Like many moms who sew, my sewing bug bit after my baby girl was born. For Lu's first Easter I wanted the perfect dress. Something vintage inspired of course, since I've been wearing or loving vintage my whole life. I searched high and low, in store after store, all in vain.
Finally it dawned on me that if I SEWED this magical dress, I could make it anything I wanted it to be. (Except I didn't sew.) That didn't stop me from scouring the pattern counter books for this elusive design. Sadly, even here I didn't find it. I was running out of time and frustrated. I needed a break from the search, so I perused the magazine rack for a few moments. I picked up a magazine I had never read before, Sew Beautiful. It was March, 1998.
I don't know why, but I flipped the magazine over to look at the back and there in glorious full size, color, free pattern inside (!) was my dream Easter Dress. I almost hyperventilated. I bought the magazine and scoured the directions. I started sewing.
Dandelion Delight from Sue Stewart's websitemy "perfect" Easter Dress
I cried over my first bound neckline. I was something of a perfectionist, and I kept ripping out my topstitching because I couldn't get it evenly placed. My mom finally told me to leave it, no one would ever know... And she was right. Lu wore that little dress a million times the summer she was 1...and no one ever said "Say, that topstitching isn't quite perfect."
At the end of the summer, I was ready to try Sew Beautiful again. Not Dandelion Delight...no, I still wasn't quite up to that level yet. But I was itching to try smocking. Which brings me to this first project I want to share. This is a vintage reproduction dress, featured in a 1998 issue of Sew Beautiful magazine. The original dress (from the 1930s or 40s I believe?) hangs in the Kent State Museum. Here, I give you my version.
I used a pink dotted swiss I got on the clearance table at Hancocks. They had it marked down to $1...because it was "old". To me, it was lovely and perfect. The pink borders are a matching 100% cotton, also from the clearance bin.
This garment has a lot of firsts for me...my first curved applique border, and my first shaped collar. (Both of which I hand drew the patterns for.) But most importantly, this is my first smocking. I drew on the little dots and pulled them up to form the pleats, because I didn't have a pleater.
I learned to make buttonhole stitch thread loops for the placket (which I cut too low, but then this was also my first foray into pattern drafting, as I didn't have a pattern to make this dress from.)
My first bullion roses, and some of my first embroidery stitching, around the hem.
I got really tired of making bullions and only ended up making them on the front, but I continued the green stitching all around the dress hem:
I don't think there are words to express how much I love this dress. Lu wore it for her first birthday portrait in August of that year, and for many Sundays and special occasions afterward. Remember, back in March of that year I had never sewn anything past home ec class in high school. I had found my calling, and I never looked back.
Back then, I didn't even have a computer, much less the internet. That came along a few years later. In alot of ways, sewing saved me. I was a single mother of 2 toddlers and I was living on less than $7,000 a year. I needed this creative outlet, just to keep the stress of my every day life at bay. Many days there was only me, the babies, and the hum of my machine.
I can't wait to share more things with you! There's more to the story of my early sewing adventures, and some truly beautiful garments I would love to show you.
