A Vintage Lovely
Saturday afternoon my Sister in Law, Mother in Law and I went and did a little shopping. First order of business was to swing by Blissfest to pick up some wool felt from Heather Bailey’s booth and to drool over her new fabric collection. She had quilts made to display the soon to be available fabrics- which my sister in law and I fell in love with.
Before we even made it to Heather’s booth, we got sidetracked at the Cherry Street Antique’s booth, where I found this:
Check out the beautiful tatted lace on the bodice… (see it larger HERE)
and on the hem…
It was lovingly made by someone with an eye for detail. The seams are all french seams and there are 2 beautiful mother-of-pearl buttons on the back. I bought it to use as a blessing gown for the baby. It clearly needs to be washed and ironed, I’m thinking a soak in the sink with dish washing detergent??? It is made from a light weight cotton, there isn’t any fading or yellowing of the fabric….any suggestions on how to clean it?
November 10th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Heather it’s soooo pretty! My mom always soaked delicate delicate whites in two mixtures.
First dissolve 1/4 of 20 Mule Team Borax(available at grocery stores or Target in the laundry section)in a small basin of warm water. Let the white clothing soak for 1-2 hours (overnight is best). This deodorizes, brightens w/o bleach, and removes any stains. Then rinse in cool running water.
Secondly, hand wash in a basin of cool water with a drop of AVON classic bubble bath. The bubble bath has NO detergent in it – so it didn’t break down her vintage whites. Try the scents Fresh Laundry scent or Creamy Frosting scent. (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1657533/uses_for_avon_bubble_bath.html)
I also LOVE the Caldrea Sweet Pea baby laundry wash. Smells amazing. (http://www.caldrea.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductName=Sweet%20Pea%20Laundry%20Detergent&CategoryName=Baby%20Care)
Lucky baby. and Good luck to you too!
November 10th, 2009 at 8:55 am
That is beautiful! I don’t know about washing, but when I got all of the vintage goods that I put in my Etsy shop, I hung them all on the line to get the musty smell out. Worked great.
That dress is just perfect, I love it Heather!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
No idea how to clean it but that is GORGEOUS!
November 10th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
perfect for a baby blessing! it’s precious.
November 10th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
LOVE it.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
LUCKY DUCK!! What a great dress. It is beautiful. I love it.
February 19th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
[...] life is full…all week long I’ve wanted to sit down and blog, I wanted to tell you about my trip to see Mary Poppins last week with my sister-in-law (AMAZING performance- but my heart will always belong to Dick Van Dyke for the role of Bert), or how I cleaned up and organized the nursery ( i even put the picture here on flickr), or that we are blessing little babers tomorrow, here at home in her pretty vintage dress….. [...]