Wednesday, May 18, 2011

1930s Madeira Embroidered Boy's Romper

I have been on a run of sharing vintage items with you lately. I haven't finished anything lately, but I will be showing you my next row robin in a few day, and it's cute. 4 blocks with the theme, "Autumn in New England." Then I will be finishing the Drew Bubble for Andy's first birthday in a couple of weeks!
Today I had to run errands at Walmart and I had some extra time, so I thought I'd have Andy's picture taken in this vintage romper. I even have a few pairs of old baby shoes, so I put those on, too. I wanted to put a little Kewpie curl above his forehead, but I didn't have any hair gel, so when I got to Walmart, I went to the hair products section and I found something that really worked!! It's called "Monkey Brains Psycho Sticky Hair Glue: Extreme Hold" and it's for "gravity defying styles." Well, they aren't lying. A drop of that stuff kept that curl cemented in...and it's still there!!

This romper is so sweet. It has a blue collar and cuffs. There is a Madeira appliqued swan and a little shaped pocket. The collar, cuffs, and sleeves are edged with hand-worked scallops. In fact, everything on this romper is stitched by hand. It has no tag, so I don't know if it was homemade or purchased. It looked so sweet on him, even if everyone thought he was a girl! Continue down for detail pictures and one of Andy wearing the romper. Back soon with more. I'm planning to share some American Girl clothes and antique patterns. Thank you to the friends I met this week through email. I'm sorry it took me awhile to answer you, but I was thrilled to hear from you!! Linking this post to White Wednesday at Faded Charm.
The little pocket

The Madeira swan

The collar detail

Here it is modeled. I ironed it...really I did!! This picture was taken after our photos at Walmart, riding in the car, eating lunch, and playing. The little romper looked so cute!

7 comments:

  1. Love this cute romper. Even cuter on the little boy!!

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  2. Adorable! But I want to see the curl! We used to call it a pipeline, but then we're in Southern California.

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  3. I don't know why people would think little Andy looks like a boy, cuz he sure looks a boy to me. course, they probably don't understand about vintage fashions like us who know about heirloom sewing. I think he looks very sweet in his romper.

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  4. Hi Friends,
    Thanks for your nice comments. I thought you would like this little romper. Cynthia, I tried to get a good picture of the curl, but I couldn't get a good background to show it off. It has been raining here all week, so I couldn't go outside. I'll try again today. I saw a Victorian picture on a Flickr group with the curl the whole way down the center of his head and they called it a Thames Tunnel. Have a great day!!

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  5. Sweet romper, but it is those chubby baby knees and toes that are the sweetest!

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  6. I'll probably read this post 10 more times, finding more wonder in this sweet little suit with each viewing. Andy must have stopped traffic looking like the best loved little boy.

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  7. Jan and Janice, Thanks! I agree, Jan, those chubby little baby parts are so sweet. I love just holding him when he sleeps. He's a little cuddlebug.
    Janice, I really love this little romper, too, and I thought I'd get comments walking around Walmart with him dressed up, but nobody seemed to notice. Maybe they'd never seen vintage baby clothes- I am in New England, rich with tradition, yet very few people here to heirloom sewing or smocking.
    It is so nice to hear from all you super-talented sewing friends!! Cynthia, I'm off to Davy's spring concert and I've been baking dolphin cookies for it, so I'll try to post the "curl" or "pipeline" tomorrow!!

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