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Denise Hendrick

Posts by Denise Hendrick

Embroidery Inspiration – Aprons

This week’s embroidery inspiration is aprons – especially the delightfully impractical kind covered in ornate embroidery. While most aprons serve the practical purpose of keeping one’s gown clean, they can also be the perfect canvas to showcase your wealth or embroidery skills. While I generally prefer items to have a nice balance of form and
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Embroidery Inspiration – Baby New Year

In a tradition stretching back to ancient Greece, the New Year is often represented as a baby. With this in mind, I thought it would be fitting to start my series of weekly embroidery inspiration posts with images of beautifully embroidered infants’ clothing.  The majority of embroidery for infants is some form of whitework, which
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Embroidery Giveaway – “Hannah” Pocket

Time for another giveaway! This month I’m offering up a copy of the “Hannah” pocket design. This design is based on an extant example in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number T.42-1935. The machine embroidery design is digitized to be used with thicker threads like Madeira Lana Wool Blend Embroidery Thread*, 30 weight silk embroidery
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Embroidery Giveaway – Holiday Dinner Dress

The holidays have me in a giving spirit, so I’m starting a monthly giveaway of embroidery designs. First up is this 1820s Holiday Dinner Dress, based on this example at the Met. This design is meant to be used with Madeira Lana Wool Blend Embroidery Thread* or crewel wool threads for hand embroidery. The original gown is decorated
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2017 Small Business Saturday & Holiday Sales

It’s Thanksgiving week in the US, which means holiday sales all over the internet. Here is a round up of historical costuming related businesses offering sales this week. If you need to purchase gifts for the costumers in your life (or yourself!), I hope you will check them out. 2017 Small Business Saturday & Holiday
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18th c. Court Suits (and more) at the Paris Flea Market

I spent 10 glorious days in Paris this September, exploring, working on embroidery designs, and visiting museums for inspiration. One of the places I was most excited to explore was the Paris flea market. I knew from a previous visit that I might not find many treasures, but I would certainly find inspiration. Saturday night
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1897 leg-of-mutton sleeve sweater - original magazine image

A Ladies’ Leg-of-Mutton Sleeve Sweater from June 1897

About 15 years ago I purchased several issues of The Delineator dating from 1895-97. One had knitting instructions for a delightfully curvy and improbable leg-of-mutton sleeve sweater, which I fell utterly in love with. The huge sleeves! The tiny waist! I had never even considered that the exaggerated fashions of the era might have extended to
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18th Century Embroidered Pocket Alignment Tutorial

Recently, I was asked about a pocket alignment tutorial video for designs like my mid-18th century pocket and new “Hannah” pocket. Video tutorials have been on my list for quite a while, so I got busy and recorded one to share with my sew-along group on Facebook. Speaking of the sew-along – the group was
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18th c. Hannah Pocket Embroidery Design

A new 18th c. pocket is joining the Romantic Recollections line. The Hannah pocket embroidery design is dated to 1718-20 and is named after the young lady who embroidered it, Hanna Haines. The original pocket is in the collection of the V&A Museum, and details can be found on the VADS Pockets of History page. The
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1920s Summer Outfit

I’m going to the New Deal Prohibition Picnic in Seattle next month, so I’ve been working on my first 1920s outfit. I had already ordered the Royal Vintage Lillian Retro Spectators in Sage, so I wanted to plan my outfit around them. This was a tough one for me.  Since I didn’t have the shoes
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