Sewing Projects, Past, Present and Future

The Past:  Eldest/Admin, Miss Vivien and I discovered a treasure trove of little dresses on one of our travels last week.  Adorable, HAND MADE dresses for a mere dollar each!  This little beauty kept my mind engaged for quite awhile while I contemplated who, what, where and when of the secrets behind it.  The teeny tiny one that we selected for Baby Girl's Baby Girl, is particularly interesting.  There were two, identical, and both displaying a sweetness of detail.  Soft little prints, careful stitching and delicate lace.  Someone thought much of the unknown twins that were the recipient of these lovely creations. My mind goes to the 50's maybe 60's.  I shared with E/A that Back in the Day, when all little girls wore dresses most of the time, the affirmation to purchase, was Just How Big Was the Hem?  I remember my mother checking out the hem of a dress before we would consider buying it.  It had to have at least a 2 1/2" or 3" hem to make it worth your financial while.  Little girls will shoot up in height before their shoulders, arms and tummies start to fill out.  A ample hem could keep a little dress in circulation for quite a few seasons.  In fact, one of the dresses that we bought for Miss Viv, we did just that!  A cute little gingham number fit well except it was just a bit too short for My Girl's lengthening legs.  Out came the seam ripper!  Out came the threads!  Zoom, zoom on the sewing machine, and Miss Vivien was tooling around in the cutest little vintage dress ever!  Mimi .Melted. Again.Here is a simple little utilitarian dress with lots of detail for how small and basic it is.  I adore the rick rack.  The wee little buttons all down the back. (for show; the real fasteners were little snaps).  And the tiniest of floral material.  Can you imagine a Grammy of today investing the time and energy into such a basic little fashion statement?  Fancy dresses, sure, maybe, but a 'Play Dress'?  I absolutely love that a long time ago, a mama, probably another relative, sat down and put together this little bit of fluff for their sweet little girl.......The Present: While E/A was visiting, The Heat Wave to End All Heat Waves was undoing us. Yes, yes, we were in air conditioning, but the poor a/c had worked very hard all month and being Energy Conservationists (!), we kept it at a restraint, temperature wise.  It was best to keep our minds off the heat and our hands busy.  So while I humored The Most Wonderful Vivien, E/A worked on this project for her little girl.  Sweet little bean bags from the link in a previous post.  Adorable?  Add beans, stitch the opening and Vivie is ready to learn her numbers in a very kinisthetic kinda way.And back to the future:

Baby Girl's Baby Quilt in progress!!  Mimi is using only scraps from her abundant collection to create the bankie for her newest granddaughter!  A lovely legacy of love for each grandchild; memories of Mimi's Prayerful Pregnancy Program.  With each square, I reflect on the new little one's life.  I think of her life, being so involved now, yet, knowing that the shank of her life will be spent without me.  I pray that she will know my love and hopes for her osmosisly through the hand stitching and fabric selection.  I want her to feel warm and protected and comforted.  I want her to take this to college with her.  So I cut carefully, sew watchfully, pay attention to the sturdiness of the fabric and cover the project in prayer.  Can it be four short months away till I get to meet this new life?

Better go sew.......