Lace Age Girl: October 2018

Friday, 5 October 2018

Vintage Baby Clothes and Lace

Hello again friends,

Vintage baby clothes have always tugged on my heart-strings - especially gentle whites and creams, even those yellowed with age. I've been collecting since I got my first job as a teenager. I could only afford charity shop prices - back then 50 cents or $1 was the norm. My Hope Chest gradually filled with little items that I hoped to see on my own babies one day.

I had to wait at least 20 years for it to happen, so that's a lot of collecting!!! Below is a cotton petticoat on which I embroidered a pink bow and some rosebuds. 'Sugar Britches' is the model here, a porcelain ad cloth life-sized baby doll I made in my twenties.

I can't believe how people could throw out beautiful heirloom items. This pure wool blanket is light and warm and soft, tastefully embroidered with cream flowers.

And yes, I did use it, as a pram blanket in the old cream cane pram I bought from a shop called 'No Horse, No Wife, No Moustache' about 30 years ago, which served my three beautiful babies.

Here's the old pram - it was a Summer and too hot for a woolen rug...

And another Summer baby!

Here is a detail of the flowers:

This dress below is superb - in a soft, light wool crepe, in a golden creamy tone with fine white cotton lace. What a glorious find!

Here are some lace details:

And here is my daughter Roisin wearing it years ago!

Next is a 50's or 60's synthetic and lace dress in white with a bonnet to match. I do prefer natural fibres, but it's sweet. You don't see them much any more, even in opportunity shops.

This dress is also synthetic, but beautifully hand made, smocked and embroidered.

These baby shoes are modern leather in a vintage style. I altered them (not permanently!) by putting some lace held in by pictures of vintage babies... a fun decoration.