“What are little boys made of? Frogs and snails and puppy-dogs’ tails, That’s what little boys are made of. What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and all things nice, That’s what little girls are made of.” (Traditional nursery rhyme)

Bunnykins ‘Shining Star’ plate, bowl, cup and eggcup courtesy of Royal Doulton. Blue spotted enamel jug courtesy of Robert Gordon Australia. Cream chenille courtesy of Max New Australia.

PROJECT

Colour Coded

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ne of the very strongest stereotypes in our society is that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. But the history of how this colour association came about is remarkably sketchy and somewhat anecdotal. Many sources suggest gender identification of colours came about as a 20th century idea, not becoming fixed until World War II or even later. Indeed, there is evidence to indicate that prior to this the reverse was true. The Infant’s Department, a trade journal, tried to settle the question in 1918: “There has been a great diversity of opinion on the subject, but the generally accepted rule is pink for the boy and blue for the girl. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger colour, is more suitable for a boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” On the other hand, it is also possible to find references that suggest that the blue-for-boys tradition has a much longer history. In their book How Did It Begin - Customs, Superstitions and Their Romantic Origins, well-known Australian authors Rudy Brasch and Li Brasch state that the use of colours to readily identify the sex of babies is long established. In ancient times, they say, it was believed that evil spirits menaced the wellbeing of infants. It was also believed that such spirits were ‘allergic’ to certain colours. “The association of blue with the heavenly sky rendered satanic forces powerless and drove them away. . . Thus the display of blue on a young child was not merely adornment but a necessary precaution.” As boys were considered more valuable, and girls somehow inferior, the boys were dressed in blue and girls had no special colour to protect them. Another oft-quoted source is Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel Little Women, where Amy is described tying a pink ribbon in Daisy’s hair and a blue one in her twin brother’s, “French-style,” she says, “so you can always tell.” Others credit Thomas Gainsborough, one of the most renowned English portraitists, with the concept. His 18th century painting ‘Blue Boy’ features a boy elegantly attired in vibrant blue clothing. But the people who cite this evidence apparently don’t realise that Gainsborough painted another, less well known portrait entitled ‘Pink Boy’, which features a young man in a somewhat similar outfit that is quite pink! Whatever the history, it seems that the first children to be consistently colour-coded by gender were the post-war baby boomers – that is, pink has been an exclusively feminine colour for only 50 years. And one thing is for sure – it is now an idea very firmly rooted in our minds. Thus when Amanda Albert was asked to design a bunny suitable for a newborn, she faced the dilemma: how to create something suitable for both boys and girls. One solution would have been to resort to the gender-neutral colours of yellow or green. Instead, she chose a cream velveteen for the bunny’s body and made overalls suitable for either sex. We show her marvellous rabbit here dressed in gorgeous soft blue chenille, but clearly, using a sweet shade of pink immediately turns Bunny into a charming gift for a new born daughter. The result, no matter the colour of the outfit, is a treasure to be loved and hugged for many a long year.

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PROJECT

Nursery Bunny

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oved Nursery Bunny in Homespun 7.11 but would prefer to dress her in petticoat, skirt and apron? Or looking for inspiration to make the Birth Sampler for a sweet little miss? The instructions below show you how.

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Note: Materials listed are for the Birth Sampler pictured on the website and the clothing for a female bunny only. They assume that you have made the bunny body, following the instructions published in the magazine. • 50cm (!/2yd) pink tone-on-tone paisley print fabric (dress) • Fat quarter blue floral print fabric (dress) • Fat quarter of pink check fabric (apron) • Handkerchief approximately 25cm (10in) square with embroidery feature and lace edges (apron) • 30 x 74cm (12 x 29in) white homespun (petticoat) • 50cm (!/2yd) white tulle (underpetticoat) • 1m (1!/8yd) of 6mm (!/4in) wide blue ricrac (dress) • 76cm (30in) length of crochet lace with insert holes for ribbon (petticoat) • 74cm (29in) of 16.5cm (6!/2in) wide broderie lace trim (petticoat) • 65cm (25in) of 6mm (!/4in) wide ribbon (dress) • 30cm (12in) of 3mm (!/8in) wide pink ribbon (apron) • 125cm (49in) length of 40mm (1!/2in) wide cream ribbon (apron tie) • 82cm (32in) length of 6mm (!/4in) wide ribbon (petticoat) • 50cm (!/2yd) of 2.5cm (1in) wide vintage lace (apron) • Four 3cm (1!/4in) white buttons (dress) • 2.5cm (1in) blue button (apron) • 4 x 5cm (1!/2 x 2in) pink buckle (apron) • 3cm (1!/4in) white vintage button (apron) Birth sampler • One 20cm (8in) square of pink print fabric (embroidery background) • 5 x 25cm (2 x 10in) strips of four contrasting fabrics (scrappy border) • 5 x 12.5cm (2 x 5in) strips of two contrasting fabrics (scrappy border) • 20 x 25cm (8 x 10in) pink fabric for the outside border • One 20cm (8in) square of fusible interfacing such as Weaveline • 25cm (10in) length of !/4in wide cream ricrac • Six #/4in embroidered daisy motifs in assorted colours • DMC Stranded Cotton Embroidery thread in Very Dark Shell Pink (221)

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Materials (continued) • Embroidery needle • 18cm (7in) square of thin quilter’s fleece or batting • Glue Baste it • Lead pencil for tracing and paper • White distressed frame with 6!/2in opening

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• Rotary cutter, ruler and mat • Neutral coloured machine sewing cotton • Sewing machine and general sewing supplies Stitches used: Ladder stitch, running stitch, straight stitch, whip stitch

Amanda’s Tip

Preparation

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1. Print out the templates for the front and back bodices of Bessie’s dress by clicking on Nursery Bunny Bonus Templates. Cut out each shape on the traced lines.

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Dress 7. Cut four 7!/2 x 16in rectangles and four bodice back pieces from the pink tone-on-tone paisley print fabric. Fold the remaining pink tone-on-tone fabric in half, position the pattern for the bodice front on the fold, and cut one. Repeat to cut a second bodice front on the fold. 8. With right sides together, sew each bodice front to the back pieces at the shoulder seams. Press the seams open. 9. Match the two bodice front+back shapes at shoulder seams, right sides together. Sew around the neck edge, bodice back opening and the armholes. Do not stitch around the side seams and bottom edge. Clip the curves and turn right side out. Press. Overlap the back openings !/4in and stitch across with a !/8in hem to hold the overlapped edges together. 10. Cut two 9 x 16in rectangles from the blue floral print fabric. Join a blue floral rectangle of fabric between two pink paisley print rectangles, stitching them along the 16in lengths. You will end up with a pair of joined skirt pieces with the blue floral fabric in the middle of both. 11. Stitch two rows of gathering stitch !/4in apart along one long edge of both skirt pieces. With right sides together, pin one skirt piece to the lower edge of the front bodice, pulling up the gathered edges to fit. Repeat for the second skirt piece and the bodice back. Machine sew the skirt to the bodice. 12. With right sides together, pin and sew the side seams of the dress from the underarm to the hem edge of the skirt. Turn the dress right side out and press. Carefully remove any visible gathering stitches from the dress using a seam ripper. 13. Turn the hem of the skirt under !/4in and then again. Press, pin and blind stitch the hem using matching machine thread. 14. Hand sew the ricrac approximately 1in from the hem of the skirt, along the pink pieces of skirt fabric using matching machine thread: stitch at each hill and dip of the ricrac. Turn under the ricrac at the start and finish to neaten the ends. Cut the length of pink ribbon for the dress into four equal lengths. Embellish the dress with a cream button attached with one length of pink ribbon at each start and finish point of the ricrac. Tie the ribbon into a neat bow. Put the dress on Bessie. Apron 15. From the pink check fabric, cut a 12!/2 x 20in rectangle. Turn a double !/4in hem to the wrong side of the fabric along one long edge and the two shorter edges. Stitch the vintage lace to the hemmed bottom edge of the apron. Pin and machine sew the hems. Place the hanky right side up on the right side of the pink check fabric along the un-hemmed edge; the hanky

Petticoat 2. Cut the white homespun to measure 11 x 28in. Cut the 6!/2in wide broderie trim back to 28in. Pin and sew the broderie trim to the white homespun along a 28in edge, right sides together. 3. Fold the petticoat in half, right sides together, so that the raw edges of the broderie trim meet, and pin in place. Sew the length of the pinned edge. Turn under a double !/2in hem along the top of the petticoat and pin. 4. Using pinking shears, cut the length of the tulle back to 16in. Stitch the two short ends together. Match the seam of the tulle and the back seam of the petticoat. Hand pleat the tulle every 1in. Slide one raw edge of tulle under the folded hem on the top edge of the petticoat, re-pinning the hem as you go. Adjust the pleats where necessary to keep the tulle even. Turn wrong side out. 5. Top stitch close to the folded edge to catch the tulle in the petticoat hem. Turn the petticoat right side out. Starting at the back waist seam, lay the crochet lace with ribbon holes along the hemmed upper edge of the petticoat. Turn the ends under !/4in and start pinning !/4in from the seam. Continue to pin around the top of the waist and when you return to the start turn the end under !/4in, !/4in from the seam. Sew the lace to the waist either side of the ribbon inserts. 6. Insert the 32in length of pink ribbon, weaving the ribbon through the lace. Put the petticoat on Bessie and gather the ribbon up to fit the waist. Tie with a firm bow.

Homespun Curio ❁

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The velveteen and chenille are both quite messy fabrics to cut. Work in an area where cleaning up is easy. Clean your sewing machine well after stitching these fabrics as the lint can build up.

BESSIE Making Bessie’s clothes

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Note: Careful and accurate cutting and sewing is essential to ensure success with this project. A seam allowance of 5mm (!/4in) is included in the clothing pattern pieces. Requirements are based on fabrics being 110cm (42in) wide.

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Some designers of baby clothes cater for parents who are looking for something a bit different. American firm Baby Wit, for example, creates radical infant and toddler t-shirts for alternative consumers punk rockers, art buffs, political lefties: people who want something cutting-edge, hip, and hilarious for the radical kids in their lives. Their range of rock music baby t-shirts includes Jimi Hendrix, Head Banger and Metal Baby. Their pop culture range is printed with motifs such as a 1970s flower power van, a roller skate, a spray paint can, safety pins, a speeding motorcycle and a disco ball.

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should match the raw edge of the apron and it should be centred. Sew a !/8in hem across the top of the hanky to hold it in place. 16. Stitch two rows of gathering stitch !/4in apart across the unhemmed pink check fabric and over the hanky. Gather evenly to a width of 5in. Centre the apron under the wrong side of the 1!/2in wide ribbon and pin. Blind stitch the gathered edge of the apron to the lower edge of the ribbon from the right side.

17. Attach the buckle and layer one white vintage button with a blue button on top. Tie the buttons and the buckle to the wide ribbon in the centre with !/8in wide pink ribbon. Tie the apron to Bessie with a large bow at the back.

BIRTH SAMPLER Preparation 18. Follow steps 29 – 38 in the magazine to make a birth sampler for a little girl using pink fabric for the embroidery background and substituting pink fabrics in the border for the brown ones used in the boy’s sampler. Proceed, making the following changes. 19. Embroider your design using three strands of Very Dark Shell Pink (221). 20. Instead of embellishing with buttons, attach three embroidered daisy motifs evenly across the ricrac, top and bottom, using matching sewing thread and securing with a few knots at the back of the design. Remember to allow for your !/4in seam allowance when attaching any embellishments. ❁

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