I hope to inspire and entertain you with a lot of sewing and a little of everything else!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack...Ribbon Babies

A few years ago, I spotted a copy of a vintage pattern for sale on ebay. It was to make artwork of a baby in a bassinet. The bassinet and the rest of the picture were made from fabric and could be framed in a shadowbox. I watched the pattern for a long time and certainly could have used the repro to make this, but for some reason I always like having the original more than a copy.
You can imagine how surprised I was to find this pattern! It has all of its original pieces, plus the color baby face to use in the design (it does have a little fold).
It is a much more complicated pattern than I thought! I think it would be fun to make, though. It would be cute to use a little photo of your own baby's face on this. In fact, this picture reminds me of "ribbon baby art" I've seen. There's a beautiful one at an antique store near me that fascinates me. That was the first one I had seen, but they occasionally show up on ebay or etsy:
$28 on etsy, HERE
$175 on ebay, HERE
 I am amazed by the real bootie and outfit on this one. This seems to have been popular in the 30s and 40s. People used artwork or a real photo of their baby and embellished it with fabric clothes and bedding. This one is adorable. I've always wanted to make one with smocked clothes. You could crochet a blanket edge, too. I think it would be fun!! Have you ever seen this type of artwork? Do you like it?

1 comment:

Janice said...

Oh, Lisa, I adore this sort of thing. I was once in an antique shop that had a similar piece and I came so close to buying it. But I was 15 years from being a grandmother and passed on it. Big mistake.....

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