It’s amazing what you find

Last week I mentioned that I found the wedding ring shawl in a suitcase along with our summer clothes. Also in the suitcase were a couple more items that I’d either forgotten about or never knew they were there.

The first was this:

The jumper pattern and the yarn were bought from Liberty in London in the late eighties. With it having batwing sleeves the jumper is knitted crossways which gives the cable design an interesting effect.

My mam made it for me and apparently it was a ‘bugger’ to knit !!!!! She was used to working with mohair as she made my sister a lot of mohair jumpers and cardigans. However the complicated cable pattern and the fine mohair did test her knitting skills and stress levels.....

It became my ‘Sunday best’ jumper as it was too delicate to wear every day. I even wore it on my first date with Mr Gertie – how sweet !!!!

Because of that, and the blood, sweat and tears that went into making it, is the reason why I’ve kept it.

The second and third finds were these:

When we were clearing out Mr Gertie’s dad’s house several years ago we came across a tatty carrier bag which contained these. Not having time to look at them, the carrier was brought home, put in the loft and forgotten about.

Now that we finally had the time we found inside the carrier bag were a long slip and a christening robe.

The slip was in pretty good condition, though there was evidence that the elastic had been replaced several times. 

The christening robe sadly had some damage to it.

 

Both of the slip and robe had been exquisitely handmade – the seams were far too neat to be shop-bought....  I dread to think how long it must have taken the sewer to hand embroider the lace on the robe.

They were both rather grubby and musty so I gently gave them a quick hand wash. I might have changed my mind had I known exactly how old they were....

Mr Gertie explained that the slip had actually belonged to his great, great grandmother. She had worn it on her wedding day (around 1840) then future brides-to-be would wear it under their wedding dress as part of ‘something old’ and ‘something borrowed’.  

The robe also belonged to his great, great grandmother. It was used for her christening in 1820 then subsequent baptisms, including Mr Gertie, after that.

I’ve decided to have a go at repairing the robe. Given its history it seems such a shame not to try.

It’s going to be quite a project as there is a fair bit of damage to it. However I love a challenge.....

Have a great week.

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

Found it !!!!

Back in September I blogged about a wedding ring shawl I’d made. Unfortunately I couldn’t provide any photos as the shawl had been misplaced somewhere in the loft.

I’m very pleased (and mightily relieved....) to say that it’s been found safe and well. It was, for some strange reason, in a suitcase with our summer clothes.

We only stumbled upon it by accident. Mr Gertie had gone into the loft to bring down the case (so we could see if we needed any new clothes for our cruise), and what did we find among the vest tops and shorts, the shawl.

So, a little later than planned, here's my wedding ring shawl.

And to prove that it 'does what it says on the tin'....

Thank you Mr Gertie for the use of your wedding ring (mine being a size I was just a bit too small to use).

Hope it was worth the wait.....

Have a great week.

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

Done and dusted

I’ve finally finished the first of my cruise dresses.

It seems like it’s been going on forever !!! I don’t usually take this long to make a dress, it’s just with Mr Gertie finishing work recently, we’ve been having lie-ins and getting out and about. Plus while I’ve been sewing instead of listening to music, I put my DVD’s on. Bad move as I ended up watching them....

Even though I had worked the size and fit out from the toile, after cutting out the pattern pieces from the dress fabric I tacked them together instead of machine stitching.

This was the first time I’d seen how the dress would look in the fabric and as the toile was made up from any old material, it was always going to drape differently. As it happened the two back side pieces needed to be taken in slightly.

 

Before cutting out the front pleat panel I altered it again (just a slight reshaping at the sides) and tried it for size next to the dress fabric. The contrasting in colours looked really good, so much so, that Mr Gertie even suggested I do something like that if I make the dress again.

After what seemed like endless toile fittings and alterations, the time had come to machine stitch the dress together.

As far as the pattern was concerned the dress should be finished. However I decided to put a lining in it. I don’t do it for all the dresses I make – wearing a simple slip is just as good – but in this case I thought it would be worth doing.

There was rather a lot of hand sewing involved and as I like to try and make my stitches as small and neat as possible, it took quite a while.

It’s been a long haul to get there but I’m really pleased with it. Now it’s the turn of number two....

Have a great week.

Love,

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.