Saturday, April 10, 2010

Wedded Bliss to Blessed Babe


It had been my dream to make my child's blessing outfit since I first found out I was pregnant with my dear little Madison, 12 years ago. At that time, I knew absolutely nothing about sewing! My mom used to hot glue buttons on! Get the picture? The bottom of my prom dress was duck-taped. That was mom's hem job! I gave up the dream with both my daughter and my son, but when I was finally expecting my second daughter after 7 years of fertility treatments, there was no way I was going to let the opportunity pass me by again.
I had checked out the price of fabric at Joanns and couldn't believe that it would cost me about $50 to make the blessing gown. When visiting my mom in Minnesota just before I was due, I saw this BEAUTIFUL wedding dress. It was made by the exact same designer that did my own wedding dress. Wouldn't you know it, the dress was $50. I struggled for a couple days over whether I should buy that thing. $50 was against every thrifty bone in my body. On the other hand, this puffy piece of bridal heaven was composed of enough fabric to make three baby gowns, not to mention it was beaded like no other! Who could resist! Not to mention the thrill of proving to myself that I really could do it. When I finally made up my mind, I sped through that 35 mph part of town as fast as my moms little car would carry me. How would I ever explain this to my husband :0)


I enjoyed every snip and stitch as I ever-so-lovingly crafted this dress for my long awaited Emmalee. I spent almost a whole week moving the cut pattern pieces over the dress looking for the most advantageous location for each piece. The scissors were frozen in my quivering hands as I attempted to cut that gorgeous dress to pieces. What if I totally messed the whole thing up and wasting the blasted $50 bucks I never should have spent. I swore I would get three dresses out of that thing. Maybe then I could sell the other two to make up for the cost. After another week of totally confusion, I had all three bodices cut out, lined and the sleeves sewn together. I was contemplating how on earth you attach a sleeve to a bodice when disaster struck. My machine completely broke. I sat on the project for like a month. The baby was born. The pile of silky bridal cast-off loomed in the corner. What had I done! Maybe it was time to sack the whole thing and go buy one from the store.


Obviously, from the pictures you can see, I made it. I sat there on the couch with baby by my side for nearly a week while I stitched BY HAND! How much more special would my baby's blessing dress be now that I could say it was stitched by hand. Certainly it was not by choice, but HOW COOL WAS THAT! We won't mention the fact I sat with baited breath praying the whole thing wouldn't fall apart and hit the floor right in the middle of the blessing! What? Those beads are heavy! By some miracle the dress and I both made it through. I actually went back over each seam two or three times just because I was that afraid of it coming un-done. Crazy lady!


In the end, it worked. Those other two dresses, all bits and pieces, are still in a box in the closet waiting to be finished and sold for the million dollars they are worth(wink, wink). One day very soon you will see them on my etsy site, (not hand sewn-so sorry)ready to bring in the bucks. Until then, I have Emmalee's dress hanging on the wall in her room where I can see that miracles still happen. Of course, I just have to look into my sweet baby's eyes to be reminded of that :0)

5 comments:

  1. I'm following from "A Vision to Remember" and fell in love with your little girls Blessing Gown! What a wonderful idea and what a lucky little girl...My mom always told me 'when a woman bought fabric for her wedding gown, she kept some aside for her babies christening gowns as well"
    Nice Blog...
    Sandy
    http://thewondersofdoing.blogspot.com/

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  2. That is such a wonderful and amazing idea. I love it. And it turned out so beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing it with us!

    XOOX
    Jen

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  3. Get that sewing machine fixed pronto!

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  4. That is a gorgeous dress!!! And she is adorable!

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  5. I love this. When I was 16 my mom passed away and none of my sisters wanted her wedding dress, but I sure did and it was for this exact purpose. I always thought I could use her dress and my wedding dress for my daughter's blessing gown but all I have had are three boys. I am so happy that you got to use your dress for your little baby girls blessing gown. Maybe, someday, I could make blessing gowns for my granddaughters or something. =)

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