Recipe for How to Dress a Baby

There is a tradition in the Duncan family where all new borns are given handmade kimonos to wear in the first weeks of their life. These kimonos were embellished with crocheted edging and colorful embroider. First created by Doris Duncan (my mom's mother) and her sister Florence in the 1930s for Dean and Beryl Duncan. My mother wore them in 1934, I wore them in 1957, along with my two sisters that came after me. Cullen wore them in 1985. Holly wore them in 1987 and they were passed along to my sister's children. I wanted to continue this tradition, by making some new ones for Kaya. In place of crochet I used my serger with decorative thread. Here they are. Kaya, Michelle and Karl's baby is due any day now. We are so excited to meet her.

Gnome Felt Ornament

This felt ornament design was a collaboration between Beryl Meuli, my niece Britta Chaska, and myself. We each made a Gnome and I will post the other two later. This guy is mine. The curly hair comes from Judith Colvin's Blue-faced Leicester sheep she raises in Montana. The green and blue felt used in the jacket I made from pre-dyed wool fiber, using a wet felting method. The other felts were purchased. I used some needle felting to create the creases in his hat. This guy has been a year in the making, he was originally going to be a elf fairy. We went to work beginning Saturday and worked two straight days to finish.

Front view

Cute little bum.

Back of jacket shows his pleat.

Curly bits from a sheep.

Stocking are embroidered with a chain stitch.

His bum was shaped using needle felting.

Pillow from Fabric Collage Class at Fabmo

Finished pillow, 2 1/2" squares of silk with machine quilting.

Took a class taught by Luanne Seymour at Fabmo. Very fun, I like to call it finger painting with thread.

Pillows & Curtains

Curtain panels before they are lined.

Finished curtain panels hanging in my sewing room.

Squares cut from fabrics for pillow one.

Squares cut for pillow two.

Details after quilting.

Top of pillow one.

Details with "dog-eared" corner.

I like that you can see the needle holes.

Finished pillow two.

Finished pillow one.

Back of pillow showing.

Testing Yellow

Wanted to work in some yellow into the curtain. This is too bright.

Folding that I did. Wrapped with rick-rack that I found at an estate sale.

All wrapped up and ready to dye.

Most pleased with the rick-rack which took the dye well.

More Dying . . .

Loved the way this looked.

Double pattern, hope to use for the living room curtains

Peaking into the backyard.

Hello shadow.

Dyeing Fabric

Cullen and Tory asked me to make curtains. For those that don't know, my son was married September 1 of this year. Of course I am thrilled to work on a project for their first apartment together. I purchased 108" wide white muslin from Joann Fabric at half price. Mark cut out four 8" isosceles triangle out of wood to use for dying process. Below you can see the fabric clamped between the boards. This dying process is called Itajime, or board clamping and is used in Indigo dyeing. I used procion dyes purchased at Dharma Trading in San Rafael. It was a nice fall day and I was happy to be dying.

Setup in my backyard, used my camping stove to heat the water.

Drying in the sun on this fall day.