Peasant's Costume Skirt and Apron

I had the opportunity to make an additional peasant’s costume skirt and apron for Hannah Congelio, Lorain International Festival court member. It is a full cotton black skirt accented horizontally with colored ribbon, gathered on to a 2 inch stiff waist band with a zippered center back entry. The red peasant’s apron is two layers of cotton, gathered onto a reinforced 2 inch waistband with long descending ties. These two garments were completed in 4 hours. Check out my earlier postings this month to see original garment.

Antique Doll, Before

A recent commission enabled me to create a new outfit for an antique doll. Karen, a friend, asked me to make a slip and dress for her grandmother’s porcelain doll, a family heirloom. I suspect the doll dates to the late 19 century. It came to me with a well worn, torn, dress and under slip made from the grandmother’s wedding dress. This post displays pictures of the doll as I received it.

Antique Doll, After

Karen supplied the fabric and asked if I would make something similar to the original dress and slip.




The new slip is made out of white cotton. The neck line and sleeve openings are done by hand with a rolled edge. I stitched a piece of bridal lace to the center front and edged the bottom with ½ inch lace. A simple side closure is secured with a snap. After the dress was completed, realized the slip was too long and created a horizontal pleat.



The new cotton floral dress’ sleeves and neck edge are completed with a simple gathered stitch. I had left over lace from the slip and added it to the neck edge. Small gathers adorn the sleeve cap. A center back closure is secured by snaps and decorated with heart shaped buttons. A small ruffle finishes the bottom dress edge.

It was a pleasure making these miniature garments. The project took 4 hours to complete.

Tree Skirt Number Two

This is my second holiday tree skirt made from a wedding dress. Giving a nuptial dress new life and function after the wedding, is a current interest of mine. The tree skirt starts as a quilt, three layers: the first cotton, the second a thin cotton batting, and the third a textured dress crepe. I machined quilted through the layers in a meandering free motion design. By dropping the feed dogs on the sewing machine and using a darning foot, you can guide the layers at will. Next, I dismantled the dress bodice and cut apart the best features: center front, sleeves, and large bustle bow. These pieces were hand mounted to the tree skirt at the quarter hour positions. The center front bead work was three dimensional due to the bust. To accommodate the extra fabric I stuffed the breast cavity in a trapunto style. I created flower rosettes in a yo-yo fashion and covered the closure with dress lace and beading. These flowers were hand mounted on the tree skirt in between each dress piece and at the center front neck line. Lastly I edged the entire tree skirt with 1 inch faux fur. The tree skirt's radius measures 34 inches and it is true white in color. The entire project has about 10 hours of labor.

Taormina Festival Dress

This week I had the great fortune to make a Taormina Festival dress for Lorain (Ohio) International Festival court member, Hannah Congelio. A full cotton orange skirt accented horizontally with colored ribbon was gathered onto a flat waist band with a zippered entry. A yellow peasant blouse was given shape with a draw string neck line and short sleeves. A small pentagon shaped apron edged in 4 inch lace finished the ethnic old country look. This outfit took about 6 hours to create. I created my own pattern from an original garment. It was a welcomed challenge and I’m happy with the end result.

Another Outfit Rescue

Another outfit rescue…. I found a cute little knit dress, a blue mosaic flower print at GW of course. I loved it but as a dress it was way too short to be a little respectable. It had ¾ length sleeves with a solid black and checked border which matched the dress hem. As I was working on the dress I found the dreaded reason for the cast off to Goodwill, an unseen 1/4” cut on the dress side. That was an easy fix which blended in seamlessly to the busy patterned print. I shortened the dress into a tunic style top by cutting off the fancy border and reapplying it 6 inches higher. I shortened the sleeves and used the original border to make several head bands. A great success I will wear this weekend for dinner out.