Finally made these jumpers from corduroy and matryoshka doll fabric that I bought from Reprodepot Fabrics a while back.  I made some other corduroy jumpers last week and despite the fact that they are homemade, my almost-five-year-old actually likes them.  She is reaching that age when she wants to wear whatever her friends are wearing.  Oh, the drama of being a girl!  I had some problems ripping through a buttonhole, but other than that, I think I am getting a handle on dresses (without sleeves) as long as you don’t look too closely.

Since I started my monogramming and embroidery business I have developed a great appreciation for antique monogrammed linens.  There’s something really endearing about hand embroidered linens created in a time when life was slower paced and things weren’t mass-produced. These linens were often made for a bride’s trousseau and would be passed along to future generations. Other than on ebay and digging through stacks at flea markets and estate sales, one great site for finding these linens is Em’s Heart. You can occasionally even find your initials (like these beautiful damask napkins my mother found for me, pictured below).

Technology has greatly improved the field of sewing and embroidery during the last 20 years.  Almost any design can be scanned into a computer and digitized for an embroidery machine.  This has allowed me to create my own designs and modify existing alphabets to make custom creations.  Here is an example of a design that I created for my mother-in-law: