Precious Coral comes back

Hannah for Lucy Rose

A first birthday present, for the daughter of dear friends. Hopefully she'll love wearing it this summer.

Christmas Dress at last!

Christmas Dress for Super Cutie, finally finished in time for her grandparents' 50th anniversary in April.

Birthday dress

 There was a problem with the pattern for Abby's birthday dress. The neck binding measurement was given as 21 inches (easier to use imperial with the quilting ruler and cutting board) but I realised the night before her party, when the dress was otherwise finished, that that was huge. Looking at the other sizes, it was supposed to be 12 inches. There was no time to fix it then, so she wore a superhero skirt from Ana, Ma Petit Tresor

 I did manage to fix it by the following weekend for our photo shoot though. And then I took a few photos at home.

Smocked Singlet for Ruby

 Somehow bullion roses always look better after a day or two

Hand Me Downs

 Of the best possible kind. I made this sweet little top for Niece #2 for her first Christmas. She's now 9. I think it still looks pretty good.

Abby's Naming Day

 Last weekend, we formally welcomed our daughter to the world and the circles of our family and friends with a naming ceremony. We acknowledged her grandparents,

 named three godparents, two of whom were in our bridal party, and promised to do our best by her.

 As with our wedding, I was really torn about how Pagan the ceremony should be. Part of me wanted to go all out - we've been to Christenings, after all. But another part is really wary of alienating loved ones by doing so. In the end, we asked the elements and the Lord and Lady to bless her within a more secular ceremony. The only comments I had were really positive, so I think it worked.

 And I had to make her a smocked dress for it. It was a bit of a rush - only finished on the morning (and a few little details could still be done), but I think it looked pretty good, and I'm so glad I could make her something special for her special day.

Tayah in smocking

Singlets for Amanda's Baby

 All in bright colours, because she likes them.

 I'm not quite so happy with the red one as the purple stitching doesn't show as well as I'd like, but they're still cute.

Tayah's Kewpie

 Front

 Back. I love the ribbon detail at the bottom.

Detail

There's also matching shorts/nappy cover, but no photos of those.

Singlets for Braden

A pair of sweet smocked singlets for our friends' beautiful baby boy.

Alice's Modern Girl

A sweet little outfit for our not-so-little girl. Alice (Niece #2, age 7) was quite calm about only receiving the hair clip on Christmas Day. Sewing the knit top was a new experience for me, but not too hard. I decided against sewing the flower directly to the skirt, and instead sewed it to a safety pin so it can be easily removed for washing or to wear on something else.

Harrison

In one of the singlets I smocked for him.

Love being an auntie!

Smocked singlets

One of the best ideas ever, smocked singlets are a quick and easy gift. I usually make sets of two or three for a new baby, in colours to suit the nursery or the parents' preferences.

Green and yellow for Ollie

Brights for Nicholas (Edinburgh - his mother is also a member of the Ankh-Morpork Knitter's [sic] Guild on Ravelry)

Pink for Peyton

Yellow for Tayah.

I also made a set for Harrison (the baby who received the natural coloured comfort toy of my last post) in 'woodland' colours but apparently forgot to photograph them, along with another set I sent overseas.

High Five, Amy!

 You might remember this sweet little jacket from High Five, Alice! After much wear, Alice has grown out of it, and passed it down to her little sister, Amy, who looks just as gorgeous in it!

Pretty Poppet

I finally finished Miss Milla's Christmas present about 10 days ago, and we delivered it to her yesterday. She was asleep when we arrived, but woke up calmly, and acquiesced to trying it on.

The dress is Pretty Poppet from Australian Smocking and Embroidery magazine. The fabric is similar, but not quite the same as the original.

Smocking in use

I don't often get to see my smocking being worn, so it's really nice to see it being handed down.

I made this for Miss Milla's biggest sister, but it looks divine on Milla!

A new project

And I swear this is the best pleating job I have ever done - it's actually straight!

Finished at Last!

There are times when it bothers me that Andrew's family is so small next to me (mostly because it makes me feel freakishly large) Then there a times when I am glad of it. Like when I take an entire extra year to complete a dress for my niece's Christmas present. In any other family, she would have grown out of it by now, but not our Amy. It will fit her perfectly!

Back

Look at that lacy sleeve

And the lace peeking out of the tuck!

And, of course, the smocking, even if it is a little rippled.

High Five, Alice!

My middle niece turned 4 last month. Much to the fascination and confusion of the family at large, and especially her mother, she's quite a fashion conscious, trendy, feminine little thing. So when I saw High Five! in issue 87 of Australian Smocking and Embroidery, I knew it was the perfect present for her birthday.
I spent far too much time fighting my sewing machine over the topstitching thread, and I'm sure I wasted more of it than I used. I also spent an hour and a half fighting my future mother-in-laws sewing machine over keyhole buttonholes, before giving up and doing standard buttonholes on my own machine.
But in the end, I love it so much that I'm trying to figure out how to make myself one!