A few weeks ago, right in the middle of searching for red, white and blue doll dresses, I showed a picture of a pair of baby overalls that I had appliqued years ago. Remember these?
I happened upon them quite by accident and as I scrolled down a few more rows of pictures, I found a few more of the appliqued overalls I had made back in 2005 and 2006. They were quite the rage on Ebay and everyone seemed to be trying to outdo each other. It became a war between “who had the cutest little girl for a model” and “who didn’t.” You could just type in “Boutique Overalls” on Ebay and hundreds of them would pop up… every kind, design and price you can imagine. Some went for $15 and some went for $300!! There was actually one lady who caught my eye and I loved looking at her things for little girls. She had a great eye for decorating and I probably watched her listings for 6 months or more before I attempted it. I guess most of my pictures somehow got deleted… :o( but I did find a few of my things. I keep notebooks of all my transactions so I pulled out that notebook from 2005 and can tell you a little more about some of them. Here are a few of my designs. Several of them only have a few pictures…
I would buy the overalls and shortalls when they were on sale so I’d have them in stock for the different sizes I needed. I sometimes used vintage chenille on the bib section of the overalls, appliqueing down the edges with a jean needle and an applique or satin stitch, then embellish them with buttons and ribbons and rick rack and more! All the appliqueing was done free hand. Only the lettering for the names… “Baa Baa Ballerina”…”Hula Monkey”… “Ballerina Bunny”…etc. was done by my embroidery machine and a few of the small designs on the legs.
Here is another pair of infant overalls decorated with lace appliques.
This was my first design of 2005…I called it Baa Baa Ballerina…
This next one was called “Puppy Love”… I used a coloring book for the puppy’s design. Ohhh… I just saw a note on the page of these overalls. The lady wanted the name Gidget appliqued on the bone and MANDY down the leg in block letters. She also bought a pair of my shortalls done in a Strawberry design. I remember them… cute as can be…
Yes, if you were wondering…the legs of the overalls had to be taken undone most of the time if a name was to be added…
I called these “Ballerina Monkey” and sold quite a few pairs of them… they were pretty popular.
I also did a “Hula Monkey” design that was pretty popular as well…
I just ran across the page where I did a Baseball Monkey too, but sadly, no pictures… :o(
How about some “Born to Shop” overalls for your little one?
I did a “Tu-Tu Turtle” set of overalls that was so adorable.
Here are some of my shortalls… This one is “Dragonfly Delight.”
…and a puppy dog pair…
I did a Teddy Bear pair with a sweet little peasant top added…
How about an Alphabet pair?
A pair for a little girl named Haiden…
But probably my favorite and most time consuming pair was my “Monkey Business” pair…They took forever to get all those vines and branches appliqued around.
I thought I had some pictures in an envelope in my sewing room of some of them…and I did! I found a picture of the “Strawberry Delight” shortalls and the “Bunny Ballerina” shortalls. These are just 2005 glossy “pictures” that I took pictures of with my phone tonight…
I also ran across this picture of a “Boutique” set I sold along with a doll outfit. That’s Rebecca’s American Girl doll I used in the beginning of my doll sewing!
I have no idea how many sets I sold… I should count them and see… but it was LOTS and LOTS.
They went between $27 and $102 and I earned EVERY PENNY I made on them! :o)
Thanks everyone,
Just a little something about me that you maybe didn’t know… :o)
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Dear Jeanne, oh how cute! My favorite is the born to shop outfit. Do they still call these outfits shortalls? I don’t know that name. I think they are called rompers here in PA.
Are you thinking about making a set for dolls? I think they would be cute on the American Girl size doll although I bet Navi would look adorable in one. She looks adorable in everything.
Thanks Dorothy,
At the time when I made them they were called shortalls and overalls.
I’m glad you like the Born to Shop pair. I remember making these like it was yesterday…
I really had fun being creative with them…
I just might make a pair or two for the dolls. I certainly know HOW!!
A tiny pair for Navi would certainly e a challenge!! :o)
Thanks Dorothy,
Blessings, Jeanne
Wow, you surely came up with a lot of clever and creative ideas for embellishing children’s clothing! I think my favorite is the “born to shop” one, also, although I do love the hula monkey one–particularly the idea of using silk flowers around the legs! I wonder how well they held up in the wash! I also liked the grass skirt on the monkey.
I somehow completely missed seeing yesterday’s post until earlier tonight, so I didn’t comment on it. The slips were all so pretty, and I love what you came up with for keeping the dolls upright! You could probably also just get a dowel (maybe 3/8-1/2″ thick) and cut it to length–longer ones for bigger dolls, shorter ones for smaller dolls. If the dowel is the right thickness, you could probably sharpen one end in a regular pencil sharpener!
Hi Charlotte,
How funny that you and Dorothy both favorited the Born to Shop overalls.
On the overalls where everything was appliqued “down,” I told the owners to machine wash on delicate. On the overalls where there were things like ribbons, and flowers, I advised the owners to hand wash and line dry. I never heard back from anyone about any problems. I think they were mostly special occasion outfits and care was taken when they were worn.
I’m glad you liked the slops and how I got my girls to stand up!! Where theres a will theres a way.
Thanks Charlotte,
Blessings, Jeanne
It certainly is fun to see what you were doing years ago, Jeanne! I can’t believe how varied and cute all the designs are, and to think you not only thought them all up, but you actually DID them! I’m not sure how old your Rebecca was when you were doing these, but she would have been the perfect little model for any or all of these darling rompers!
Just wondering, did you do any or many for little boys too? Most designs seem to be for girls, and I’m sure that’s who people were buying for, but I think a few of those designs could have been for boys too. I remember a place here in St.Louis, called Chocolate Soup, that did hand embroidered clothes for children, and it was very popular, but pricey too. My two were too old for them, but I had a friend who lived several towns away who shopped there all the time for her boy and girl.
As far as my favorite, I simply don’t have the time to decide, they are all darling!
Hot times again today!
Hi Linda,
Rebecca was 14 or 15 when I was making these overalls….a bit too old for them, but she did model for me when she was little. Sometimes they fit her and sometimes they were a bit big on her but we took pictures anyway!
I probably sewed something for Rebecca at least every other day when she was little
She was QUITE THE WELL DRESSED KID!!
I did make lots of things for Kristoffer when he was younger, but never sold any little boys outfits.
I hope your knees have been enjoying the “hot” weather. :o)
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh, the memories. I think Meadow 16″ Mae would be a perfect candidate for a smaller version of one of the designs. Maybe puppy or kitty. Everyone likes those. Just a simple romper pattern. Wouldn’t have to be the denim model, but a lighter look alike fabric would do. And even an outfit sized for the Dumplings would be adorable. I haven’t seen anything similar, and I think they would be very popular. 🙂
When or when will the Chimney Swifts leave? Heard them this morning at 4:30AM. Fly away, fly away please.
Hi Joy,
I do think Mae and her chubby little body would look adorable in a pair of “boutique” overalls. Too bad I don’t have Mae… :o( :o(
Oh, Joy, now you’ve made me sort of excited to make a doll pair…hmmm…
Thanks for the encouragement…
Blessings, Jeanne
You blow me away, Jeanne…I had no idea that you had done such work and I had no idea there was such work to be had! I can see that you would have earned every penny…these are time consuming items.
We’re having excessive heat advisories…I don’t think your area is included in that…I’m looking forward to it passing on later this weekend.
Blessings.
Hi Becky
When it comes to sewing, I’ve covered just about all the bases….little girls dresses, quilts, antique reproduction ladies dresses, machine embroidered baby bibs, appliqued overalls, and just about every kind of craft out there.
I don’t know if it was as hot here as it was there, but it was 95 degrees with a heat index of 106 today. It was plenty humid here too… my hair is pretty frizzy… can’t seem to tame it!
Thanks Becky,
Blessings ,Jeanne
Joy is right… there are some folks out there wishing for a pair of those cute overalls.
AG would be so cute in them too with fall colors.
It took me a minute to realize those were for kids. The Monkeys are so cute. Was Rebecca the right age for them?
Have a good weekend!
Hi Kathie
Ok, now you and Joy are ganging up on me to “have” to make something like my overalls for the dolls. I might have to oblige!!
No, Rebecca wa around 15 then, so a bit too big for them. She wore lots of my things when she was little, but just for herself!
I’m going to try and stay cool
..how about you?
Blessings, Jeanne
I wish I had seen the overalls when Riya was a baby. So cute, every one different. Wow!
I keep going on about maybe making up a few of your favorite designs for a potential granddaughter. Thinking ahead. Maybe like a little treasure chest of outfits when you see something appropriate.
When you make up the red ruffle slips, it will remind me of the dress my mother made for me that truly did have all those ruffles for a formal dance in high school, every ruffle done by hand separately. Yikes! I don’t know whether I have a picture of it. : ( Maybe I should look someday.
You’ll notice I don’t comment much on the weather. In the exact spot where I live, it is 78 degrees today and feels like . . . 78. Humidity not a problem. Don’t know why we have been having very mild weather this year. July is usually a hot month with things topping out in October for some reason. Again, there are all ten climate zones between the beach and 70 miles inland in the mountains. Even Disneyland, 3 miles farther inland, can be 98 when it’s 78 where I live.
Hi Susette,
I’m glad you like my overalls… enough to think that you would have bought a pair for Riya..
That makes me smile!!! We should have met 15 years ago I guess. :o)
I thought maybe I’d get at least one of the red slips made today, but I was helping my hubby look up carburetor parts online for a lawn mower, then clipping Reuben, then dinner, dishes, then comments, and here we are now…no red slip yet…
Apparently you live in the perfect area of the United States…w all wish we were there… :o)
Thanks Susette
Blessings, Jeanne
But there are earthquakes once in many, many years. Oh, well. Every place has it’s good and bad points.
These outfits are all adorable. It’s hard to choose which one I like best. I love any of the ones that have to do with dancing. My daughter would have loved them. I love the dragonfly and flowers one and the “Monkey Business” pair with the vines on the back was great. No doubt they were time consuming. Thanks so much for sharing.
I used to do things like this for my daughter and son when they were small. When I discovered free motion embroidery I got a child’s line coloring book and copied some of the simple designs and then embellished them. I made my son a shortall with a chicken coming out of an egg for Easter one year. My daughter had a bunny and an Easter basket on her dress. Thankfully they were for Easter so somewhere I do have pictures. I usually don’t. One time I made a shortall for my son and put a truck on it. I embroidered a driver and a few other details on the truck. My oldest stepdaughter was holding him while she ate a pickle and some of the juice dropped on his shortall and took the color out in spots. I was not happy, but since I had made the whole thing I just removed the applique, remade the shortall and put the applique back on.
One of the reasons I never got into making things to sell once my children outgrew that sort of thing, which I totally enjoyed doing, was because I didn’t think people would pay commensurate to the time and effort that went into making them. I guess I was wrong about that. You seem to have done well. The only place to sell things back then was, church bazaars or neighborhood festivals. Since I worked full time I had no chance to open a shop. With working I barely had time to do it at all.
I always made my daughter’s Christmas and Easter dresses. One day one of the women at church was admiring her Easter dress and asked if she knew how lucky she was to have a mommy that sewed beautiful clothes for her. She looked at the lady like doesn’t everybody. It was just an everyday thing to her.
We had a Chocolate Soup in Houston when my kids were growing up. I think it may still be there. The clothes were machine appliqued and were basically A-line jumper-type dresses for girls and jumper-type overalls for boys. They had blouses and shirts that went with them with piping that matched the outfit. They were totally cute, but I could not see paying the prices when I could do it myself. I maybe bought a couple outfits on sale over the years. The one woman attorney I worked for had a daughter the age of mine. Most of the child’s wardrobe came from there.
We’re under a heat advisory here right now, but that’s not uncommon here during the summer. But next week the weather pattern changes to a winter scenario. Very strange for this time of year. I do remember back in August of 1990 when we moved out here, the day we moved we had temps in the low 70s and a north breeze. While it won’t be that cool next week, the temps will be in the low to mid- 80s and little humidity, which will be a great relief. And the rain we haven’t been getting recently will probably be here next week. With the front coming from the north we will be sure to get some. When it comes in off the Gulf we are often missed.
Thank you for your sweet compliments, Barbara,
I’m so thrilled that I found enough pictures to make this a fun post for today.
Coloring books and iron on transfer books were a really big help back then. I used lots of cute ideas from them.
Sometimes I made money on my overalls and sometimes I didn’t. I just enjoyed making them a the time. I stayed at home with my kids and made a little extra money!
Looks like we are all in this heat wave together!!! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne