Donna Reed’s Tea Party- jacket

Embroidery, a needle art that I learned at the age of seven from my mother is a skill I continue to develop and is the technique of choice for many of my creative and artistic expressions. The first embroidered item I made still in use to this day is a short handled tote bag that my mother designed as a project for my Bluebird group.

This jacket is comprised of two card table sized tablecloths, one large rectangular cloth, and many napkins, tea towels appliques and additional pieces of embroidery that I have been collecting for years. This is part of the Donna Reed’s Tea Party Ensemble.

My favorite piece is the card table sized tablecloth with the large flowers shown in the front center corners. The embroidery for each corner was stitched in four different color combinations.

The large tablecloth, probably vintage 50’s early 60’s, was embroidered with a pink vase and colorful flowers in several sizes. The cloth did not survive a red wind dinner party and was promptly discarded to the thrift store. Lucky me!

After all of the pieces were attached to a muslin base, I added in satin ribbons to hide the seems of these sections. I then added additional embroidered details with traditional embroidery stitches with left over strands of floss and on the ribbons.

The collar is made from a wonderful cotton print from the 50’s, which was our old bird cage cover. The lining is made from additional embroidered items, a linen fabric that was left over from my kitchen curtains, and other cotton prints.

Happy Stitching! Christen