Smocked Dress Quilts

Over the past 10 years or so, I have made a few of these Smocked Dress Quilts. Two are finished and one is in the works.

I had done this top a few years ago, but I never liked the sashing, so it was put away. Motivated by my Guild's Quilt Show coming in October, I dug it out. I took the blocks apart and am framing them in solid colors now. Here they are (some of them are hard to photograph):

I will then sash these framed blocks with white and I know I will like it much better! This one is fun because each dress is a different style: bishop, yoke dress, heirloom, etc.

This one is approximately twin-size and shows the blocks framed individually. This was hand-quilted by my Mom and won "Viewer's Choice" in our last Guild Show. This one is totally bishop dresses.

This one shows the ruffled Swiss embroidered edging I used. It makes it very girly!
Here are close-ups of a couple of these blocks:

I love this fabric- it's one of my favorite blocks!

This one is fun with the strawberries!

I featherstitched the hem on this one- you can have fun doing anything on these!!

This is the first one I did- I taught this block/smocking at a Quilt Shop and make my samples into a baby quilt. This one is fun with the pieced filling. Super girly and fun- this one is about 42"

I made my own patterns for these. I basically used the size of an American girl dress pattern to get my yokes and sleeves. You just need the front of the dress and half of the sleeve. I have a nice little assortment of pieces that I can mix and match to make new dresses. I think after the latest one is done, I'd like to try a quilt of little boy outfits!!