A bride wrote to me this week with a question nobody had asked before. She was ordering the MRS sweatshirt in the ivory lace, and she wanted to know if she could send me the lace from her own veil to use instead of mine.
Yes. Send it.
I keep lace and fabric here so anybody can order without mailing me a thing. But if you have the real piece — the veil, the gown, the hospital blanket, the little striped outfit — I would always rather use that. She asked if the thread could sparkle too. I will see what I can do about that one.
The mock necks have taken over
Three weeks ago the mock neck was the new thing and I had made exactly two. This week I made seven, and not for the same kind of customer at all.
Four were wedding dress keepsakes, in cream, gray, mulberry and navy. One was a flower bouquet appliqué in cream, one a MAMA sweatshirt made from a baby's outfits in navy, and one an orange sequin BOO in pink, because apparently Halloween wants a mock neck now too.
I also posted a batch of them last Friday, made for Cinnaminson Pirates families in red, pink and grey with embroidered appliqué letters. It is the fleece cuffs that sell them — once somebody sees those on a cold morning the plain crewneck stops being the obvious pick. They are on my Instagram here. They make a good fundraiser item too, so message me if your school or team wants to run one.
Wedding dresses and bridal: 30 pieces
Wedding work is still the biggest thing I do: 30 pieces this week.
Twelve of those were BRIDE sweatshirts cut from the bride's own gown, and two of them surprised me. Instead of a new last name, both brides picked their college letters — the same three letters, two separate orders, two different sweatshirts, neither one with a date or a year on it. I have done initials, nicknames and song lyrics on these, but that was a first.
Another bride asked for her name across the back like a jersey, and another wanted her wedding date running vertically up the left sleeve where the little heart usually goes. Those requests are always fine. Just tell me what you are picturing.
The rest: seven flower bouquet appliqués, where the dress fabric is cut into petals instead of letters. Eight MRS sweatshirts with the bride's new last name — three in the sage chinoiserie, two in the blue and cream, one in the ivory lace, and two cut from the bride's own dress fabric. Then two Mother of the Bride shirts and, for the first time in a while, a Mother of the Groom.
And no, you do not have to cut up your whole dress. I need about a 7 by 15 inch piece, so it usually comes from a hem or the inside of a skirt and nobody can tell.
Baby clothes and hospital blankets: 12 pieces
Seven pieces came out of baby clothes. Four said MAMA, one GRAMMY, one HONEY, and one was a mini letter patch spelling MOM. Three of those customers told me to pick the thread colour myself, which I like being trusted with. One asked whether I could use a bassinet sheet for the lettering instead of the outfits — yes, if it holds a memory I can use it. Another asked me to use only the outfits with blue in them, which is the kind of instruction that makes a sweatshirt look planned rather than assembled.
Five more came from hospital swaddle blankets: three curved sweatshirts, one MOM plus a matching MAMA and DAD pair cut from one family's own blanket in dark green thread on sandstone, and two keepsake hats, both saying DAD, one of them stitched onto a hat the customer mailed me herself.
Nurses: four jackets
A quieter nurse week — four jackets against eight last week. Two Mother Baby Unit pieces with baby feet in aqua and pink, a black full zip with a stethoscope heart in white, and a curved labor and delivery quarter zip with a name on the first line and four credentials on the second. That customer asked if she could send a picture instead of describing it. Always send the picture.
The school tees close today
The biggest single batch was 40 Classical Conversations Sewell tees — the 250 years design with John 1:1 across the top. Twenty-two Heather Navy, eighteen Heather Dust, almost exactly half of them youth sizes.
Ordering on that one closes today, so if your family has been meaning to get round to it, today is the day.
Halloween, fall and odds and ends
Two orange sequin BOO crewnecks and one curved pumpkin plaid, which is about where seasonal sits in late October — the Halloween rush is over and Christmas has not started.
Also out the door: three embroidered twill shirts for a local company, a John 3:16 shirt, two rush upgrades and three sleeve add-ons, one of them two names stitched up a right sleeve in dark green.
Sixty-one orders, a hundred pieces, twenty-seven designs. Not my biggest week, but a lot of it was the fiddly one-at-a-time kind of work, which is the kind I like best.
How to order
Everything above is on the website: Memory Keepsakes for anything made from fabric you already own, Wedding & Bride for bridal, or Embroidered Shirts and Sweatshirts for the whole range.
If you are sending me fabric, order first and then post it — the confirmation email tells you where. For baby clothes or a blanket, send the pieces you want used and tell me if there is one you especially want on the front. If you are not sure whether something will work, ask me before you cut anything.
And if you would rather watch this being made than read about it, I am on Instagram at @bbiad most days.