Jennica's Baptism and the Dress

The Dress first.

I LOVE to sew.  Sometimes I forget that I love to sew because I never have time for it.  When my daughter was born we gave her a special blessing and I made her a beautiful baby gown, the really super long old vintage style.  And so when she decided to be baptized I really wanted to make her a dress.

In my limited time, I found this pattern.  It was close to what I wanted, except I wanted to add a wide waist band, and trim, but the basic style was right.

A few minor alterations, and of course lots of extra embellishment and ...

we have a winner.

LOVE.

Love the way it all came together and turned out. 

Because I was using white cotton fabric I cut two of every pattern piece and stitched them together to made the fabric twice as thick... and less transparent.

I added lightly gathered layers of fabric cut on the bias with unfinished edges to the sleeves and skirt.

For the waistband, I trimmed about 2.5 inches off the top of each piece of the skirt pattern.  Then I cut a section of fabric approximately 30 inches x 3.25 inches.  I folded and pressed the fabric in 1 inch sections, then stitched along the fold at the 1/16 mark to add the vertical lines.  I know there is term for that...  I just can't recall what it is...

To the bodice I added whimsical handmade flowers and  simple buttons.  I used diamond glaze to add the word "beautiful" from a vintage dictionary to one of the buttons.  

I really wanted to achieve a vintage, handmade appearance.  Some green ribbon stems finished out the design, and were stitched into the waist.

Seriously...  I know.  We are going to have REAL boy problems.  I don't know how I ended up with such a beautiful, amazing daughter. I love her so much. 

This picture from Jennica's baptism is awesome.  Did you check out Jesus grabbing my husband by the ear?

Classic.

The baptism was wonderful.  My 5 yr old said the closing praying, in a room of about 40 people, and asked God to bless grandma and grandpa not to get 'attacked' when they went home. 

It was a beautiful day.

Then this morning Jennica was singing a church song.  The lyrics say:

"I know who I am,

I know Gods Plan,

I'll follow him in Faith."

Only Jennica was singing it:

"I know who I am,

I know Gods Plan,

I'll follow him in vain..."

We might have to work on that one...  especially since she does not believe me that she's singing it wrong.

xoxo Cam