On top of all that, we devised the plan for Etta's blessing dress, shopped for supplies and patterns and began the actual dress.
We had no real idea of what we were looking for when we went. And, to be honest, our ideas were sketchy at best when we left. But we were armed and dangerous, with a bag full of beautiful eyelet fabric, some sheer pink ribbon, a Butterick Pattern #B4964, an Australian Smocking Magazine, some delicate tiny lace, blush pink embroidery floss, and tiny pearlescent buttons, Whew!
the little denim jacket)
We ended up taking elements from the different patterns and things we liked. My mom is a sewing genius, and can really manipulate patterns, she also sized it to fit Etta perfectly.
The truth is my mom did all the hard work! She made the bodice, it was her idea to put the eyelet fabric on its side there, which was a really nice detail. The sleeves are exquisite. She cut the last inch of the Eyelet lacy bottom off, and sewed it on as lace, to match the bottom of the skirt. That way she was able to use the portion of the fabric that had the lace put in it, on the sleeve and it all worked more cohesively. Then she gathered the lace we had bought, (I would never had thought of this), but it really made it that much more rich. Then she hand sewed the lace to the neck. She made the little skirt placket and did the button holes, and made the lining. Basically the truth is she made the dress. I love it!!!! I had her sign the lining skirt and date it, and I am going to embroider that into the dress for Etta.
Okay, so if she did all that what the heck did I do? Good question, I watched and held the baby mostly! Then after she went home, I had a finished bodice and the skirt fabric. I took the skirt to a fabric store and had them pleat it for me so that I could hand smock it. (That is the embroidery over fabric pleats. It was the old fashioned way to create stretch in fabric before they had elastic. It is also very beautiful.)
It was so fun to do, I plan on doing it again soon. (In fact, that version of the magazine had a dress that would be prefect for Etta's first birthday) We decided to fly out to Utah and chose to have the blessing there with our family. It was perfect cuz my Mom was able to help me finish putting it all together, then I strung the ribbon through the skirt and tacked it in place. Here is the finished product:
I also went out and purchased that funny little bonnet. It was already smocked in white. So, I smocked over it in the same colors as the dress, so it would match. And replaced the existing ribbon with the same ribbon we had on the dress.
I also made a special white blessing blanket. For those crocheters out there it was so easy and is really quite pretty. I got the idea from my friend Jennifer J.'s grandmother. Here is the basic pattern. Slip stitch the length of the finished product. The second line and all following rows: all you do is single crochet, triple crochet, repeat all the way to the end. I started and finished each row with a single crochet. That is it. Technically I ran out of time. The blanket is not quite finished. But I plan on binding it of with a light pinkyarn, in a little scallop!
Technically these are Etta's 2nd month birth anniversary pictures. We had a lot of technical difficulties. Crying babies, crying, crying, bad light and I tryed three seperate times. I have decided that they are good enough. All I really need is one good picture and I have pics of her in the dress, and she'll have the actual dress, good enough right? (Okay, so I may try one more time...later) Anyway, here are the pics.
P.S. I have decided that for each child I plan on making a special blessing outfit for each of them to keep and have as a special childhood memento.
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