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

Monogrammed Beverage Ribbons

I love to entertain my friends for meetings, luncheons, and special events. One of my most commented on items I use when I entertain are my beverage ribbons. I stitched them in colors and designs matching the theme of the event.

At the last Garden Club meeting hosted at my house, I used this cute pink ribbon for the coffee urn.

These two sets were made for an Auburn football tailgate party. They have a tiger paw design added to the lettering.

I choose the works for the lettering depending on the beverages being served. Sweet Tea, Water, and Coffee are always the most popular!

Here is a picture of a group with a water container, tray, and glasses.

These ribbon are so versatile! You them, wash and dry, and use again. The ends are heat sealed so they don't fray. Think about using these for your next event.

More Monograms

I am way behind on publishing blog posts. Maybe writing and publishing blog posts should have been my New Year's Resolution!

My daughter was here during the summer and we went downtown Thomasville shopping. You can't come to Thomasville, Georgia and not visit the best downtown in the U.S.A! While shopping at  Relish we found the cutest lunch box for my grandson to use for his school lunches. It folds out flat and can be used as a placemat. Clean up is easy. Of course, it needed a monogram. If you think monograms are a "girl" thing, think again. Monograms can be very masculine.

This stacked "Library" font design is great for a guy.

On this same visit home, my daughter packed my grandson's medications and toiletries in zippered plastic bags. Because of constant handling, the bags eventually split and everything started falling out. I decided that just wouldn't do so I went shopping at our local T.J. Maxx and found two dopp kits. Here us a picture of the monogram I selected stitched on the bags.

My grandson has a hyphenated middle name so I designed a four-letter monogram for his bags. I think they turned about pretty cute and they are perfect for his medications and toiletries.

Custom Monograms

As the owner of an Etsy shop and an online baby gift store, I am constantly monogramming/personalizing gift items. I love monograms and love creating custom monograms for my customers.

This is a set of towels I monogrammed for a friend of mine. She brought me a photo of her daughter-in-laws handwriting and I digitized the letter "J" for the embroidery. You can't get more personal than that and what a great idea! The towels turned out beautifully and my customer and her daughter-in-law loved them.

I also stitched a handkerchief for a customer to be used in memory of a family member at a wedding.

My customer brought me an image of the wings and I digitized it and added the name and date. Here is a close-up of the design.

Here is another custom handkerchief design stitched on one of my double hemstitch handkerchiefs.

In my Etsy shop, I offer organic cotton pillowcases. Three letter monograms or names is offered on the pillowcases but last Christmas a customer requested a custom pillowcase. She wanted a phrase stitched on the front and the back. She is a graphic designer so she drew out the font phrase took a picture and sent it to be. I digitized the lettering and stitched it on the pillowcase. If turned out really cute and the recipient loved it.

Here is a link to my pillowcase listing in my Etsy store.

I don't have a lot of experience digitizing but love the opportunity to create simple custom designs.

Elegant Monograms

Monograms are still very popular. I am continually purchasing new monogram fonts I see and like. These napkins are stitched with a font called Ponda from Apex Embroidery Designs .

I call the thread color Hydrangea Blue. It reminds me of the color of the hydrangea flowers in my yard.

The finished napkins are very elegant and will look beautiful in any table setting. The hemstitched napkins are made from 100% linen fabric. They wash and iron beautifully! I starch the napkins before I use them on a table but remember to never store them with starch on them. If linens are stored for a long time with starch on them, they will yellow and the fibers will deteriorate.

The ladies giving the bridal shower displayed the napkins beautifully on the entryway table so all the guests could see them. See why I call the thread color Hydrangea Blue!

I hope to add a Monogram Dinner Listing to my Etsy store soon.

Monogram Gifts

It has been a long time since my last blog ….. too long. Along with personalizing gifts from my baby store, The Polka Dot Store, and my Etsy Store, Monogram Elegance, I monogram for friends and family. Holidays and weddings keep me busy!. Here are a few images of some of my work. The first picture is a set of pajamas given as a bridesmaid gift. The Sydney font and red thread was used for the initial.

This is a picture of a set of blankets a friend gave her nieces as gifts. They turned out so cute and her nieces love them!

Pink dresses and blankets were fun to create for micro preemie twins born in October. Preemie’s in the NICU have monitors and wires so the neck is made adjustable with gathers and ribbon. The back is left open and the ribbon woven through the smocking ties the dress closed in the back. The sleeves are angle sleeves style allowing for tubes to be placed through them. If you are interested in making "Wee Care" gowns for hospitals, here is a link Smocking Guild Wee Care Program . The dress is made from 100% cotton sateen fabric and is personalized above the hem with the letter "E" in Vine Font. The blanket was made using 100% soft cotton flannel fabric and lined in Imperial Batiste fabric.

A visit to see a friend prompted making this cute pillow with her zip code appliqued on the front. The pillow is made from ivory cotton canvas fabric and I used gray burlap fabric for the piping and applique. It looks great on her sofa!

I hope you get some great ideas from the pictures. More gift ideas will be posted in a later blog. Visit The Polka Dot Store for all your baby gifts and Monogram Elegance on Etsy for you wedding, graduation, birthday, and Christening gifts.

Reusable Cloth Kitchen Towel On A Roll

Several months ago my daughter mentioned she wanted an alternative to paper towels in her kitchen.  I selected a cotton print fabric and a white terry cloth cotton fabric from my fabric stash.  Each piece was cut approximately 12" x 12". Since I wanted a set of twelve cloths, twelve squares were cut from each type of fabric.

Next I pinned a printed fabric piece and a terry cloth piece wrong sides together and took them to my serger. There are tutorials available on Pinterest showing the next step sewing the pieces right side together leaving an unsewn area where you can turn the piece right side out and sew up the opening. These were for my daughter so I just serged around the edges. After serging the edges, I ironed the pieces so they would look nice and neat.

 

Using a sewing awl to punch a hole in the corner for a snap was the next step.

This is a heavy duty snap installer but a hand one will work just fine. (Use a southern drawl when you read the word "fine" ) 😉 I have tons of these plastic snaps left over from making cloth diapers when my grandson was a baby. Ha, ha,  I have to practice on a scrap because I always seem to do the first set wrong!

After inserting all the snap pieces, I snap each cloths together and made a roll.

After looking at these pictures again, I have an idea. These would be really nice if I embroidered a cute saying on each towel. It is a good thought for the next set!

My daughter loves them and uses them every day. They have washed and dried beautifully and held up to every day use. Practical and eco-friendly are great labels for a roll of fabric kitchen towels!

Here is a link to a blog with great instructions: Reusable Paper Towels

Monogram Handkerchiefs

One of my favorite items to work on is monogram handkerchiefs. Along with running my website The Polka Dot Store I also have an Etsy store called Monogram Elegance. Trust me. I am all about monograms! After working on monogram designs for about twelve years, I could almost be considered an expert on the subject. Well.....maybe not!

Handkerchiefs are a very popular item in my Monogram Elegance shop. Customers order them for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, Baptisms, Christenings, Baby Dedication, and other special occasions. I have even had customers order one for a friend who just lost her husband. They can be used as a bouquet wrap for weddings or given as a special keepsake of the event. One customer ordered one to use for her wedding and planned to share it with three of her friends for them to each have a corner customized with their initials and wedding date and used at their wedding. What a great idea!

This has also become a popular gift to give for a baby girl when she is Christened or Baptized. The initials and date are stitched in a light blue thread. The handkerchief is stored and saved to use as her "Something Blue" on her wedding day. This is especially nice if a cross has been added as in the picture below. When she is married, her initials and wedding date can be added on the opposite corner.

My handkerchiefs are made from a square of fine white linen fabric. I used my hemstitch machine to stitch the "little" holes along the edge of the fabric. Beautiful white tatting is added to the hemstitching. A hemmed version instead of lace edging is also offered.

There are a variety of different style handkerchiefs offered at Monogram Elegance. I also do custom orders. Some customers have a message stitched in the opposite corner such as "Love, Aunt Grace". Here are a few pictures of custom ordered handkerchiefs:

 

I have also digitized and stitched designs on handkerchiefs brought to me by friends. Below is an example of one. My friend had a special family member who had passed away and she wanted him remembered at her son's wedding.

Customized handkerchiefs make great gifts and can become special memories!

You can find handkerchiefs at The Polka Dot Store on the Christening page and on the shop page at Mongram Elegance on Etsy .