Treasures, Part 4

These two dresses remind me of "back to school" outfits, and I intended to post about them back in August when we started school. It didn't happen. :-) Both of these dresses are once again something I pulled from the closet---treasures from the past.

I made the blue chambray dress for Heather in 1995 using a Kay Guiles pattern called "Elissa." The only picture I have of Heather wearing the dress was taken at a birthday celebration, and the snapshot is not that good.

The apple dress below was made in 2000 and is "Lee" from Children's Corner patterns. The piecework inset pattern "An Apple a Day," is also from Children's Corner. This particular dress was fun to make, and the paper piecing inset was something new for me. I loved how this dress looked on Katie when she was 11. Unfortunately, Ellen, who is now 11, won't wear the dress. So much for a "classic, never-go-out-of-style" pattern.

I've enjoyed rediscovering these dresses that I sewed so many years ago. There are several more in the closet that I hope to write about soon. One thing I have learned from doing this is that it's important to take pictures of my children wearing the creations I've made for them to wear. I'm finding that I didn't take very good snapshots, or very many snapshots, of my girls wearing their made-by-mama clothes.

That is one impetus I had in deciding to write out these special dresses---to have a journal or record of sorts of some of the dresses I spent so much time in making. I would highly encourage those of you who sew for your children or others to keep a record of what you sew and to take lots of pictures! It's something I wish now, that I would have done back then.

Ruth