Finally! My own baby grand-daughter, Grace, fits into one of my dresses!

A year ago, when Grace was born, I made this dress especially for her, it being the first time I’d ever made a giraffe (the particular dress that Grace is modeling is not for sale but if your preference is a giraffe, there is one for sale). When I gave her the dress, (size 1,) it looked huge. Throughout the year I’ve made quick checks; sizing the dress and sizing Grace. Each time, the dress looked so big, and Gracie so little. It seemed like it was never going to fit, but suddenly, it seemed she turned 1, and into the dress at the same time.

As I mentioned in my first post, it was with the birth of my daughter that my interest in smocking began, so the first time I saw Grace in the dress I got goose bumps. It was like seeing my own daughter as a baby again. I’m so excited to have Grace model for me- (I’m sure that I’m much more excited about it than she is- she would prefer to be playing than sitting still, anytime-) I hope some day she will know how much I appreciate and value these precious minutes of her life.

This brings me to the reason for writing this post, and that is to introduce Grace. You will be seeing a lot more of her. My hope is to photograph her in the dresses that fit her and are for sale. I think seeing a child in them makes it much easier to visualize what your own child will look like wearing one of my dresses.

I also think that having Grace model a smocked and embroidered dress, I can illustrate my “philosophy” of what a child’s dress should be. Children are naturally beautiful, their beauty far exceeding whatever garment they may be wearing. I think it is very important to enhance that beauty, as opposed to competing, and thus detracting from it. A well- designed dress will make one first notice the child, and later, notice the dress. This is one of the reasons that I love smocking. It is elaborate, and intricately detailed, while at the same time it is soft and under-stated. It never detracts, only enhances the child, as is visible in these photographs of Grace. First you notice the beautiful child, then you notice her pretty dress.

So now you will recognize Grace and then, I hope you will look at my dresses and visualize your own special child in one of them~

At first glance the dress is quite simple, but on close inspection, it is complex and intricate. When I embroider an entire scene on a dress it is extremely detailed, but unless the dress is closely examined, the detail goes unnoticed, which is how I think it should be. That means it is the child that gets noticed most. Later, the detail comes as a sort of surprise and I hope, for the child, fun to look at and give her own interpretation. When I create those scenes I am putting my interpretation into them and that is a large part of the joy in creating them. I hope the child can experience a similar form of joy interpreting the scene however she wishes-