores but I usually order several cans at a time and purchase it through Amazon.  https://amzn.to/3JGuyUa

Thank you for staying until the end of this post. I hope my suggestions help you in your sewing journey. I am an Amazon affiliate so if you order from one the Amazon links in this post, I receive a small commission. Have a great day!

Special Wedding Keepsakes

 My niece had a lovely wedding at the beach last Christmas and I had a grand time helping her and her mom create special touches for the wedding. They searched the internet for a ring bearer pillow and couldn't find anything like they liked so they asked me to create one for them. It had been a very long time since I had made a pillow but I got busy! Here is a picture of the finshed product.

I used white Maline lace, white pima batiste, white entredeux, Mother of Pearl buttons, and white satin ribbon.
Here is a picture of the back of the pillow.

An elastic enclosed band  was added to the back so the young ring bearer would have something to hold onto and hopefully not drop the pillow! The body of the pillow measured 8" x 8" and ended up being the perfect size.

The bride also wanted custom handkerchiefs for herself, her mother, groom's mother, plus the groom's grandmother. I decided the father of the bride would definitely need a handkerchief! The female handkerchiefs were made using linen fabric, hemstitching, and french Val lace. The blue thread used coordinated with the bridesmaid's dresses and other wedding colors.

The handchief for the father-of-the-groom was different. I didn't think he would be too thrilled with lace on his handkerchief so I made one of my linen hemmed and hemstitched handkerchiefs. Here it looked and he definitely needed it before and during the ceremony for some happy tears.

When I sent the package to the bride before the wedding, I included a few surprises. I made a lovely set of garters for her to wear. One for her to wear and save as a keepsake and one to wear and throw at the reception.

Something I did for my daughter when she married last summer (another post about it later) was make a custom satin ribbon label for her wedding dress. I thought my niece needed one, too. In addtion to a label for her dress, I made two more labels for the father of the bride and groom ties. She loved the special touch. Again, I used the same blue font font used on the handkerchiefs. I hand stitched them into the garments after I arrived a few days before the wedding.

Below is a picture of everything before it was shipping to my niece. 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the special items I made for the wedding. Handerchiefs can be ordered from my Etsy shop Monogram Elegance

2018 Christening Gown Ensemble

Creating keepsake heirloom Christening Ensembles are my favorite thing to make in heirloom sewing. It takes hours just to plan the style of the gown and bonnet, what laces to use, and to “play” with the laces to find just the right combination for the fancy bands.

My customer last summer wanted a very elaborate gown made with Nelona Swiss Batiste and French laces. She gave me a budget but let me make all the decisions about the gown. She was a dream customer! Her only request was a puffing strip in the fancy band. After looking through magazines and books by Sarah Howard Stone, I decided on a high yoke gown with a fancy band and ruffle. I put rows and rows of laces together to get the perfect combination. All the laces are beautiful but some look better together than others. When I was happy with the selections, I started measuring the depth of the bands to figure out the depth needed for the fabric at the top of the skirt and for the ruffle. I laid the pieces out on a grid mat to see the measurements

The picture above shows the lace band, tucked bands, puffing strip, and bottom ruffle laid out but not sewn together. It is on my grid table so I can check the height of this portion of the skirt bottom. As a rule, the embellished portion of the skirt should not exceed two-thirds of the skirt length measurement.

When working on an heirloom project, I do it in sections. Usually, I work on the fancy part of the skirt first, then the front and back bodice, and lastly, the sleeves. I get each section completed before I start assembling the gown. I like to work on the dress in this order: fancy bands, skirt, ruffle, front and back bodices, and sleeves.

The strips of lace were joined with tiny narrow zigzag stitches. I kept adding lace strips until I had the band the way I wanted it to look.

Here are the details of the dress:

Pattern: Sarah Howard Stone Christening Gown Pattern

Laces: French Valenciennes Lace, color light ecru, and white entredeux

Ribbon: Ecru Double Face Satin

Fabric: White Nelona Swiss Batiste

The bands in the skirt, ruffle, the front and back yokes, and sleeves are all joined together with endredeux.

The front yoke features hand embroidery embellishment.

White fabric is the hardest to photograph and I struggle with lighting and getting great pictures! I took pictures outside and inside.

The picture below was taken inside with light coming in behind the dress. I hung the dress in front of a large window.

This is a picture with a close-up of the bodice showing the hand embroidery.

The back of the gown features a placket and my customer will use two beauty pins to close the gown. Beauty pins are often passed down with the gown to use for generations.

Beauty bar pins can be purchased here: https://www.thepolkadotstore.com/baby-jewelry 

Gold and sterling silver pins are available.

The skirt band is an elaborate combination of four lace bands and two tuck bands on either side of a wide puffing strip.

The fabric ruffle has a center row of lace insertion and lace edging is attached to the bottom of the ruffle. The fabric in the picture is white but the lighting makes it look ecru.

 Here you can see all the skirt details.

A matching slip and bonnet completed the Christening Ensemble. The slip has a beautiful cross embroidered on the front center bottom. A monogram with Christening date will be added to the slip after the Christening. Unfortunately, I forgot to back a picture of the slip.

Christening gowns are my favorite thing to make. Creating something this beautiful is very fulfilling. I can’t wait to start on my next Christening gown project!

Note: All supplies can be purchased from Granny's Attic. Contact info: grannysheirlooms@gmail.com 

Custom Christening Ensembles are made on request.

The Polka Dot Store

Monogram Elegance on Etsy

Heirloom Easter Dress

It's that time of year again when southern mamas start planning Easter outfits for their children. It is an age old tradition in the south for little boys to wear Eton suits, sailor collar shirts with button-on pants, and Jon Jon's. Heirloom dresses out of cotton Swiss batiste fabric in an array of colors adored with rows and rows of french lace are the proper attire for little girls.

Last Easter a good friend asked me to design and sew a blue batiste dress for her granddaughter. The mother of the little girl is a busy working mom so she needed an easy to care for dress. For that reason, I selected to use baby blue Imperial batiste fabric from Spechler Vogel Textiles.. Imperial batiste is a poly cotton blend fabric with a beautiful finish and is a great alternative to 100% cotton Swiss batiste. Here is a picture of the hem of the dress as I was working on it at the sewing machine. You can see the beautiful French Val lace and the tiny holes in the fabric are called hemstitching. The lace is attached to the hemstitching usung a zigzag stitch with the machine needle going into each hole of the fabric then catching the heading of the lace.

Pintucks or little folds of fabric were sewn on the yoke, sleeves, and skirt fancy band of the dress.

Here you can see the sleeve details. Lace beading was used on the sleeves bands. Any color double faced stain ribbon can be woven through the holes and tied in a bow at the top.

Wider pintucks were stitched on the fancy band and a hand embroidered design was stitched down the center of the band. Ecru feather stitching and pink bullion roses were used in the embroidery design.

The bottom of the skirt was scalloped with pintucks. Then hemstitching and lace were added for the finishing touch.

The mother and grandmother were thrilled with the dress. I loved working on this dress and knowing the little girl who would wear it made the dress even more special to me.

Here's a link to my other blog post about heirloom sewing Heirloom Sewing - My First Love

Some of my heirloom creations are available on my website The Polka Dot store and here are the links to a few of them:

Cluny Lace Christening Dress

Cross Embroidery Christening Gown

A sweet little white Swiss batiste dress with ecru lace will be listed soon. Sign up for email and be the first to know when it is up on the website. Scroll to the bottom of the page here to sign up for email.

I hope this blog post gives you inspiration for planning your next heirloom outfit.

Chadwick Heirlooms
Peanut Butter n Jelly Kids
Delicate Stitches

Easter In Thomasville

How was your Easter weekend? We had a great one! The weather was beautiful, church service was good, and all my children were at home. Smiles all around! My grandson wore a very special outfit first worn by my son when he was about the same age. Here is a picture my husband took before church.

Don't you must love that sweet face! Can you believe that outfit is over 25 years old? The shirt is made from white linen and the pants are a blue cotton fabric.

A friends granddaughter wore one of my girls pink dresses from when they were little. It looked just as good this Easter as it did over 20 years ago. The reason we call it heirloom sewing is simple. If the outfits are taken care of, they will last for generations!

How about some pictures of my Easter decorations? Here goes............

Finally, I asked my husband to take a picture of my children and me. I decided to show you a fun one!

Thanks for joining me at Behind The Monogram!

Heirloom Sewing - My First Love

Welcome to Behind The  Monogram! I know many of you are snowbound, but earlier today in south Georgia the temperature was 87 degrees. Yes, shorts weather! Now it is raining and getting cold. Two exciting things are happening to Thomasville, Georgia this week. We have what is called "First Friday Night" here in Thomasville. It is just as it sounds, there is a celebration, street dance (Swinging Medallions this week), and shopping at our participating downtown shops on the first Friday night of each month. Thomasville is really lovely at night. Here is a picture I took a few weeks ago outside Sweet Grass Dairy while downtown at a meeting with friends:

This is the store front at Sweet Grass Dairy.

The second really exciting thing happening is that HGTV is in town shooting an episode of "Restore America". One of the old homes on Monroe street is getting a makeover. Since I drive within a block of it every day, I shot a picture from the car to show you. These guys are hard at work and it is lunch time!

The HGTV crew has been seen at different locations doing interviews, eating lunch, and taking on location shots. Pretty cool!

O.K., enough rambling and onto the blog topic. Since the first of the year, I have been trying to make time for one of my passions, Smocking and Heirloom Sewing. If you have read the "about me" section of the blog, you know I have been doing smocking and heirloom sewing for over 30 years. I've taught it and done custom sewing using the techniques. Life and has been crazy the past few years (can we say 5 - 10 years) and I haven't been able to find time for it. I am so excited to be enjoying it again! Here are a few of my latest projects hoping to make an appearance soon on the website:

Smocked Imperial Batiste Baby Dress with Scalloped Hem

Smocked Roses Daygown with Tatting

Smocked Heirloom Daygown made with Imperial Batiste and French Lace

There are more projects planned and I look forward to sharing them with you later! Until next time, remember to shop at The Polka Dot Store for the finest quality baby gifts and accessories.