I've seen them displayed in shadow boxes . . . No pictures, but your idea sounds lovely.

Artlover, I have hung my Mom and Grandmother's handmade trousseau nightgowns from their wedding nights. I have had them hung at various times in my master bedroom or master bath. I have also displayed my children's baptismal gown. It is well over 100 years old and was handmade and passed down through my husband's family in Ireland. A large number of babies have worn it and some have had their initials embroidered in the seam. I would LOVE to see your handiwork!

I have adult clothing from the 30's and 40's mostly but some older victorian dresses as well. Mine are on a manequin (not spelled right I'm sure) I purchased when a store went out of business. I love being able to see my gorgeous bias cut gowns on a figure suited to them LOL

I've seen childrens clothing done in shadow boxes as well. They're quite pretty. Normally with a deep back (ie black velvet) so the clothing is highlighted well.

Displaying them on hangers is sort of a no-no. (OK A BIG NO NO). The fabrics break down over time (especially silks and cottons) so unless you can hang them on a body like my dummy, it's better for the fabric to be in a museaum quality shadow box, mounted museaum as well (which means no glue or tapes). This will protect the clothing so that someone in the future can actually remove them and use them if they'd like.

Sorry I don't have pictures, but I have some vintage baby clothing framed. It's actually mine, >50 yrs. old, that my grandmother handmade and embroidered. I just wrapped the backer boards with fabric that highlights the details and laid out the items (dresses, slip, kimono, and crocheted booties) on top. The glass holds them in place with no tape or pins, although it took some patience to get them just so. The frames are hung in the master sitting room, so I can enjoy seeing them daily.

I envy your sewing talents, and think that a display of your daughter's things would be charming.

I have a shadow box with my Grandmother's best Sunday dress when she was a little girl. I have a picture of my oldest DD with the dress on and am working on getting my youngest DD picture mounted as well. It will have the dress mounted with stitching and on either side at the bottom will be the pictures of my DD's wearing the dress. I'd love to get a picture of my Grandmother in the dress, but we can't seem to find one. I have it hung in my upstairs hallway with pictures of my DD's year by year on both sides. Oldest on the left and youngest on the right.

I have a Japanese wedding kimono hanging in my stairway. It may not be archivally correct, but to me, it's "art only" rather than sentimental. Mine is similar to this one:

{{!gwi}}

Here are some vintage dresses that I had hanging in my previous home - in the "children's" room.

The dress hanging in the upper corner of the door is about 80 years old now. It was given to my daughter when she was born and we were told it was around 50 years old at the time. My daughter turns 28 next week.

The dress hanging on the door knob, is a white eyelet sundress that my daughter wore the summer of her 4th year. Out of camera shot was her Christening gown.
{{!gwi}}

Here is the 80 year old dress being worn by my son.
{{!gwi}}
My daughter in her eyelet sundress.

I have three baby dresses hanging in our main level guest room. They were all worn for 1 year old portraits: yellow dress was mine, the pink was DD2's and the white one was my older sister's. It was also made by our paternal grandmother. They were in DD2's room, in our last home. I used a dark green velvet fabric for the background.

I framed some keys found in grandfather and father's store they owned when I was young. I used handmade paper for the background (on top of matting material which also covers the interior sides of the frame). It hangs inside our back hallway, going to the garage.

Everything reminds me of my grandparents and my past, which I love.

{{!gwi}}

I found a picture from 1992 in our old home. DD2's room when she was 4yo-10yo. Same dresses hanging on pegs.

I displayed my wedding dress on our ledge over the front door. {{!gwi}}

Beautiful! I've been away from the computer all afternoon and was thrilled when I checked in at GardenWeb to see and read about your heirloom clothing! It's going to take me a second and third read to absorb, but I'm sure I'll have questions.

My great-grandmother's wedding dress has been hanging in the closet at the farm for 96 years (next week). My aunt says it had oatmeal bags pinned over it (or to it) and the pins rusted. Does anyone know a good person in CT to clean/restore and preserve it? My greataunt wants to donate it to a museum, or if we can't find anyone who wants it and it's too far gone to display I had the thought of cutting it up into handkerchiefs and giving one to each of the next generation of brides. Sorry, I haven't seen it so don't know what the fabric is. Thanks.

Pattiem: how wonderful that you have both your mom and your grandmother's trousseau nightgowns. How do you hang them? Do you display the baptismal gown in a shadow box? I had a lot of fun making clothes for DD. Maybe someday there will be a grandDD to sew for, however my fingers aren't as nimble as they used to be. I will try to post pictures sometime soon.

Igloochic: I like the idea of displaying them on mannequins. I had considered antique style dressmaker forms.

Sweeby and Homersmom, I love that you have your wedding garments on display. Homersmom your dress looks very pretty in that spot with the trunk.

I've enjoyed reading about all your heirlooms. How wonderful to have this bit of family history preserved.

artlover I'm sure you could find children's dressmaker forms or perhaps find out from a boutique like Janie and Jack for manequins. I really do like well made pieces on manequines. (ALthough I'm in love with the ones posted here as well...really lovely to see).

ajsmom, is there any way you can get pictures of the dress. I could help you out on the value (and weather it's worth having restored) most likely. I have a significant wedding dress collection back to the late 1800's. I know the problems and many solutions. I'll be honest, the fact that there is rust isn't a concern, but the fact that it's been "hanging" for years...that could be the death knell for the dress. :(

igloochic, how would you recommend that I store the "heirloom" clothing that I've made? Right now they are in a (gasp) corrugated cardboard box in a closet. I know that's bad and I know you shouldn't store them starched, but other than that I'm clueless.

About the dressmaker form - I was thinking of making one out of papier mache. It will be painted. Is there such a thing as archival paint?

Since we're on this subject, I have a few questions about how to display these clothes (mine are not antiques yet).

I have 2 shadow boxes that I purchased and am going to display the outfits my kids came home from the hospital wearing (matching, but different colors). They have a western theme and I'm going to put a light weight denim fabric on the back (I bought some heavy, but thin foam board for the back).

1) What is the best way to attach the denim to the foam board, and

2) What is the best way to attach the outfits to the denim?

I've had all the pieces sitting on my craft table for weeks because I haven't had any ideas except for fabric glue on how to put all these pieces together.

Thank you!! I've really enjoyed looking at all the ways to do these displays.

The framing shop dry mounted my materials. Then lightly stitched the dresses, handbag and purse on to the fabric. The keys are held in place with hot glue behind each one - I thought it was wire and went to look. I can only see glue in one place. fyi, I took a picture of them arranged the way I wanted at home (on top of the handmade paper) and gave to them for reference.

Thank you Allison! That is a big help!! With this long weekend, maybe I can finish that project?

Lafonda, about how to attach the denim to the foam board is this the same thing as foam core board - foam on the inside, poster board on the outside? If so, here's what I would do: Cut the denim about 4" bigger than the board on all sides. Lay the denim face down on the table and center the foam board on top of it. Start at the center point on the edge of the board and fold the denim over to the back. Use a straight pin to pin through the denim and into the edge of the foam board. Pull the opposite side taut and pin. Pin the other two sides. Then working back and forth, from side to side keep stretch and adding pins. Miter fold the corners. When this looks good use fabric/craft glue to glue the fabric to the back of the board. If it were me I would probably leave the pins in place just in case the glue didn't hold. This may be way more information than you wanted.

My only concern is that the denim color in the fabric might transfer to the baby clothes over time. Maybe washing it first would help. Also I doubt foam core board is archival. This could be a problem over time. Hopefully Igloochic will read this and give some advice.

artlover, that is sort of how I had started the denim. (Great minds think alike??) But I was concerned about it sagging over time with the weight of the outfit and other items (hat, bracelet, etc). I'm not too concerned with archival at this point. No one will probably appreciate the outfits them besides me anyway :-)

Thanks!!

Found the following on CL this morning. Reminded me of homersmom's dress. I have to say that my children would be a little spooked to have something like that overlooking our staircase. LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: Dress form

LOL! I used to refer to it as the headless bride! No kids at our house so we didn't have to worry about nightmares.

Well, it sure is a beautiful headless bride. :)