From vintage baby blouses, from the 1940s, to a beautiful keepsake for grandma who wore them then!

A couple of weeks ago, I received from my neighbor these beautiful hand-made and hand-embroidered baby shirts FROM THE FORTIES! I love them as much as I love their journey. And you'd better believe I meditated for a bit before holding the scissors anywhere close to these precious things :)

So these beautiful embroidered baby shirts were worn by my neighbor's mom, when she was a baby in the 1940s. She gifted them to her granddaughter, Riley, who wore them a couple of years ago, and she is getting them back this Christmas as a special keepsake, featuring an illustrated girl who looks like her granddaughter, Riley (or what she would look like when she's grown up, according to my imagination :)) 💕

These are the oldest fabrics I've worked with, and I'm so happy the final keepsake turned out as refined as their fine poplin and hand-embroidery. I love how the bottom layers are not bulky, because the fabric is so delicate. I made the dress design a little more conservative to go with the era, and drew the shoes to match. The keepsake was a custom illustration order, so the face is illustrated like what I think our little neighbor Riley may look like when she's grown up.

When I was done with the dress, I felt like the piece needed some color, and some drama, hence the dramatic-ish blue paint "clouds."

Riley's mom loved it, and I hope her mother-in-law, Riley's grandma, will love it too this Christmas.

Here are some close-ups. I like how the bottom view shows the layers. The fabric is so old and delicate, it looks so refined even with all the layers. I think it's beautiful.

The sun came out for a few minutes during my photoshoot and I captured this sunny shot.

I would have loved to speak with the recipient of this keepsake and hear some of the stories from her 1940 childhood with these blouses, to have a little peek into the history that they are preserving in this piece, but not everyone likes to be open about their stories and this woman is one of the more private personalities. Of course it's fine as long as she loves her keepsake, but oh how I would have loved to know...