Heirloom Tatting to Create a Daygown and Baby Dress

My favorite things to create are items using materials that have been in a family or have been created by a beloved family member. The beautiful ecru tatting, the pink tatted insertion, and the pink and teal crocheted edging were made by a precious family member and I was asked to create two baby items out of them.

The first item consisted of about 3 yards of ecru tatting. The tatted edges were in several length with one tatting larger than the others. I created a ragland sleeve daygown using the smaller edging on the placket and neck of the gown and the larger edging on the sleeve ruffle.

I added embroidery to the placket between the top four buttons and add additional embroidery on the bottom of the skirt. The embroidery consists of satin stitched leaves and bullion daisies in ecru thread.

 

The second item I created was a baby dress using the pink insertion and edging. The front and back yokes feature embroidery using bullion leaves and bullion roses. The bottom of the yokes are finished with the pink insertion applied horizontally. The skirt also has embroidery on the center bottom. The dress is finished to a length of twenty-two inches and it has a built-in hemmed liner. I tatted a small edging for the neck edge in the same color as the other tatting. This sweet dress has long sleeves which are finished with a fabric ruffle edged in the multi-colored crocheted edging.

 

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Ragland Sleeve Daygown with Pink Tatted Edge and Pink Tatted Bonnet and Booties

 

This precious Ragland sleeve daygown is created using white Swiss Bearissima II batiste. I personally hand tatted the pink edging (DMC #776, weight 80) which is applied flat to both sides of the placket and neck edge. The same edging is applied to the fabric ruffle at the sleeves. The sleeve ruffle was hand rolled and whipped as well as the neck and sleeve edges. The hem is blind hemmed by hand.

The lower front of the skirt on either side of the placket is embellished with a beautiful hand embroidered design using shadow stitched bows and bullion roses and leaves.

The gown features single rosebuds hand embroidered along the placket.

The pink tatted bonnet and booties feature blue medallions. Both items are VINTAGE and have been cleaned and laundered. Fresh ivory ribbon has been used to complete these items. These items are the first I have seen tatted in the pink and blue. I absolutely fell in love with them when I came across them and envisioned the day gown to match. Please note there is a very subtle color difference between the vintage bonnet/booties and the new edging.

These beautiful items are available for sale at my Etsy store:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/128319482/white-ragland-sleeve-daygown-with-tatted?ref=shop_home_active

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Daygown with Pink Hand Tatted Edge

The ragland sleeve daygown pictured below is made from white Swiss batiste. The tatted edge was created using DMC 80 weight thread in a light pink (#818). Simple rosebuds are embroidered on the placket. The sleeves are completed with a fabric ruffle edged in pink tatting.

This daygown has SOLD.

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Ivory Ragland Sleeve Daygown with Lilac Tatting

The daygown below is a tatted ragland sleeve daygown. I made the tatted edge from size 80 thread in a lilac color (DMC #397). Purples are tricky in heirloom sewing and I prefer colors that aren't too bright. This lilac color was wonderful! After I made the tatting, I was disappointed with it against the white batiste. Instead, I coupled it with ivory batiste and it took on a softer, more subtle hue. The pictures were made before I added embroidery to the placket. The embroidery brought much dilemma when trying to find the right colors. After much trial and error, I found that DMC #554 worked for the center of the rosebud and DMC #153 was perfect for the outer rosebud. For the leaves and stem, I used DMC #3013. Sometimes, you have to wait on a project to develop as you go along and this daygown was one of those projects. My fear in adding embroidery was that it would take away from the sweet simplicity of the daygown and the tatting. Once I found the right color combinations, I added single rosebuds between the buttons of the gown. Another difficulty in creating this gown was finding the right color ribbon. The color that best suited the gown was only available in 1/8 inch ribbon, which is too small for entredeux beading. To solve this problem, I tatted my own beading in the lilac thread and then stitched that to entredeux. I think it turned out very sweet with an old fashioned look to it.

This lovely daygown has SOLD.

 

 

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Pressed Tucked and Set-in Sleeve Daygown

In creating this gown, I used Sarah Howard Stone, Inc. Pattern Package II set-sleeve daygown pattern. The pressed tucks were hand sewn. I left a one inch space between the tucks to add hand embroidery. The tatting I made using DMC 80 weight thread in #3325 color.

This precious daygown has SOLD.

 

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Vintage Tatted Bonnet

Yesterday, a vintage tatted bonnet I purchased arrived and I am so pleased with it.  At first though, I was a little nervous about it.  It had a blue fabric liner in it, which was stained, and the blue ribbons had seen much better days. The liner was hand whipped on which made it easy to remove and the ribbons also were removed and replaced.  The bonnet had been stored flat and a crease had formed down the center of it.  Here are some before pictures: 

The inside out view:

    

The changes I made were really quite simple.  I removed the liner and replaced the blue ribbon with new ecru ribbon. Liners in tatted bonnets are a personal preference.  They are helpful in making the bonnet warmer in cold weather.  I preferred to leave it without one.  The fold crease ironed out easily.  Here are the after pictures:

     

I recently purchased the pattern for this bonnet on eBay and I look forward to one day recreating this bonnet.  It is such a lovely design and is tatted in two separate pieces. The scalloped front ruffle is actually tatted separately and then hand whipped on to the bonnet itself. 

My hope is to design and make a christening dress to match this extraordinary bonnet.  Until then, this bonnet is available separately at $125.

 

Tatted Baby Bonnet

This tatted bonnet was created using the pattern found at http://www.tat-man.net/tatterville/tatpatterns/antiquepatterns/antbonnet1.html.   The first time I made a bonnet using this pattern I found it to be smaller than I anticipated.  For this bonnet, I enlarged it just a tad by adding an entire round following the pattern's round five.  To create a round six I used the following directions:

• Round Six: R: 3+(to 3rd p of chain of last row) 3, cl, leave 1/4 inch thread, rw.  R: 5-2-2-2-2-5, cl, leave 1/4 inch thread, rw.  R: 3+(to 5th p of same chain of last row) 3, cl, leave 1/4 inch thread, rw.  R: 5 +(to last p of adj r in this row) 2-2-2-2-5, cl, leave 1/4 thread, rw.  Repeat around, alternating small and large rings, joining first and last large rings together and small rings to the preceding row.  Tie and work in ends.

Just adding this round increased the size of the bonnet.  Instead of six medallions, I now tatted eight to go around the face of the bonnet.  The only other change I made was to leave eight instead of six open rings on round six of the pattern instructions.  The bonnet measures 12 3/4 inches from ear to ear and measures 7 3/4 inches from front to back.  I used ecru thread in size 100 which created a light, ethereal bonnet.

 

Sandy, thank you for entrusting me with the privilege of making an heirloom treasure for your newly arrived granddaughter.  I pray it will bless both you and her.