Viyella dress

 

My SIL just sent me this photo of my niece in a dress I made for her first birthday in September 2007. I have not written about it before, so am indulging myself by putting it up here. The dress is made from a Viyella print that my MIL gave me. It was originally bought to make a dress for my SIL, so is about 35 years old. My MIL was very pleased that I had put it to use for the next generation. I was thrilled to have such beautiful fabric with which to smock. The texture is fabulous. I used a very simple smocking design as the print is quite busy.

Recently Marji, of blog Fiberartsafloat generously gave away 50 items from her stash. I was reading her blog late at night, and weakly succumbed to fabric lust when I saw that she was giving away a piece of Viyella, and asked her for it. I wanted to make a smocked dress for another niece, belonging to my other SIL. The fabric is grey, and I had visions of this dress made up with long sleeves (Marji's Viyella is heavier), white collar and cuffs, and smocking in shades of pink. I ran this idea past my SIL, and unfortunately it did not get very far. I feel very responsible towards this piece of fabric. Marji tells me that it is about the same vintage as my previous Viyella experience and I am sure it is time it came out of stash mode, so I am thinking quite hard about other possibilities. I really want to smock this fabric.