My Niece's Blessing Dress

Have you ever seen a happier, prouder father? This is my baby brother, Steve. He is almost 10 years younger than me so I have watched him grow up. I remember clearly the night he was born and how I was disappointed he wasn't a girl. (I got over that) It is strange and wonderful to see him as a daddy with his new daughter Evelyn. Now he is 27, so it's not like he's a baby anymore. (Oops! I gave away my age!) But he will probably always be our baby.

We are Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) so the special baby ceremony is the blessing.

Steve and his wife Heather asked if I would make her blessing gown. Are you kidding? I live for this kind of thing. I was very honored and set out to make something wonderful. Heather let me have free rein on the design. (Thanks!) Most babies in our family have not had the huge christening dresses, and this litle girl is so tiny, I didn't want to overwhelm her. I was prepared to make her a dress with a yoke and gathered skirt and all that. When I went to Martha Pullen.com to order some silk ribbon and lace beading insertion I checked out the patterns by The Old Fashioned Baby by Jeannie Baumeister
out of curiosity since I already had the pattern I planned to use. Well, this daygown pattern jumped out at me and that was it! It didn't arrive until the Wednesday before I needed it!

Meanwhile, I bought the embroidery editing software I told you about. When my Martha Pullen order came I was so excited! I had also ordered one of the Vintage Collection books and embroidery CDs. Oh my gosh, they are beautiful! They had a sale when I bought it. I sure wish I had bought another one, as well. I set to work editing designs, embroidering, cutting, pleating, stitching, gathering and pressing, pressing, pressing!

I changed up a few things. Not a ton, but it is a super pattern for being able to add your own embroideries and other embellishments. I am such a pintuck fan that I had to use pintucks on the shoulders rather than regular tucks. The wing needle got a lot of use on this dress.

And I was able to see the big difference between baby entredeaux and regular.

Another rave on this pattern: It is very easy to follow the directions for experienced sewers and there are sweet little flower drawings and little scriptures and sweet sayings about babies in a handwritten font. I ended up cutting the pattern and tracing off some of it, which I regret since it is such a lovely pattern.

Isn't she sweet? She was just one month old here. We took these picture outside her home during our yummy lunch her mom made after church.


You can see the embroidery here on the bottom.

I bought the fabric at Fabric Depot in Portland way back in July. I think it is by Robert Kaufman and it is a silk/cotton (55/45% I think). It was delicious to work with! I would use it again.

I sew beautifully. And I'm very humble. (I always crack myself up!) But I really stink at taking pictures of white things. The white background doesn't help either. I tried different fills and had my lights set up in my light box. I have a ways to go before my pictures will be better. But I promise next time to have a colored background.

But you can still see alot of the details. Beading insertion goes down the front from the shoulders with silk ribbon. I added the band on the bottom with decorative machine stitches, lace edging and wing needle entredeaux.

The back placket has the same decorative stitch and pearl buttons.
Sleeve detail: beading insertion, silk ribbon, wing needle pinstitching, entredeaux, gathered French lace edging. Here you can also see the pintucks and the neck finish. The sleeves ended up fancier than I planned but I love them.

Below you can see the skirt embroidery, lace insertion and pinstitching. I created this embroidery from the Vintage Collection. I love how it turned into almost a heart. I added the little flowers in the middle. It was a perfect complement!

Newborn babies don't really have necks yet. They are kind of squished down. I thought of that when I was deciding how to finish the neckline. The pattern called for entredeaux and gathered lace edging but I wasn't feeling it. I wanted it simple, since it is a simple dress. Also baby Evelyn has sensitive skin so I wanted it smooth on her neck. I cut a strip on the bias, stitched it on and then wing needle stitched it down. I love it!
I'm as thrilled about the slip as I am about her dress! I used cotton batiste and all cotton thread. I really wanted an old fashioned heirloom look. I used the same embroidery design on the chest as I did on the dress.
The pattern called for buttons on both shoulders. I ran out of buttons so I only did one shoulder and I think I like it more. The pattern calls for handstitching scallops along the neck and shoulders. Oh heck no! I made this in 2 1/2 days! No time! So a tiny machine scallop it was. But I have to tell you, after I trimmed all the tiny scallops down and washed the water soluble stabilizer out, I probably could have hand stitched! Oh well!

I embroidered her name and birthdate on the slip's skirt. It came out so big, I hope I will have room if I ever have to embroider another name!

I also scalloped the ruffle on the bottom of the slip. So cute!

What's this another picture of the bodice?

As I am looking at these, they are screaming "Run us through photo editing! Brighten us up!" Oh quiet! I can hear you, pictures. Next time!

Full length view of slip. You know what else I need? A baby dress form. Then I can hang my baby dresses and take better pictures. I at least need a prettier hanger than this one.

Well, there you have it. Several friends and a couple family members asked to see it. And of course I love to show it. I really am humble. I think it is lovely but I worked hard and I couldn't have done it without the help of great patterns and designs and inspiration. I want another niece so I can make another dress!