Infant Wardrobe I - Special Occasion Dressing now ready to ship!

At long last all the parts are here and assembled, folded and stuffed ready to ship! It will be delivered to my distributor on Fri. You can order from the Amberlane web site or from Grace L. Knott at the moment. The stores won't have it for a while but do be sure to go in and request it!! Erika is working furiously to get everything on the web site updated and the photos of this pattern posted in the Atelier.

I've spent this week folding the large pattern sheets as there are no machines that will do this to the size needed to fit the envelope so it is with weary shoulders that I write the post. It has taken what seems forever to reach this point. I did 99% of this pattern on the computer so this is another another personal milestone. (And I continue to fold...) The little suit that was shown in Sew Beautiful last year has come a long way and I hope you will like what has evolved.

This is the little jacket and dress pants as they were photographed for the magazine. At the time I couldn't find a mock turtle T-shirt to put with it and the magazine staff didn't have time to go looking either. I was amazed that they found a baby to wear the suit! Anyhow, the little boy is wearing a matching hat from my pattern, "The Baby Boy's Smocked Bonnet".

 

Two weeks ago I met with my designer friend, Angela, and we travelled down to the fabric district in downtown Toronto to shop for the fabric for my dress for the wedding. We found the fabric in one of her favourite stores, Queen Textiles (at 444 Queen St. W.). Although they have the shelves chalk-a-block full to overflowing, fabrics like I was looking for are tucked away in another part of the building where they are kept in pristine condition.  I chose a royal blue bamboo knit so it drapes well, is 'environmentally friendly', incredibly soft, cool to wear (bamboo breathes) and has 'give' to make it comfortable to wear. All important factors for a July wedding! 

Here are the two ladies from the shop and more of their fabrics.

That done, we spent the remaining time looking for just the right beads to trim the neckline and wrist. Angela's specialty is beading so I can hardly wait to see what she creates. Here she is examining some of the incredible embroidered silks. Fri. I have my first fitting! It is all so exciting. Yes, I will post photos of the dress and the wedding when we return!!

One of my students, Lynn B, entered a number of her garments in the Schomberg fair this spring and won 10 first place prizes, 2 second and 2 third place prizes! (Here in Canada, first place is a red ribbon and second is blue.) The dresses shown are all from the Grace Knott bishop patterns. Congratulations, Lynn, for work well done! 

 
And this one will go on to be displayed in the craft room at the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies Convention in Toronto, Feb. 2012!! I am so proud of Lynn.

So for now I will leave you and get back to folding those large pattern sheets. They simply can not live in my dining room and there are no more places large enough left to store them. Wish me luck as it is going to be a fabulous week weather-wise and it will be just too tempting to play hooky. 

 

So until next time, keep stitching!!!