This is a post I've waited a long time to write. Sometime around 20 April,
my precious daughter and son-in-law will make my dear friend, Cathy Lind, and me grandmothers of a little girl named Zoë.
I won't bore you with a doting grandmother's ramblings. But I will take this occasion to launch a creative project I've had in mind for several years: a couture line for little girls, called Running With Scissors. I'll be introducing prototype styles here at atelier chéri, like the dresses above and below, created for Zoë.
These two tiny frocks are repurposed couture -- each was a wispy adult blouse that I restructured as a baby girl's "float," as I like to call them. Chouette (meaning owl), at top, features the tiny pleats and clever buttons of the original, along with olive rayon ribbon rosettes at the shoulders. Lapins aux violettes (rabbits amid the violets), right, was recreated from a voile blouse with the tiniest bunnies all over. The rayon ribbon violets were added.
No layette would be complete without the ubiquitous Onesies. I've added some flounce with ruffles all around. Ciel moderne (modern sky), at right, is trimmed with a retro flour sack print that I found at Scott's antique market in Atlanta. Rose baroque (baroque pink), below, is ruffled with a pink and baroque print with tiny bunnies hiding amid the swirls and flourishes. Both feature tiny ribbon blossoms.
Another layette fundamental is the receiving blanket. Nuages à la campagne (clouds in the country), right, is crafted with green cotton flannel, with a Venise trim edging and a felted lamb or bunny at each corner.
If you haven't yet touched any of the bamboo sustainable fabrics, do so at your earliest opportunity -- it's as soft as a puff of spun sugar. I found a pack of three bamboo receiving blankets and created Rosier des nuages (rose bush in the clouds), below, featuring roses made of ombre picot ribbon and old French lace. I'll make Zoë one more of these comfy covers and reserve the third one for my own snugly needs!
Nothing says baby like a hand-knitted pair of booties. The pair below, Crème de beurre (butter cream), are set off with flowers fashioned from pastel lace tape and pearls, and silk ribbon ties. I have a collection of old baby knitting books, and I turned to an Australian volume for these.
Every little girl needs a treasure box, and I restored the doll trunk below for Zoë. The figures on top are from a sheet of French paper dolls, and above the clasp is stamped "
Mademoiselle."
I filled the chest with all the layette items above, plus a few more, and presented it to Olivia and JR at the magnificent baby shower given by my sisters, Sissy Watson, Kit Reuther and Mickie Marberry; JR's aunt, Kathleen Dillehay; and my best friends, Rebecca Pierce and Carolyn Long. Just a few of the yummy things on the menu: Carolyn's handmade pastel marshmallow peeps, Sissy's pork tenderloin and chicken salad on rolls, and Olivia's favorite, petit fours from Sweet and Sassy, topped with, what else, pink icing booties.
It was a wonderful day with dozens of friends -- only to be topped by the day coming up in a few weeks, when we welcome Zoë, as we did her mother, at Baptist Hospital. It sho' will be a
happy day! à bientôt...Tatie
Nothing has a bigger "awwwww" factor than a baby's layette. Add a little French touch, and "awwwww" becomes "oh la la!" It also means a lot of fun for this new Nana!
I had the pleasure of learning to "knit in French" when I lived in Paris. French women love to knit, and there are shops with everything knitters and other needle workers need in most every neighborhood. (These merceries stock hose and stockings, too. No clue what the connection is!) I especially like the little knitted romper style, like the one below left, that the French call a barboteuse. I can see one knitted in cotton for our little Zoë.
I am particularly enchanted by this booklet. For years, the French knitting magazine, Mon Tricot, published an annual layette edition. The cover always featured a head of cabbage, no doubt a reference to where babies come from!
Many French women over the decades have saved pristine copies of their layette booklets. I'm grateful that a few of them have found their way to eBay!
