Dolly dolly

Whipped up A few custom skinny dolls this past week...the fabrics, hair color, eye color, necklaces, hair style, embellishments were all custom chosen by the recipients mother. What a sweet pair of dolls that will I'm sure get treasured by a sweet pair of sisters....

a bit more embellishing...

A few embellished t's and dresses this week...

Plenty of great fabrics, doilies, rhinestones, and hand-stitching create these little beauties...

linen emroidered top

 I love love love most anything hand-embroidered...and whenever I see it at thrift stores, yard sales, etc, I cant help but pick it up, even if I have no immediate use for it. I just know how long it probably took that person to stitch every little design on cotton or linen (for-e-ver). So anyway, I feel like I have to rescue most every piece of hand-embroidery I find from being thrown into the wasteland.

 I know how to embroider things myself, but haven't taken much time lately to create anything elaborate with it. So anyway...back to this project...

I had this table runner that I picked up in a grab bag at the thrift store a few months ago and wanted to do something with it. Now while the colors are one of the things I loved about it, it didn't quite fit anywhere in my house. I got the idea that this would make a beautiful, detailed top for my little one & got to work. I made a few quick measurements & created the band & arm straps. Then I gathered the table runner to fit that measurement & sewed it together. I added the buttons as a decorative detail & got some good practice using the button hole attachment on my new sewing machine for the button on the back. I used all vintage buttons from my grandmother's and my husband's grandmother's stashes & it suits the top perfectly. I didn't get a great shot of the embroidery up close, but the black lines, the colorful flowers & the leaves are all intricately hand-stitched on ecru linen with a hand-crocheted scalloped trim. B-E-A-U-TIFUL.

The top is a little loose on Tatum, but that's not usually a problem for long around here. These kids grow like weeds, so it'll probably be great come summertime.

Easy breezy little top that will be perfect for hot summer days...