Friday, August 17, 2012

A Madder Themed Week

Yellow background fabric:  Judy Rothermel Lancaster Lines
If there was a theme to my week - it was Madder.

I'm working on Calico Paradise - with beautiful madder reproduction prints.

It is a great project I can pick up and put down.

I've also been auditioning some blues for the birds.

This got me thinking about this child's madder print dress in my collection.


The sweet little dress is entirely hand sewn.

Interesting to explore the construction techniques facilitating years of use from the garment.










Here is the inside waist.

The hem and large tuck in the skirt allow for extending the length several inches.  The fullness can be decreased - as a waist expands.

The wide waist band is lined in a purple print.
On the right side waist band is piped on both edges.







Here's a close up of the purple print.

Note the fullness in the bodice and skirt gathered on the waistband.











There is no side seam in the bodice.

This is the side with the sleeve pulled up.











What put me over ... calling it a 'themed week' was my hair appointment.

I got my hair done this week - always an adventure in a new city - but I trust Aveda.  As J cut my hair she started telling me about their Madder hair product.  I didn't bite at the prospect of leaving it in my hair over night, head in a bag, with a dark towel on my pillow... and I didn't want to burst her bubble - plant based dyes are hardly new...

She didn't know I was a quilter, loved antique textiles, or that I would even know about the use of madder....

Maybe I should have more color based weeks.  I wonder what color next week will be...

Are you using lots of madder prints in your projects?

More Madder Related Links:
Madder Style Prints
Early Dyes
Cotton Dyeing
Books of Interest

18 comments:

  1. Are you going to keep the little dress as is or use the fabric from it in a project?

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  2. Keep it - Love it as is and display it from time to time.

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  3. What a sweet, little dress & I loved seeing the construction. If we were hand sewing a dress, I'll bet we would all allow for growth. Who would want to hand sew another?!
    Madders are an all-time favorite, and always have a great look to them, I think. They really make a repro quilt look old. Your project is intriguing!

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  4. I LOVE that little dress!! What a fun display item!! Loving the work progress on the quilt!! Glad the hair appointment went well!!

    Blessings

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  5. Sweet little dress and wondering who the lucky girl was that wore it.
    Very glad her mother wasn't a quilter!

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  6. Absolutely love the quilt! Do you ever do simple, little, quick projects? Lol! The dress is adorable and so sensible to put it together so it can grow with the girl. I think you should have given in to the madder hair!

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  7. Madder hair product?! lol! Glad you didn't go for that one! Love your madder otherwise though. I'm still in love with Calico Paradise. It's an amazing quilt! And the dress -- so interesting and clever how they sewed it so it could expand and grow with the child!

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  8. I love madder! The little dress is so sweet!

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  9. It was really interesting to see the inside of the dress. DD #1 is a Civil War reenactor and I make the clothing for her family. I have a pattern like this for one of her girls and have to say I really hate it. To make it fit after she grows, I'd have to disassemble the entire waist, gathers and all. That is, I'd have to do that if the pattern had a tuck in the bodice. It would have been so much easier with a casing and sash cord of some kind. As sewn, it barely had any growth room at all. One of the Big 4 commercial patterns would have had more.

    I was sure the pattern was wrong but after seeing your pictures, I guess not. Thanks so much for posting the inside. Now I know to design my own! If there's anything in the pictures that you think I missed, please let me know.

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  10. Loving the progres you have made on this quilt. It's going to be a real beauty.

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  11. I wish I had a dress like that and it was in style!
    I see you are back basting. Is that your sole method of applique now? Love the madder.
    Funny story about the hairdresser. Were you happy with what she did?

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  12. Interesting story about your hair appointment!

    The dress is so charming - I wouldn't be able to cut into it either.

    Judy

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  13. It's funny how topics come about like that. Maybe we're just more conscious of a particular theme and so we notice more. Your Calico Paradise is looking wonderful from what we can see!

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  14. As I plan to make this quilt too, I was wondering what fabric you used for the yellow background? Wendy

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  15. Love your quilt project - beautiful, rich colors! The little dress is so sweet, and great that its still intact. Thanks so much for showing the inside, and how it was made - so interesting. My Mom made my dresses when I was young and they always had big hems too. I only remember her letting the hem down once and it had a mark so I didn't wear it much after that.

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  16. Love your quilt project - beautiful, rich colors! The little dress is so sweet, and great that its still intact. Thanks so much for showing the inside, and how it was made - so interesting. My Mom made my dresses when I was young and they always had big hems too. I only remember her letting the hem down once and it had a mark so I didn't wear it much after that.

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  17. I think that hair product would have made you quite madder if you had used it. But in fabric, I love it. Your applique quilt is going to be stunning.

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  18. love the madder with the yellow, very zippy.
    the little dress is sooo sweet!
    I hope you have a dolly for it, or maybe it would be great framed.

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Thanks for your comments!