Well, yesterday was a pretty fun contest and I really enjoyed your stories about your Easter dresses! I put all the names in a bag and drew out 5 at midnight…one of those 5 will be the winner. If you get an email from me asking for your address (if I don’t already have it) …you only have to beat out the other 4 to be the winner! If you were one of the 5, keep an eye on your mailbox to see if YOU are the winner.
~~~ Yesterday was wonderful and I hope you enjoyed reading everyone’s description of their favorite Easter dress! If you happened to miss it, you can read the comments down below the post HERE. I’m hoping Charlotte will take a picture of her Easter Dress…her FIFTY SEVEN year old dress! I’m hoping somewhere out there, one of my readers has a piece of that fabric in their stash that we can get to Charlotte, so she can relive the beautiful fabric that it once was! If you couldn’t tell, she was crazy in love with her dress!
Joy read about all the ladies describing their dresses and she too, had a favorite dress… in a box somewhere, so she started digging AND SHE FOUND IT! Shoes and all! This is what she wrote about them…
“I dug into the box and was able to locate the pink dress made by my grandmother for me in the early 1950’s. It looks like it was organdy. Definitely pink. The sleeves had special inserts of the organdy with embroidered flowers which was the same as the skirt. There was also a bonnet with pink satin ribbon. Also shown are those shoes I loved so much. All leather with very worn soles. I also found the one sock knitted by my Danish great grandmother for my grandfather. The scrap of paper says 1894. “The other lost in New York.” They sailed from Denmark to New York and then took the train across the country to Oakland where they resided and raised their family.”
(Hey, Joy, I was born in Oakland!)
If you click on the pictures, they will enlarge.
Joy also is the recipient of a new doll! She’s a Sylvia Natterer doll by White Balloon. Her name is Paris and she’s a red head, so of course, she HAD to be shown! :o) What a cutie!
~~~ Here is the pattern that was used to make Laureen’s Easter dress! It’s a beautiful style and certainly would make a lovely doll dress!
~~~ Here are some pictures Susette sent me a while back and I’m just now getting to them… I love Ellowyne sitting at the piano playing! Susette made Molly’s “musical” dress and sent it to her granddaughter, Riya. I bet she LOVED, LOVED, LOVED that dress, Susette!
~~~ Speaking of piano playing… my sister, Deb sent me a new rendition of a song and I thought you might enjoy hearing it… just click on the link and make sure your volume is turned up. Now mind you, I’m a bit late getting this to you …it’s God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen…but I still think you’ll enjoy it… I love to hear my sister play. She truly has the gift of music! She’s been playing since she was 4 years old.
Well, there you go. We covered everything from Easter to Christmas and a few extras in between! Hope you enjoyed it!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
My grandmother and mom both sewed as well, so I had some lovely outfits from them both. But because my father was in the military and we moved often, mom didn’t keep very many outgrown items. So I (and hubby) tend to keep a lot. My daughter has a metal foot locker style trunk with some of her favorite outfits and toys. The posts reminded me of how beautiful home sewn treasures could be with lovely details and delicate fabrics used for heirloom sewing when people took the time to make such beautiful items with love. I last made Easter outfits for two granddaughters who loved picking out their own Easter fabric. All but 1 of the 5 granddaughters have their own little boys today (6 years to 3 months). We had no grandsons, and it flipped in the next generation and now we have no great-granddaughters – – just boys (so far).
I really thought the last was going to be a girl.
At least we have several “grand” girls, who aren’t related but treat us like grandparents. I’ll try to send the Easter dress photo to you if I can find it.
Well, this was a pretty fun post, too, Jeanne!! I loved seeing Joy’s pictures of her pink organdy dress, with the pretty shoes. Lucky her–I had to wear corrective shoes until I was about 10, and let me tell you, they weren’t anywhere near as pretty as those!!
Joy’s new doll is just darling! Of course, I do have a weakness for redheaded dolls!
I also enjoyed looking at all the patterns on the page with Laureen’s dress pattern! My goodness, I seem to remember wearing quite a few dresses similar to what that page showed! In fact, if you scroll way down (roughly 27 “rows” or so), you’ll see a dress illustration (I’m assuming from a pattern) to the right of a Simplicity wedding gown pattern. The one I’m talking about is shown in a pale brown color. I had a dress made like that when I was about 8 or 9, I think–white leno fabric printed with little blue rosebuds, and a short blue linen jacket to wear over it. It was very similar to that pattern!
Susette’s pictures were fun, too. The little setting with Ellowynne playing the piano is just adorable, and I’m sure her granddaughter Loved that music dress! Such fun!
I will try to get out my old dress and take a picture for you, but it may not be immediately, as I have several “irons in the fire” at the moment.
I too had to wear white oxfords with special construction. Hated them. I guess that is why I loved those black shoes so much. And what to I wear now mostly? Nike tennis shoes, not so unlike those old oxfords in design. Maybe a little more colorful though. 🙂
I know, it’s just not fair! I still remember my first black patent leather Mary Janes–which I was allowed to wear on Sundays–for church and Sunday School ONLY!!–and very special occasions. I guess that and the fact that I can make virtually anything I can wear mean shoes are more important to me. Also, I have very small feet, which adds to the shoe “thing”, so I have saved EVERY pair of heels I ever owned (save one), and now have quite a nice collections of pretty shoes.
And then…..I got OLD! My knees balked and I started to feel very insecure wearing heels, so they now stay in the closet and I wear “comfortable” shoes. Of course, the shoe company most of my heels came from–Cinderella Shoes–which never seemed to have the cute shoes I craved when I was younger, now has lots and lots of cute heels, and not much for my OLD feet any more!!
Joy’s dress deserves to be restored and framed in a glassed shadowbox. What a wonderful piece of memorabilia to have. Thanks for finding it. Paris is a darling little doll.
Thanks for the link to the pattern. I couldn’t believe all the items in that Pinterest post. It sure covers the range of dresses. Wash-and-Wear took away a lot of the incentive to sew as before it was invented, ironing was an absolute necessity. We can’t duplicate the process as it’s done after the garment is assembled in an industrial process.
I made the music dress for Riya’s first piano concert which was at home when she was five. It was one of the first things I sewed after finding Jeanne’s blog which inspired me to start sewing again after 40 years. Made the dress for Valentines Day last year for Kit, who turned out to be a piano teacher this time. Such fun for Jeanne to share them on the Blog. I love seeing pictures of other ladies’ dolls.
I’ll figure out how to access the piano concert later today.
I didn’t know that Ellowyne played. Remarkable. And little Betsy McCall is such a wonderful page turner. Love the music dress too Susette.
I made a mistake on my grandfather’s sock date when I wrote to Jeanne. It is 1884, not 1894. 🙂
My newbie Paris says she needs an outfit. I have something in mind. Hope she likes it when I get to it.
I will peruse the patterns later. I want to see the one that Charlotte mentioned. And listen to your sister’s playing.
Hope the day sparkles for you.
Hi Joy,
I was thrilled to see the pic of your Sylvia Natter doll. I bought three dolls at an estate sale..the one like yours and a bigger brother and sister. There were no tags and I don’t remember if I undressed them to look but I was so tickled with them I didn’t care. ?
So now I know what they are! Thank you!
Thanks for posting Joy’s dress. How precious…yes it needs to be freshened and framed…how adorable that would be in a doll room!
Have a good weekend!
I love Sylvia Natterer dolls, and have two or three of them!
Dear Jeanne, today’s column felt like a “hug” from the past. I loved seeing Joy’s dress. And the photographs of the dollies were lovely.
I just love these kinds of memories that you have us tell you about, Jeanne! Joy’s dress is darling, and as Susette said, should be put on display in a shadow box. Love the pretty little shoes, too! If that’s a 50’s dress, I don’t think my 40’s dress would be as much to look at!
Joy’snewlittle doll is darling,and we certainly would love to see what she makes for her.
I loved looking at the vintage patterns too! Boy,did they ever put a lot of material in those skirts! I guess those were more from the 50’s rather than the 40’s. I loved too, seeing the dolls dresses made from the same patterns.
Susete’s dolls look adorable! She makes the prettiest dresses for the dolls, and is sweet enough to give them to her granddaughter. The piano scene is one of my favorites, maybe because it also brings back memories in addition to being so cute!
Loved your sister’s piano playing, even if it is a bit out of season!!
Oh my, Jeanne, what a wonderful show-and-tell you’ve provided for today’s viewing! Joy’s pink organdy dress is so sweet. I’m glad she took the time to find it and share her memories, and I agree that such a dear heirloom piece deserves to be displayed.
Like Susette, I love seeing other collector’s dolls. Joy’s new little redhead is such a cutie pie! I wonder how she compares in size to the other “littles?” Hope we will be treated to pictures of Paris’ debut dress, too. Susette’s doll display is adorable as well! Ellowyne is quite advanced to be playing “Ode to Joy,” one of my favorites, and Betsy is so kind to turn the pages for her. 😉 And Molly’s musical dress is a real standout in the black and white with red accents. I love the asymmetrical collar, and that bow is tied so beautifully, I hope it has a velcro closure!
Your sister Deb is a very accomplished pianist, Jeanne, and I enjoyed her playing. She has great technical skill and wonderful control in this jazz rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” I hope she will share her gift of music more often. How wonderful that you and your siblings have been blessed with such an impressive array of talents.
Thank you for sharing so many interesting things with us today, Jeanne, and thanks to your readers who took time to share their pictures, also. It is that sharing of ideas, talents, experiences that makes your posts so inspirational. Blessings for your Thursday, and prayers for Friday’s biopsy.
Joy has had it — I’m adding myself to the list of people who want the dress cleaned and restored, the shoes professionally cared for, and the outfit framed for her sewing room. I especially love those cute open toed shoes. Altogether this was a lovely post. The girls at the piano need to be published, they are so cute.
Nikki and her grandson (my godson) join all of us in prayers that the biopsy will go well.