For Olivia's birthday to celebrate turning 9, we decided on the theme of sewing and it quickly morphed into a vintage sewing party, since we both have strong affections for the vintage side of life. :) It was a lot of fun and truly, the details make all the difference. Buttons tied on with twine, lace doilies around, polka dotted straws, and button shaped lollipops. We kept it small, with just 6 friends to be dropped off at our house. That was a big deal, because Olivia has never had a drop-off party before, but it it seemed to be the best way and made all of the detail work possible
We decided to have the girls make an initial embroidery hoop with felt and then embellish it with felt flowers and buttons. They turned out amazingly well. A few of our girls had never seen an embroidery hoop or held a needle while others were more knowledgeable, so it was very fun to see where they all ended up. Even Sadie-Rose joined in and stitched her initial onto her own hoop. Pretty good for a 4 year old we thought.
After sewing our hoops (and rethreading needles about 85 times) we decided to take a break and play a couple games. We played several rounds of "Button, Button, where is the Button" and then played hoop toss with the spools of serger thread and embroidery hoops. Then it was time for cake and ice cream and lemonade. After the fun of all of the sugar (they also ate button shaped chocolate lollipops) we opened presents and cards. We then came back to the table and made elastic button bracelets. While we were finishing those up, our parents arrived and it was a quick pick-out-your-pincushion-and-drop-a-lolli-in-the-bag-grab-your-hoop-and-out-the-door-marathon of 5 little girls.
The invitations, pinked along the edges, hand written, and buttons tied on with twine. Sewn up in waxed paper enveloped and {most} hand delivered.
The table was set out with vintage milk glass, pyrex, mason jars, and threads.
Sorry several of these look blurry. Blogger has messed them up in the loading process somehow as they look fine in my photo editing program. :(
My grandmother, who was here visiting, did all the flower arranging which turned out lovely.
Olivia picked out the flowers at the store. She said she was going for a "pink roses/vintage/ country flowers type feel." I think she accomplished her mission with our limited choices. :)
Threads and embellishments ready for creative minds and small hands.
Our hoops with their pre-cut initials.
We used Olivia's great great grandmother's treadle sewing machine and
table for our food display. Her great grandmother's china was used as
well as a vintage cakestand we found a couple months ago. Hung on the wall and on the mannequin were vintage patterns that were her grandmother's and a few thrifted ones as well. (Again, blogger messed up the photo quality on these! Arg!)
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| Our 3 layer Neapolitan cake. All 3 layers made from scratch and it was sooooo yummy. The cake flags were made from the leftover papers of her invitations and various sized skewers. | |
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| Sparkling raspberry lemonade to drink. | |
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| The party favors. Pincushions from vintage sheets and button shaped chocolate lollipops. |
The front door was decorated with a paper banner and vintage sheets
hearts on the door and my dress makers mannequin with vintage fabric and
patterns.
It was a lovely day, everything went without a hitch, and Olivia was beyond thrilled with it which, in the end, is all that really matters. I am more than thankful that my grandmother was here visiting for O's birthday and was the most amazing help to me ever. There were one or two nights we were up until 11:30 or so, tying twine and cutting felt. I could never have done it without her. She washed all the dishes for each set of cakes (that would be 3 9" cake pans and 3 pans of cupcakes plus all the bowls and beaters and the frosting stuff too) which is a total labor of love and that's barely the tip of the iceberg.
I'm glad that we were able to have a celebration that reflected a lot of Olivia's personality and interests and celebrates the amazing young lady that she is. 9 years have sped by lightening quick and I'm sure the next 9 will as well. And though I never would have thought it possible to love her more than I did when she was born and laid in my arms for the 1st time, it is true. I love her more now and can't imagine life without her.
