We continue with Part Two of the New Arrivals at Maison de Belles Choses. 9/18/2008
Just in time for the coming autumn air, falling leaves, and pumpkin patch visits comes something from Little English that couldn't be more perfect: A scarecrow smocked romper, for younger boys and girls, and a girls dress for the older sister. The smocking depicts three scarecrows smiling from the cornfield. The material is light blue corduroy.
A new vendor for us, Little Threads, has this gorgeous girls smocked dress in brushed cotton pink gingham. (Gingham is a yarn-dyed cotton fabric woven in stripes, checks, plaids, or solid colors, if you don't know.) It comes complete with long-sleeved shirt with peter-pan collar. Fully lined with a bow in back.
Bella Bliss has four sweaters for the little ones to serve as a defense against the cold. First, a sweater for the sportsman: There are baseballs, footballs, and basketballs on a light blue knit. Second, a dark navy blue boys sweater with two fire trucks on the front and the firehouse dalmatian (by the fireplug, naturally.) Third, a girls white sweater with dragonflys. Fourth, actually from Imp Originals, is a boys light-blue knit argyle sweater vest. Tres Chic!.
Speaking of dalmatian firedogs, Anavini has a cute overall for boys. The design depicts two firedogs and ladders on checked cloth lined material. It comes complete with a long sleeve shirt with red trim.
It is exciting when we get clothes from this company! We have a Bois de Rose dark blue Chevron dress with blue covered buttons. There is a criss cross pattern over the smocking and tiny flowers form the chevron. A bow in back helps cinch it up.
Next we have in a lighter blue color the Bois de Rose French Blue Dress. There is no special design, but the detail on the front is lovely and the collar and cuffs are trimmed with ric rac.
To complete this season's selection we have a Bois de Rose dark blue long sleeve dress with bows. The bows are part of the emblem up front, but their is a real bow on the back to help with the form.
Boys are not completely shut out here: Presenting the Bois de Rose Boys Dinosaur Longall! There are two mighty dinosaurs embroidered on to the smocking. The pants are fully lined and it comes complete with a long-sleeve shirt with covered blue buttons on the cuff.
New Arrivals - Fall 2008 - Part One
The new Fall 2008 children's clothes for Maison de Belles Choses have arrived! In order to make it easy for you to find all we've decided to spotlight everything new in the Belles Blog. We have several new vendors, including Funtasia Too and Little Threads. There is too much to put it all out there at once, so check back every few days and once it's all up we'll tell you that's it!
New Smocked Dresses from Carriage Boutique (Feltman Brothers)
The Carriage Boutique Rose Smocked Dress is a wonderful rose color and the material is soft corduroy. The smocking is designed with small bud flowers and it is long-sleeved, perfect for those chilly autumn days.
The next dress from Carriage Boutique is the Scotty Terrier Dress. It is checked in chocolate brown and white. There are four cute Scotch Terriers embroidered on the smocking. There is also a boys Scotty Terrier Romper with the same design.
For boys aged 3, 6, and 9 months there is the Carriage Boutique Farm Animal Romper. It is a soft blue corduroy with a smocked barnyard scene complete with a cow, sheep, chicken, a barn and some birds. It can be a fine companion for the navy farmyard overall for an older brother and the bishop dress for the sister.
Funtasia Too debuts at Maison de Belles Choses
We like Funtasia Too because of their great designs but also because they make their clothes in the good 'ol USA. There are a number of equestrian-themed dresses and longalls. One of the longalls is reversible, with one side featuring classic Halloween Ghosts and Pumpkins, and then the other with three Scotch Terriers. It's a neat trick and ensures your child will get more wear out of it.
The Horse Jumper (sizes 2-4T) features embroidered horses on red corduroy. Near the bottom is a brown grosgrain ribbon with white whipstitch around the hem and a horse bit accent piece. It comes with a white peter pan collared shirt and ric rac trim.
For children a little bit younger - 12, 18, and 24 months, Funtasia Too offers a three-piece set for girls with small embroidered horses.
And for the boys, the Horse Longall has one big horse on the front and an accompanying turtle-necked shirt to keep them toasty.
Just in time for Halloween, this Funtasia Too reversible longall for boys sports a Ghost and a Wagon full of Pumpkins on one-side, and three Scotch Terriers on the other side. Girls have the same sort of design with a two-piece and accompanying peter-pan ric rac collar long sleeve shirt. Another choice is the Ghost Reversible Jumper for more of a skirt outfit.
Heading more toward the fashion-plate side of town you'll find the Funtasia
Too Polkadot Two-Piece Set. This is black and white with two bows included: one orange for Halloween and one green for the rest of the year.
A Short History of Smocked Clothing 7/2/2008
Bonjour and Bienvenue to the inaugural blogpost of Belles Blog ! We aim to make this blog interesting for our customers and will hopefully broaden your knowledge and appreciation of quality childrens clothing. In the future we plan on making this a spot for customers to find out what is new to our line-up.
Smocking originated in the Middle Ages and most sources trace its start to England. In a world without elastic, smocking served to make the collar and sleeve-ends flexible for active work as well as protection from the cold. Fabric would be pleated, then embroidery stitches would stabilize the pleats and give it the accordion effect.
Tradition has it that a persons type of work would be stitched into the pleats as a design. Horse-handlers might have horses, Farmers would have scythes or plows, a shepherd might have sheep or a crook. Indeed, in Thomas Hardys Far From the Madding Crowd , one of the principle characters seeking work as a shepherd is denied employment one day, and returns the next time wearing an appropriate smock and is hired on the spot. To be sure, just because something shows up in fiction is hardly good evidence, but you can imagine that it might have happened. We have a boys john-john with golf-carts embroidered on the front,but I dont think it will get anyone into the U.S. Open.
The Industrial Revolution, with its fast-moving machinery, brought an end to the workaday usefulness of smocked clothing. Loose-fitting clothing could easily get caught in gear levers or cogs. The technique survived and designs became more elegant and refined as the new wearers of smocked clothing were women and children, wearing smocked dresses for special occasions.
Today the style exists for the most part in childrens clothing. Our lines are all hand-smocked, which is very labor-intensive. The technique truly demands a craftsperson and good material to work with, otherwise the end-product just doesnt cut it.
In the U.S., boys and girls wearing smocked clothing can be found everywhere. Europe, of course, has an ongoing tradition of smocked clothing for children. As an example, you can find an ode to Bois de Rose from Paris on the internet. My favorite view of kids in smocked clothing is at the end of a French language learning series entitled, French in Action . At every episode end there is an audience of smocked kids watching the closing puppet show, which always makes a reference to some event which just happened. This site has the series as free video-on-demand, by the way.
Occasionally, when out and about in the San Francisco Bay area, women will come up to us and tell us they used to smock clothing or their mothers did. The conversation starts because our daughter frequently wears smocked clothing - I know, big surprise. Or they will tell us of a trunk-full of clothing they gave to their children, whose children are now wearing the clothes. It reminds us of the timelessness of this type of clothing. When done right, the materials are of excellent quality and are durable enough to last generations. In this disposable culture we live in, Im glad at least something with a connection to the past can re-emerge and still look as good as it did way back when.