Ooooh! DRESSES!

I have made my share of dresses for myself, my dolls, my daughter and granddaughter and long ago in the early 1970s I had a children's clothing line called 'Made With Love'. I designed and made the patterns. My partner, Gable Sokal, sewed and took our samples around to get orders from the NYC  children's boutiques.  Here are a few of the dresses that were our specialty.

I like to sketch a dress and place it in Photoshop and recolor it before I cut the cloth.

Here's a blank sketch you can cut and paste into a paint program and design some yourself.

Here I just inverted all the color for some surprising color combinations.

This is a Made With Love Design I did in 1973 and recolored the photo below to see how it would look in another hue.

This pinafore is the original color. We used mixes of calico or graphic prints. I think these could easily be worn by today's girls, although it is a bit retro.

Our beautiful Angela Joy DeStafano was one of my all-time favorite little models.

These applique dresses sold in some funny-named shops such as 'Gee The Kids Need Clothes' on W.10th St NYC, 'The Chocolate Soup' NYC, 'Malawie and the Mighty Mole' in Brooklyn, 'Angels' in Flushing NY., and a pretty snooty one 'Children's Concept and Design'. I can't really criticize because I've had some silly named shops myself including Yin Yang Leathers, Youthful Folly, The Unicorn, and Lightning and Thunda Craft!

My niece, Laurie Osterman in 1973 my wonderful model. This one was denim and cowgirl fabric.

Gillian Ferguson-Sprague when she was just a wee little girl of about 3 or 4. I named this applique dress after her, The Gilly Dress. What a beauty!

Appliqued corduroy jacket dress I designed with a matching suit for little boys. My own sons wore them to me and Gary's wedding.  I designed the sleeves/cuffs to grow with the child.

Here is Laurie and her cousin, my son Mykel Ruvola in his reversible cotton wrap jacket for girls and boys. He was about 3 here.

I played around with the color on this dress and love the green and violets.

Umbilical-CORDoruy boys suits looked cute on girls, too. I appliqued the clouds and machine embroidered the stars on the cuffs and lapels.

My ruffled, appliqued, twirly skirt Made With Love dress 1973.

The Gilly Dress w/ velvet floral applique, poity grow-w-me cuffs and flower buttons.

A velvet shamrock adorns this Made With Love Design.

 

This is my 6th grade graduation dress made by my Mom, Minerva Yuncker-Case when I was 12. I remember picking out the lilac fancy fabric and just loving it. I felt like a princess and she was so proud. It ain't easy makin' a dress, Ma, I know.

At my Kappa Sigma Rho induction ceremony at Lands End. LI NY in 1965. Valerie Gracken is to my left. I made this bell skirted dress with embossed green satin.

Here we were, my best HS friend, Anita Soria and her date, Jimmy somethin'. I was with Jeff Marino, and just friends. 

The Gift of Sewing

I come from a long line of creative people. My Mom, Minerva Case, taught me to sew. Her Mom, Minnie Yuncker, taught her. I have taught not only my own daughter, Jade Harmon, but many others in classes I taught in sewing, quilting, and applique. My latest student is my granddaughter, Sophia Ruvola, my son, Mykel's daughter.  Here we are learning some hand stitching, but earlier in the week she learned to sew on a tiny machine and stitched a patchwork 'quilt' for her little brother, Kai Ruvola, and then went on to make gifts for everyone, like the wall hanging she made me with fabric she chose that morning when we went to Jo-Ann's Fabric. She called it Jo-Hands and I loved that name so much more. She's a talented crafts girl and I can't wait to see her latest creations. I'll share them here, too.

What a joy it is to teach someone such a gift. It is like the 'give a man a fish and he eats for a day but teach a man to fish .... ' saying, but with warm quilts, stylish clothes, and a creative outlet that keeps on giving as long as your back doesn't give out.

For over 50 years I have made so many items for myself, my husband, and kids. Toys for Christmas, ties for work, tee pees, prom dresses, onesies, coats, costumes...whew, you get it.  I am really slowing down with weaker eye sight, bad back and just not enough oomph, but as I prepared for this blog, I found more and more photos of items I forgot. I can't complain because I certainly got my share of 'making stuff'.

Learning to sew is the greatest of all the gifts I've inherited. And, speaking of gifts, when you can sew, you can always make them a whole lot cheaper, and much more personal.

Here are some of the creations I've either come up with or loved from one of the many creative people I have in my life.<3<3<3<3