Mother Goose Would Be Proud...EVENTUALLY {Part II: Little Bo Peep}

Project Run and Play, Season 5: White Sheet Challenge {Part II}

We decided for the second part of the 'white sheet challenge': why not see if we can make an HEIRLOOM DRESS from a WHITE SHEET?!?!? Heirloom sewing is a challenge in and of itself for us....so, we thought this would be a perfect way to stretch our sewing skills. The last time we attempted heirloom sewing for CL....well, it didn't go so well. Still, time heals...so we opted to give it another go!

Our 2nd outfit was based around the nursery rhyme, Little Bo Peep. We made a baby daygown using Wendy Schoen's Beautiful Blossom's pattern. The heirloom sewing experience was the best we've ever had....by no means perfect, but bearable! 

After construction, the sleeves and dress hem were finished with entredeux and lace. As a subtle detail, we weaved pink floche between the entredeux of the sleeves and hem, coordinating the outfit with the overall embroidery.

Our embroidery images were selected from a google images search of Little Bo Peep and sheep coloring sheets. Since we were planning on doing shadow embroidery on Little Bo Peep, we took a few details away from the selected google image. We traced the sheep and Little Bo Peep using equipment from our local print shop - their light table. It was ahhhh-maz-ing!

Little Bo Peep's dress, bonnet, bow, shoes, and skin were shadow embroidered. Pink French knots were then added to the main part of her dress and bonnet. French knots were used for her hair, as well as the pink flowers nearby. Her staff was stitched using a basic, chain stitch. The shadow work was subtle, at best, due to the thickness of the sheet. It could be seen....you just had to be looking for it!

The sheep were the most time-consuming part of this project. Again, although we love hand embroidered details, we do not pride ourselves in our embroidery work, nor do we claim speed as an asset in doing handwork.

Each sheep's thick, wooly coat of French knots and shadow embroidered head and legs took approximately 3.5 - 4 hours to complete. Above, is a photo of the sheep progression: sewing (or should I say, knotting), washing, and completing. The handwork alone on this dress took approximately 18 - 21 hours. So, yes, we are S.L.O.W. It was a chaotic, frantic week in our tiny sewing world!!

We threatened to shear a few of those wooly creatures over the course of last week.....and questioned the sanity of choosing to do three sheep, instead of one.

Our "Little Bo Peep" stuck to her end of the rhyme perfectly....she left them alone, and they eventually came home...wagging their tails behind them!

Shockingly, our nursery rhyme, "heirloom" white sheet challenge was practically painless....especially following the "Ring Around the Roses" one. The girls celebrated their nursery rhyme (and new outfit for each) success with a little one-on-one time....a rarity for EA to be trusted with "holding duties!" Do these pictures capture the pure joy of the big sis or what!?!? Melts my heart....

And, believe it or not, after three outfits...there is STILL MORE SHEET TO USE!! So, we're counting on our friends in the Flickr sew-along group to provide some stellar ideas on how to best use the rest of the sheet.