Vintage Love: Embroidery

Today will mostly be a blog in pictures. I've been a bit absent today and yesterday given that I rescued a puppy from the parking lot of my apartment complex this week. While she's a sweetheart, she's not the best at sleeping at night and needs to be taken out during the day as all puppies do. The problem with that is that it's still over 100 here and the AZ heat just sucks the energy right out of you...or well does if you're not a puppy. I'm about ready to fall asleep right here in my chair, but before I do that I'm blogging about one of my favorite details in some vintage clothing, embroidery.

My grandmother taught me how to embroider when I was eight or nine. She set me up with a hoop and fabric, let me use her thread. She had iron on transfer patterns from the sixties that she put onto clean white fabric for me. I started on a cardinal sitting on a branch. I carefully stitched away at the branch, crosshatched red for the body of the bird and used a knot of black for his eye. While my stitches at the beginning were neat and even, toward the end they were rough and large. I think I had figured out the larger I made the stitch the more ground I covered, which is not exactly a characteristic of successful embroidery. This is why I realize the effort that goes into an embroidered piece. Sure, some is probably machine constructed, but I like to think someone took the time to stitch it.

Here's some cute embroidered pieces just dying to be a part of your wardrobe:

1970s cotton gauze shirt with embroidered bib in a floral design. Measurements: 36" bust Available at Rusty Zipper for $24.

1960s orange layered cotton with brown trim and gingko patterned embroidery. Measurements: 36-30-38. Available at etsy seller greasywaitress for $118.

1920s white cotton dress with white floral embroidery. Measurements: 38" bust, 32" waist. Available at ebay seller Lynne Marzilli Textiles with a current bid of $24.99 and a reserve.

1980s Frank Usher cream summer dress with embroidered flowers. Measurements are 38-28-34. Available at etsy seller Lady Day Vintage for $175.

1950s black chiffon dress with embroidered vines and leaves and fabric flowers. Measurements are 34-35" bust, 26" waist. Available at ebay seller traven7 with a starting bid of $29.99 and a buy now of $339.99.