Saturday, December 10, 2011

Ho Ho Ho


Ho Ho Ho! Time for Christmas finery. Just in the nick of time, Breakfast with Santa was this morning. Princess and her baby brother were decked out and ready to go! Mommy and Mimi are a little ragged around the edges but they had a great time. For someone who has only been walking a week, Princess has turned into a modern day Road Runner. Good thing the dress is cute from the back, that is all we saw as she dashed here, there and everywhere!

There was one thing that stopped her dead in her tracks, that tall man in the red suit! I don't think it is possible for two little feet to be more firmly planted to the floor.


She was having none of it.


She may not have been willing to visit with Santa, but sitting in his chair with Mommy was okay. Master Hank didn't have much of an opinion.


On to the sewing! Both garments are made from Swiss flannel, love that stuff, trimmed with Susie's Ready to Smock red microcheck piping.The romper again is Chery Williams "Baby Bubbles" smocked with Ellen McCarn's "Candy-liscious". Since Master Hank is only a month old, I reduced the size of the insert by almost half. Much more in proportion for him. I pictured smocked the candy canes on his with three strands instead of four, that reduced the size of the candy canes. Then I squished (very technical term) the borders in close to the candy canes. I was happy with how the insert turned out.


The back view. We will address that faux belt another day. Ignore the fact that I took the picture before I stitched on the snap at the neck.


Like baby brother's, I reduced the depth of the original smocking design for the bishop as well. On a size 2 bishop, I did use four strands to picture smock, but repeated that "squishing" technique with the borders. As you can see above, it was the perfect depth. Normally I would have fretted about "bishopizing" (another technical term) the bottom border. For some reason, smockers have been led to believe that you HAVE to have use trellis and wave stitches at the bottom of a bishop design in order for it to drape properly. I took on the "They are not the boss of me!" attitude and decided to go against that philosophy. It worked great. You do have to smock more loosely along the bottom but it worked great.

I didn't get the slip made yet, have to do that in the next couple of days because "baby, it is cold outside!"

Onto the next projects after I clear a path in that tornado of a sewing room.

Parting Shot:
Just a kiss....

13 comments:

  1. That last pic says it all... nothing I say could top it. :)

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  2. love all the pictures, that last one made me sigh....Funny, I thin EM may get her attitude quite honestly....those genes run deep.
    What a wonderful Mimi you are.

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  3. Oh, the babes and the garments are beautiful. Your proportions are perfect and leave it to your expert eye to question that and make it right.

    That last pictures is so special.

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  4. That last picture is what all Mimis live for. Can't wait. You are very blessed, Martha. Beautiful!

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  5. Fabulous work as always!

    I have to work on my tornado damage also. Mine has hit a fair amount of my home and family is coming for Christmas Saturday!

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  6. Last pic should be a Christmas card! Love it! And I love the lighter green with the red...beautiful work! Bravo! And don't you just love that smocking is an individual art...no hard fast rules, do what you like!

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  7. Could not be sweeter if there were real candy canes on those two! Great job, Mimi. I hope you and Mommy have gotten a little rest.

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  8. Beautiful !!! Glad to hear EM is finally walking, pity Erin though keeping track of her LOL. Love the "kiss" pic.

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  9. Beautiful outfits, daughter and grandbabies, Martha :)

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  10. Love the garments and the pictures! Also, love the descriptions you've done with "how to's"! Thanks so much for sharing. Have a very Merry Christmas! Lea Hyland

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  11. I love this post. The only thing more fun than cute clothes is cute kids in them!! Very clever to reduce the smocking plate.

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  12. Beautiful smocking! Reducing the smocking was definitely a winner. Love that last picture, I'm sure Mommy hopes they feel that way ten years from now.

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  13. Hi Martha, Photos are darling! I have a question. I have made Baby Bubbles and found the armscye to be very small. What did you think? By the way, check out my grand daughter's Christmas dress at mormorcreates.blogspot.com

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Welcome, I am so glad you chose to leave a comment. I love getting comments, questions and even just a friendly hello. I may not respond to every comment, but rest assured I read them all. Sometimes the comments and questions fuel new posts. So comment away!

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