A Little Irish Lass is Born

Recently I was commissioned by a certain watch connoisseur to make a baby ensemble for his family member who was expecting a girl. She arrived 6 weeks ago! Bouncing, healthy and gorgeous!!!

Okay so I'm a little late but I had extremely good excuses and I think I'm forgiven.


This is a vintage Annie's Attic pattern that I've always loved.




My very first granddaughter has one in pink stored away now for her future children. It is a BUNTING & BONNET made of a very soft cream baby yarn.

I changed the bonnet design a little. I didn't like the pom pom in the pattern so simply wove the ribbon along the long rectangle edge rather than sew it together and pulled it drawstring style to create a rounded back to the bonnet. Much cuter!



And from this awesome crochet pattern book titled Adorable Crochet for Babies and Toddlers by Lesley Stanfield I then embarked on making this gorgeous Traditional Smock dress.









Again I changed the pattern a bit. For one thing, good luck finding the discontinued yarn the pattern called for. After much searching and then waiting for it to cross over the sea I obtained a 1 pound cone of very fine 90% wool and 10% nylon waxed yarn that is washable.



I then held my breath as I tested the gauge and it matched! The sleeves didn't look long enough so more rows were added for good measure.



Now I love crafts of any kind and dabble in lots of them but sewing isn't among my favorites. My sewing machine has very few miles on it. So I had never smocked anything before in my entire life. It took about an hour of experimenting to get it down pat. Then it was a breeze! (Save yourself that hour and follow the instructions.)




Since the dress is made of wool and the babe is a girl this adorable Little Bo Peep with her Sheep gift box was the perfect choice to make this ensemble complete!

I'm finishing up a little pair of socks and tying up a special gift for Mommy to enjoy herself and this package goes out in the mail on Monday!

And you've got to check out the huge selection of fabulous watches
being offered by this blessed baby's awesome male role model!!!


Read my Blog Mini Series and
Enter my drawing to win an authentic Rockford Red Heel Sock Monkey!!!
You have until Dec 20th and then a second chance to win on Dec 31st

An Irish Lad & Lassie

PETTICOAT POSSE

Cheri and I, best friends, grew up together. We married best friends back in the 80's and then I ended up moving away for many years. I've lived in Florida, Pennsylvania and Tennessee since we gave our hearts to those boys but we always remained close no matter how many miles were between us. Now we are reunited as I've moved back to our hometown here in West Virginia and we're living right next door to one another!


Journey with us on our mission to empower women through entrepreneurship with special attention to crafting and marketing vintage and collectible items. We hope our Posse grows to philanthropist level so feel free to join us!

On this blog we will share vintage patterns, recycle craft ideas and write about our adventures along the way.

We make heirloom quality items for our daughter's and granddaughter's hope chests and gifts for our families and friends and we make things to sell. Right now we are working on our first craft booklet together. An exciting endeavor! We've got so many crafting ideas we could never in 7 lifetimes major in them all so we've finally decided to unlock them into print for others to enjoy.

We're going to take you back in time to the 50's when kitchens were filled with hand embroidered dishtowels and potholders in whimsical designs, teach you how to make your own chenille fabric and share old vintage patterns as well from our treasure trove libraries.


So let's begin!

This heirloom pillowcase pair with an Irish theme I made for my March born and of true Irish descent granddaughter's hope chest. Here they are swaying in the April breeze on our clothesline to dry before being stored away for the next several years.

Cheri and I share the same backyard and clothesline!

I found the Lad and Lassie designs in old Workbasket magazines from seperate years of the 50's.

Once I found them nothing else would do for this project.






The delicate lace edging that looks like clovers I crocheted myself also from a very very old pattern that traces back to Greece.


~ Carol



Coming up next.... A special Mother's Day Card using a technique called Flower Pounding.