When I was pregnant with Tony I intended to sew a baptismal gown. I had a lovely piece of linen to use, and was so excited. I still don't completely remember why I didn't. Laziness, feeling overwhelmed, a combination? In the end, he wore my baptismal gown, which was made by my Mom. It's a lovely linen gown with lots of eyelet trim.
It was special to use my gown for our firstborn. If he marries, he can
have it for his children, if his wife doesn't have one of her own.
I hope to have the energy to make a new gown for each of our children. One that they can have for their family if they have one, or end up sharing with Godchildren. Since I had helpers last week, I decided to tackle the new Baby's gown. It took me a couple of days, but if I had really sat down to work on it, maybe two evenings. Either way, it is finished!
I have had this beautiful, semi-sheer cotton with the cross-stitch design for many, many years. It was supposed to become a Regency gown, with a peach open front jacket - like Marianne Dashwood in the 1995 Sense and Sensibility. The bodice is cut out in one of my bins of sewing stuff. I doubt that I will ever get to it, and sadly, the practicality of such a dress is about zero, so it would just hang in my closet. Or be folded up in my costume bin. As part of my "letting go of the emotional baggage that is your fabric stash" I opted to use it for something lovely!
The sleeves are simply gathered by elastic in a casing. I debated trim, but didn't have any nice cotton trim, and didn't really want to spend money on whatever I could find that was half-way decent at Wal-Mart.
The bodice is lined, but I decided against lining the skirt. Total laziness. This baby is a summer baby, though, and I can always have a pair of white pants to be sure Baby doesn't get cold.
In the end, the gown cost sixty-nine cents (I can't include the cost of the fabric I bought 7 years ago) - that was for buttons. The selection at Wal-Mart was very poor, so I picked those clear-ish plastic ones. Not very classy, but I wanted to finish it. I'm not very good at finishing things, and I always feel guilty. If I make it to JoAnn's and remember what size I put on there, I might get some prettier ones. I'm also going to rummage through my bins in the attic to see if I have some nice trim. I thought I had a little bit of some crocheted cotton trim that was pretty...
Seeing Tony's pictures I realize I neglected to cut out a bonnet. Thankfully I still have plenty of fabric left. Perhaps this weekend. While I figure out how to make a 1920's style maternity dress for Easter...I'm afraid I'm more excited about all of the lovely cloche hats I found on Amazon. Heaven help me. I ended up making a "Millinery" board on Pinterest.
Love,
Jess
LOVE!!
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