Isabel's Blessing Gown

I sewed the sleeves onto the gown, using entredeux.

 I sewed a French seam to enclose one sleeve and side seam, leaving the other side open. 

I sewed the fancy band together, using three rows of lace insertion and two rows of entredeux.

 To accomplish this, I sewed 10 lengths of stitches, 90" long! 

A lot of sewing!!!

I sewed a ruffle to the bottom of the skirt, one and a half times the length of the bottom of the dress.

I attached a beautiful pice of 2" wide French lace edging to the bottom of the ruffle and then sewed the other side seam with a French seam. 

Here's a closeup of the sleeve and the embroidered cotton Swiss band.

Here's a close up of the yoke, each little piece of lace and entredeux was seen in separately.

I have these fabulous book that I always refer to when I'm sewing heirloom children's clothing.

I traced Isabel's initials, with the first letter of her family name in the middle. I used white for the letters and ecru for the vines.  The idea is that when Isabel has a daughter, her initials will be embroidered next to her mothers before she is blessed in the gown. The dress has the potential to have initials all around the hem!

This is the yoke on the slip, I embroidered is and used Swiss cotton lace around the neck and armholes.

I sewed a narrow piece of French lace edging to the hem.

Here's the full view of the slip.

I smocked the bonnet with silk ribbon, it had a nice sheen to it :)

The ribbon is silk satin, it's so soft!

This is Isabel Louise, in her blessing gown, isn't she beautiful? I'll show you some close ups :)

This is Isabel's family, the sun is in their eyes, lol!

This is our family who were able to attend the blessing, minus my husband who was packing and my son in law who took the photo. We have one daughter wasn't here because she lives in Florida. 

Thanks for being interested in the evolution of the gown :)