A swingy, springy plaid for little girls
Posted: March 29, 2014 Filed under: Memories, Sewing Project | Tags: memories, plaid, Textile, vintage children's clothing 3 Comments
When we cleaned out our mom’s attic last summer, Janeray and I found a box of old woolens that she’d saved.
There was an ancient Pendleton shirt or two, some worn-out trousers, and remnants of sewing projects.
And there was this lovely little toddler’s skirt. Janeray and I both probably wore it!
It is beautifully made in a soft gray, ballet pink, and cream plaid with perfectly planned pleats. There are simple gray plastic buttons at the ends of the straps on both the front and the back, so if the straps were too long the buttons could easily be moved.
The center-back elastic is still “live” and stretchy. It’s over 50 years old!
This swingy little skirt is so nicely made that at first I thought our mom had sewn it herself. But the machine hemming convinced me otherwise. I don’t think her old Elna had a cam for that industrial-looking hem stitch.
The bad news: the moths have gotten to it in several places.
Swine moths!
One big yellowish stain around the larger moth hole didn’t wash out, even though I soaked the skirt for a couple days. Since I was probably the last toddler to wear this skirt, that stain is my own fault.
Rats.
Should I mend the holes? Someday Janeray or I might have a toddler granddaughter to wear this again!
Should I leave the skirt as I found it?
What do you think?
luray
janeray
dish sisters vintage home and housewares 
Oh mend it, of course!
Yeah, I was thinking that too! It’s a simple tabby weave, so it should be pretty easy to re-weave the missing bits. Now to find some matching yarns—that’ll be the hard part! And do you have any suggestions about how I might get that stubborn stain out?
Reweave it! Can you pull threads from the hem?