Little White Dress

Little White Dress

I’ve always wanted a little girl. I was not necessarily disappointed when we found out Cooper was a boy, but I was disappointed that shopping for and dressing a boy was fairly unexciting. When we first brought Ellen home from the hospital I think I made her a new headband every day for a week. It drove Noel crazy.  “You really like dressing her up don’t you?” He asked. Guilty as charged; I do enjoy it.

Months before Ellen was born I purchased white satin to make her a special little dress to be blessed in. I wanted to get started on it right away, but knew it would be silly since we didn’t know when she’d be born or when we’d be blessing her and consequently what size she would be. Somehow I managed to hold off making a dress until the week before and even then I ended up making two. The first was a bit snug and I was really afraid that if she grew at all it wouldn’t fit her. (I’m really having a hard time adjusting to having a normal sized baby. Remember these booties and this fleece outfit? She never wore either because she was bigger than I expected her to be.)

After making the first dress using a tutorial from Make It and Love It, I came across a picture of a blessing dress with a full skirt. The gal that made the dress didn’t leak any of her secrets on how she made the skirt so adorably flouncy, but with some Google sleuthing I figured out that she probably used a technique called “pick ups.”  I stuck with the Make It and Love It tutorial for the dress bodice and used a tutorial from Burda Style (complete with weird duct tape mannequin) to do the pick ups for the skirt. The eyelet underskirt was cut from of a salvaged bedskirt, so I can’t take any credit for it’s delicate intricacy. The second dress was a tiny bit roomy, but she wore it well.

I made the satin flowers for the headband using this tutorial, also from Make It and Love It.

*If anyone is in need of a white dress for an 8 lb or less baby let me know.

** One of these pictures was taken by me, the rest by my mom. Bet you can’t guess which one was mine 🙂

6 thoughts on “Little White Dress

  1. I’m impressed that you have been sewing that much with a newborn and a toddler running around! The dress is really pretty; nice job.

  2. You are so talented. I am constantly amazed by the many things you do. I am thrilled for you and your growing family. You are great examples to us. Keep up the good work.

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