Christmas Inspiration

Today is the last day of October.  A chill is in the air as so many little ones don their costumes for an afternoon or evening of Trick or Treating. Tomorrow the realization that Christmas is just a few weeks away hits and  panic will set in for so many of us that want to have special hand-made Christmas outfits.  With that in mind, I thought I’d offer some sewing inspiration from my past creations.

For many years I did custom sewing for clients, and for several of those years I had clients with twins, which doubled the pleasure!  During this season of sewing, I determined that I should be taking pictures to save for my own personal reference – so, the photography was rather, well, tragic, to say the least.  You will need to enjoy the inspiration without critiquing the photography.  While my photography has improved over the years, I’m still a seamstress and not a photographer!

As many of you already may know, my favorite sewing is the fancy heirloom outfits, but they are also the least practical and least worn.  So, I’m showing a range of clothing from casual play clothes to exquisite heirloom to funky boutique and I hope there’s something that will inspire everyone.

Featherwale corduroy smocked with Little Memories “Ski Follies”.

Featherwale corduroy smocked with Little Memories “Duck the Halls”.

Striped cotton smocked with Little Memories “Ho Ho Ho”.

Heirloom satin batiste smocked with Little Memories “Santa’s Surprise” and added trees.

Featherwale corduroy smocked with Little Memories “Holiday Handymen”.

Hunter green velveteen smocked with “Nutcracker” from Creative Needle and “Joy” by Cherished Stitches”, using just the ornament design.

Black featherwale corduroy smocked with “Chimney Sweeps” – I cannot seem to locate my smocking design plate to share the designer.

The color on this dress is just tragic, so an explanation is needed.  The dress was a beautiful ecru colored cotton sateen with an organza collar and smocked with Little Memories “Bearly the Nutcracker”.

Stain batiste with shadow work embroidery.

Little brother’s satin batiste bubble with shadow work embroidery.

Bigger brother’s outfit.  Satin batiste shirt with cotton sateen shorts.  Honestly, the collars are even!

Satin batiste bishop smocked with “Holiday Bells” from Sew Beautiful magazine – holiday, 1992.

One of my personal favorites – the boy’s outfit made with satin batiste for the shirt and cotton sateen for the shorts and the girl’s dress is silk organza layer over satin batiste.  The smocking design is Stocking Stuffers” by Little Memories.

Silk organza makes the most beautiful bows!

Beautiful shadow work collars for twin boys – I don’t seem to have pictures of the complete outfits and don’t remember if these were button-on suits or if these were worn with velvet jon-jons.

Another bad picture with pretty outfits – satin batiste for the dress and shirt and cotton sateen for the shorts.  The monograms are from the Ellen McCarn monogram booklet.

Slightly more casual Christmas outfits – the shirt is broadcloth and the shorts and dress are micro check gingham smocked with Little Memories “Candy Cane Countdown”.

Broadcloth tops and featherwale corduroy smocked with Little Memories “All is Calm, All is Bright”.

Micro check gingham smocked with Little Memories “Northern Lights”.

Smocked top with original design.  Top is broadcloth and the pants are featherwale corduroy.

So much cuter “on”.

A modified version of “Sandpiper” from Australian Smocking and Embroidery magazine #88.

Boutique ruffled set made of white broadcloth and a touch of smocking at the neck and sleeves and a smocked red velveteen pinafore.  The pattern and smocking are an original design of mine.

Pattern is by Farbenmix called “Vida”.  This is such a fun dress for combining fabrics and trims and then adding machine embroidery!  Definitely a favorite fun dress of mine.

Even cuter “on”.  :)

Several a-line dresses.

This doesn’t exhaust my supply of Christmas outfits from the past, but more than enough for one post.  And now, I need to get on to smocking Christmas outfits for the 3 little girls since I only have Liam’s outfit finished.  So many ideas, so little time!

Happy Stitching…..

Kathy

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