I’m giving away both pairs of the handmade bloomers featured in the Heirloom Bloomer Tutorial I wrote for Ucreate last week!
blue bloomer size 3-6 months
All you have to do is make a comment on this post telling me if you’d ever be able to cut into a family heirloom (handkerchief, wedding dress, embroidered pillowcase, crocheted doily, etc) to turn it into something else that is more usable. Do you think it would be less meaningful? equally meaningful? or more meaningful? If you have an example, please share! (If you read my guest post over at Design Mom last fall, you’ll know where I stand but feel free to disagree.)
pink bloomers size 0-3 months.
Two pairs of bloomer, two chances to win.
My rules: One comment per person, open to international addresses, winner chosen using random.org, comments close Friday, April 2 midnight (PST). Winner announced Saturday, April 3.
{ 49 comments }
I am not sure – I don’t have any – but I think I would be able to. What else would I use them for?
suzannebake@gmail.com
I would absolutely cut into a family heirloom if it just sits in a box if doing so would make it more functional – no sense in having it collect dust!
I have inherited some handkerchiefs and I haven’t been able to use them in a project yet. We’ll see if I ever get brave enough.
I do have my wedding dress packed away as well as my flower girl dress from my parents wedding. Neither of them have been considered to use and repurpose. I think I would have to have a really good idea to cut them apart because of their sentimental value. My mother-in-law did use old handkerchiefs of her father’s (who passed) for my husband and I to use at our wedding, she also monogramed them with our initials and wedding date.
The bloomers are adorable though and a great inspiration to get me thinking about what items I am willing to repurpose!
I’ve haven’t done it yet but I’m seriously thinking about using my wedding dress for a baby’s baptismal gown. I do think it would make it more meaningful. I have pictures of the full gown and won’t be wearing it again. We’ll see what time brings!
I LOVE the bloomers…a pattern for the files for sure!
It depends on what it is, but generally, no.
I don’t think i would have any problem making something new out of an heirloom. When i bought my wedding dress, i picked one out with the idea in mind of using the fabric to make a blessing dress for my little girl. I think it makes new things and events more sentimental.
I would have no problem cutting them… gasp…I even throw out old pictures. I think old things should be used and enjoyed.
Oh, I definitely think it is awesome to use heirlooms for new creations! As a matter of fact, I am doing a tutorial in April using doilies and embroidered pillowcases for dresses. I do have one set of crochet-edged pillowcases that will never be cut into. They are just too perfect! Thanks for the cute idea and giveaway!
I love the idea of using a wedding dress for a baptism gown. I think ideas like that add much more meaning to the original piece.
Those bloomers are adorable, and the fact that they are heirlooms…eek! Darling little things! And I would not make something out of an heirloom just for the simple fact that I’m not good at it, and I wouldn’t want to compromise the item.
I love these! So adorable. But I dont know if I could stomach cutting up an heirloom. I have a beautiful shirt that was my grandmothers that I keep thinking of making something with but I cant bring myself to. We will see if I ever get the guts.
I could use most heirlooms to create something new. I’m currently making a baptism dress from my wedding shawl. (but I haven’t been brave enough to cut into my dress yet)
I think my daughter’s gown will be much more meaningful to us because I made it, and it’s from my shawl. Thanks for the great giveaway!
I really think it depends on the item, right now i would say no but depending on the heirloom I could change my mind.
I could cut into heirlooms if I had a plan for them (and if I knew for sure what I was doing). I wouldn’t want to hack them apart and then have it not work. My grandma just gave my sister and I some of my great grandma’s handkerchiefs so who knows maybe I’ll use the pattern and try it out! 🙂
i have an heirloom quilt that is possibly beyond repair. i may cut into it, but what shall i do? until inspiration strikes, it stays in the bottom of the cedar chest.
I think it would depend on how timeless the new item is. Turning something as precious as a wedding dress into something that is a current fad, but will be unusable for future generations doesn’t make sense to me. I am all for letting my little girl dress up in my wedding dress and actually using it that way. Or if things were turned into quilts that your children got with different fabrics from meaningful pieces that would be a way to spread the object further and would have a good purpose.
These are so cute. Yes I would cut into heirlooms. I am saving my wedding dress to make bonnets and ties for grandbaby blessings. (you could also do baptisim pieces). Of course I will have to come here and and hope you have already done it so it won’t take me months to figure it out.
I don’t have many heirlooms that I could use to create something else, but I do like the idea. I am keeping my eye out for particular pieces to create a few projects that I have in mind. One, a tiered tower (for the lack of a better word) for ourbathroom, using old plates, cups and bowls. I will blog about it when I do it. I also like the idea of making outfits from old clothing. I did the opposite, I made a blanket from the scraps leftover when I made clothing for my older girls, it has a lot of memories.
I love your bloomers, so cute on a baby with a onesie!
oh these are so very pretty and I have a stash of old hankies, but I don’t think I could cut into them unless I was making them for someone very special. I really love these though!
If the items aren’t being used and in their new form, they will be special, then I say go for it.
1) No problem cutting into an heirloom IF it is for the right project and it is special enough.
2) Please pick me – I really need these for Sadie 🙂 These are so darn cute.
I NEED THESE…. pick me, not Sara! 🙂 LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM~
Love the bloomers. Really need to make some of these. I don’t have any real heirlooms except for smocked dresses and gowns I made for my nieces and my sister. Yes, I would cut into an heirloom – if I were making another heirloom. It definitely would have to be something special. My dad passed away last June and I have his quilt. Nothing heirloom about it, but it was the one thing he used daily. I am going to cut it up and make xmas ornaments for family members. Especially his grandkids and great grandkids. I hope if will be considered ‘heirloom’ and special to them.
I did turn my daughter’s wedding gown into a baptism dress and it is beautiful. You should see the photos. I asked my daughter to make the first cut, signifying that she really wanted to do it. I still have my own wedding gown and would gladly cut it up and reuse the fabric. It is my observation that fashion does repeat, but the length of time is between forty and fifty years, making it less likely that a daughter will wear her mother’s wedding dress. Current styles borrow from the sixties and early seventies.
Yes, I would be willing to cut into an heirloom. And I think it is just as meaningful! I don’t like to see things not being used.
I’ve considered using my wedding dress for a baby’s blessing gown (if I have a girl). It’s beautiful fabric and just sealed up in a box right now anyway! Might as well get some more memories out if it, right?
Yes I would use an heirloom to make something useful if it was not being used and just sitting in storage. It would make whatever you create out of it more special!
Twitter: melaniekayphoto
March 30, 2010 at 4:23 pm
I would be able to cut into an heirloom to make it into something else, if I felt comfortable enough in my skill level to actually make something else that looked good. I’ve wanted to make my wedding dress (which has a 6 foot train) into something else for years, but haven’t come up with an idea that is worth cutting the dress yet. Why keep the dress in a box for years & years?
I would be willing to convert a family heirloom into something more usable, as long as I was sure I knew what I was doing so that the something more usable would come out right. My grandma used to do that and she made lots of lovely things from the lace of my aunt’s wedding dress.
I actually cut off a piece of my blankie in hopes of one day making into something, but I don’t know what yet. If I win then I will be giving the bloomers away to a special baby so it’s like a double giveaway.
KP Reply:
March 31st, 2010 at 9:25 am
To my baby????
🙂
Hmmm . . . it would depend on the heirloom. Some things I could cut up in a heartbeat (like a stack of vintage hankies I got rid of two moves ago–sob!), but others would be much harder, if not impossible (like a classic wedding dress that I would want to give my girls the opportunity to wear).
I’ve got to try using your bloomer pattern with vintage wool fabric for a cloth diaper soaker . . . can’t wait to see how it turns out!
I would be willing to repurpose some family treasures. I have cut up a shirt that my mom always used to wear (and that we associate with mom) and used it as part of a gift for my brother. There’s also still more of the shirt left, so I can use it in other items too!
Yes, i think I could do it depending on what it is. Esspecially if it was something worn out and raggity that couldn’t be repaired…why not make it into a NEW heirloom? If it was a 100 year old blessing gown…no I wouldn’t. But an old doily, blanket or hanky? totally.
O yes, I have and would again! When I lived in CA I was an interior designer. When my girlfriends Mom passed away, she asked me if I would take her mothers heirlooms and turn them into items that she could use in her home.
I did just that…when she saw all the items laid out in her home she cried happy tears, saying she now feels her moms presents each and eveyday…:)
i love these bloomers so very much! they are just so stinken cute!!
as long as i know what ever i am cutting into or reusing wouldn’t make me some money if i took it to antique roadshow i totally would reuse it for something more fabulous.
i really wanted to cut up my wedding dress and make in into a blessing dress but instead just had my baby girl wear mine. maybe next time around.
I love this idea. For me, being able to use something vintage (rather than storing it in my attic) makes it more special. I would think about what it came from every time I used it.
Wow! 1st: Thanks for the opportunity! I absolutely LOVE these bloomers!!! And i have a friend who is expecting a daughter any-day-now, & i’ll give em’ to *her* if i win. I think she would cherish them!
Okay: For me, i suppose it depends on the heirloom… Also, it depends on what i want to turn it *into*. i.e. Is it something that’s too beautiful/sentimental (to me) to cut up? Am i confident i can make the heirloom into something (more) beautiful?
If it was something of my Mother’s or my Grandmother’s, i would most likely simply hold onto it for years, looking at it lovingly every day. I *may* be able to eventually convince myself to transform it into something “more useful”…
I’m not sure if I could do it or not. I don’t have any anyway, so I don’t have that decision to make, but I do love the bloomers! Thanks for the chance to win such a great prize!
HeatherMc1(at)msn(dot)com
I’m waiting to get my hands on my mother’s wedding dress. It’s from the 70’s and I would LOVE to cut it up and turn it into a christening gown for my 3 week old! I think it would make it more meaningful, because, no one is going to wear her wedding dress – for one thing, my sister and I are taller with a more athletic build (where as she was just SKINNY!)
I don’t have any heirloom hankies, but I’ll have to keep my eye out at the Thrift stores!
Love your blog!
Suzy
I have some… I think I can, I think I can, I think I just might!
My sweet mother made my baby girl a beautiful blessing dress from the fabric and lace from her 1970’s wedding dress. It even has the same buttons that went down the back of my mom’s dress. It’s priceless and I’m glad she did it!
I’d love he cute bloomers!
I don’t have an example, as I am new to sewing. I would have to say I could cut into that meant something to me. Especially if it were for my daughter. Why not use something meaningful to make something useful?!
absolutely! They would get much more use!
Entering for KP (Zinone) cuz I’m surrounded by boys! And KP wanted an extra chance to win since she’s in LOVE with these bloomers! And of course, cut into them— you can make so many cute things!! 🙂
I would have a hard time cutting into a family heirloom. I’m more likely to cut into someone else’s family heirloom 🙂
I Love the bloomers!!!
I absolutely agree with you. Unless you plan on using the heirloomy item in its intended purpose (ie: wedding dress for your wedding), use it for something else!
I’m so jealous of your tri-ing, by the way. I swam in HS and would like to pick it up again. I think tri-ing would be a great way to stay in shape and be able to swim. How do you train with all your little ones?
I could cut into something like heirloom hankerchiefs if I were making something like bloomers. The bloomers could then be turned into the heirlooms. Love this idea!
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