Hearts and Flowers

This classic yoke dress is smocked with a plate called Baby Allison from the book Classic Smocking - The Cheryl Lohman Collection.  Her designs are exquisite.

A yoke dress requires a little bit more involved construction than the bishop style I showed you the last couple times.  Yoke style dresses typically have a Peter Pan collar and set-in sleeves.  The sleeves can be smocked and trimmed with lace, or gathered and bound with a bias band, as I chose to do on this dress.  A tiny little touch of embroidery was added to the collar to mimic the smocking design.  These little dresses are all about the details!

I don't care for dresses that are dripping with lace, but I do like a squidge of it.  I heard a phrase a long time ago that I have remembered, especially when I'm tempted to go overboard with froofiness.  (Do you like my word?  I just made that up.) "There are more ways to kill a dog than to choke it with buttermilk."  I think the child should be the focus.  When the garment becomes the focus, well, something is just not right! 

Smocked dresses are expensive to purchase because the handwork is time-intensive.  However, they are very inexpensive to make yourself, if you keep the lace to a minimum.  Imported Swiss laces are a must on these dresses, and that can run into some bucks if you want to trim the collar, sleeves, and hem.  I like to keep the lace near the face, so I just trimmed the collar on this one.  All told, fabric and lace for this dress cost only eight dollars. 

So now I have two maybe-baby-boy and two maybe-baby-girl garments finished.  I think I'll wait now until we find out what Baby Saint is.  We'll find out in a couple weeks!

And by the way, I received lots of guesses and we now have two winners on the name game.  I can't tell you who they are, or what the names are yet, but I'm dreaming up some delicious baked goods for the winners.  Don't worry, I ship near and far!

Love,