I have become a collector of vintage baby clothes. It was incidental/accidental but isn’t that how most collections start? I now have at least 30 pieces & I love most of them.
It began when a customer said she had some doll clothes that I might want to cut up for my projects. Did I want to buy them? I went to look at them and all the clothes were stuffed in the doll’s wardrobe shown below. So of course we assumed they were doll clothes. A couple of things, like a bunting, she said her brother had worn. The sleeves were so tiny I didn’t think they would fit the chubby arms of a baby so, again, I assumed doll clothes.
I bought the lot, about a dozen pieces. I took a christening gown to my favorite vintage clothing store in New Milford, CT to ask the owner about it. She told me it was for a baby, not a doll and it was worth about $70, more than I paid for everything. I made a ‘baby’ book from the bunting – see below.
2 of the other items I put on top of each other, added embellishments (doilies, lace) and sort of framed them. This hangs in my bedroom.
The christening gown below I found at a thrift store for $1. I had to buy it!
I visited a fellow artist to help her de-stash her trims, she gave me this rattan pram, not sure if it’s vintage. I draped the $70 christening gown over it for display.
I’m always willing to take fabrics that people are ready to part with. They are happy to find me and a good home for their stash. These were from a fellow artist and I am the lucky recipient.
So a collector is born! Vintage baby clothing, I would never had predicted that. I still can’t believe it.
No idea what I will do with any of it. Although, I just saw an art installation of vintage materials and she had clothing draped all over a gazebo type structure – I did like it. See below.
