Back in 2004-2005 I was very busy sewing, but I hadn’t yet discovered the joy of selling my doll clothing, except what I sold at my local Farmer’s Market. I was busy with something that was referred to as “boutique” items. I focused on appliqued overalls, shortalls, and little denim jumpers. It was a very competitive market on Ebay and there was always the problem of having the “cutest model” to showcase your things. My daughter was a bit too shy, and a bit too old for the sizes I did, so I mostly displayed my overalls flat. I did buy a mannequin later, but it wasn’t the same as the sellers who had adorable little faces smiling as they wore their creations.
There were some REALLY creative ladies out there making such fun things for little girls to wear. The competition was huge and it was hard to get noticed… You were just another seller in the crowd. It was very discouraging to spend 3 days making something and then it only sell for $35. UGH!! I kept trying though, and finally sold my highest priced pair of overalls; the Jungle Monkey ones…for $97! I thought I had arrived… but soon after that the market was so flooded, the prices began dropping and I decided to sell all the overalls I had collected (eep…90 pairs) and get out of the overalls business.
My pictures aren’t great, but I thought I’d show you some snippets of what I used to do… most of the bibs of the overalls were covered with chenille first and then I painstakingly appliqued all the designs on the fronts and backs. I should have bought stock in Wonder Under, as I used TONS of it. My Baa-Baa Ballerina Monkey overalls were probably my most favorite and requested design. I hope you enjoy them…
Thanks for looking,
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
These are amazing overalls….and so creative…I can only imagine the amount of time it took to complete just ONE….lucky little girls whose Mom’s purchased these….Certainly one of a kind…..
Hi Trish,
They were always fun to make and I always hoped I’d run into someone wearing a pair of them. I made tons of them, so I thought “maybe” I might see a pair somewhere. I never did.
I used to decorated jeans jackets too… I might have to do a follow up post and show a few more.
Thanks Trish,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, my goodness! I’ve never in my wildest dreams seen anything like that. I can’t imagine how you did it–or that people didn’t appreciate your work enough to gobble it up. Those are adorable! And no one would meet herself on the street. I love them!
Thanks Sherry,
What nice things you have to say about them… I think the mom’s who did buy from me really did appreciate them! I wish I could have heard some of the compliments they got on them.
It was really hard to sell the stash of overalls I had collected, knowing that I was getting out of doing them. I bought new overalls, shortalls, jean jumpers, jackets, etc on sale in the off season so I could make a bigger profit when I listed them for sale.
Thanks again Sherry,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh my goodness, Jeanne, where were you in the early 70’s when my daughter could have worn those! They are ADORABLE, and I would have loved to have a pair—–or maybe 20! I loved things like that, I did sew all her clothes for awhile, but did not do anything like embroidery. However, I did make a cute denim skirt for her with a chicken that I somehow got on the skirt—-really don’t remember doing it, but I do think it was machine embroidery. Did you sew for Rebecca too?
Thanks so much, Linda,
You bet I sewed for Rebecca… she was probably the best dressed kid in town! Even my son was pretty well decked out… I used to buy him all different colors of high topped tennis shoes and then make things to match them… and I always had a hat to go with his outfits.
Thanks,
Jeanne