Just prior to Christmas, my sweet Ms. C. called me, all excited, to tell me that her entire school was going to spend a week learning all about Colonial Williamsburg & that they were going to be allowed to dress the part on the final day of the school week.
Their family had just been there in the spring & Ms. C. got to rent a long, colonial style dress to wear throughout their visit. She LOVES dresses...always has!
Even when she was very little she would say
"Pweese, Nana Wett, make me a pwritty dwress? No pants...a dwress!"
They also bought her a straw hat, for which she was allowed to pick the ribbons.
Ms. C., in her sweetest little voice, asked me
"Nana, could you please make me a dress just like my Felicity's tea dress?" (her American Girl doll)
"AND could you also make a matching one for my very, very bestest friend in the whole wide, wide world, Ms. E.?"
I told her I would do my best & then set about, searching for patterns to
mimic the laced bodice &
machine embroidery designs to go on the split, ribbon bordered front.
This pale peachy-yellow striped fabric was the closest
I could find to match the beautiful fabric in Felicity's dress.
EACH of the long, machine embroidered designs of trailing roses took
over 45 minutes to stitch out!!!
That is almost 3 solid hours per dress just for the decorations!
What lengths I won't go to for this child!
It took me almost an entire week to complete the 2 dresses &
over $50 in fabrics, ribbons, thread etc.
It was worth every penny & every single minute though,
when I saw them walking towards their classroom,
arm in arm, almost skipping with joy!
White shirts, white tights & simple black slippers completed their
ensembles, plus the HATS....can't forget the HATS!
Even Felicity had one, but it wouldn't stay on very well.
On top of all that sewing, Ms. C.'s Brownie troop
met with me & 2 other teachers,
at our local JoAnn's fabric store for a lesson
on making pillowcases.
Twelve little laughing, excited, talkative little 7 year old girls,
none of whom had ever touched a sewing machine before,
(except for my Ms. C., of course)
What a hoot that was!
My ears were ringing & I need 2 Tylenol afterwards
but they sure had FUN!
After they all completed their sewing project,
little stickers were placed on each with their names &
I brought the pillowcases home with me
to then machine embroider the names (Curlz font) onto the bands.
I don't even want to THINK about how many hours
went into doing those!
First, I had to create each of the the names in my software &
get them sized properly, so they would fit.
The pillowcases were given back to the girls
when they had a "sleepover"
in our local library,
with their sleeping bags & favorite book.
I'm still waiting for the troop leader to send me
a group shot of them all
together.
I heard it was a FUN night!!!
I hope you have been able to find some FUN ways
to enjoy the winter months.
Thanks for letting me share mine with you.
Fondly,
Rett
Oh & p.s.
I spoke too soon when I was bragging last week about
how mild our Ohio winter had been.
Just look at what happened the very next day!
The photo, above, is my view out the sunroom windows
looking down across the lake, towards our neighbors house
and the one below is the amount of snow on
top of our hot tub!
I'll be joining The Tablescaper for her
Seasonal Sundays meme.
