Riley's Blessing Gown

This post has a lot of photos, because it's about my "oh so cute" grand daughter, Riley Jordan and her special day.

I began a tradition of making each grandchild an heirloom blessing gown that they can pass down to their children.

This is my fourteenth one :)

I use natural fabrics and laces, the lace on the arm band is called Swiss insertion, and the beautiful lace on the edge of the sleeve is called French lace edging.

I used Imperial Batiste for this gown, so that it wouldn't wrinkle.

I embroidered the yoke and added seed pearls.

The edge of the lace with the little holes, is called entredeux.

Entredeux is French for "between two".

Attaching entredeux is very difficult on the eyes, lol!

It's attached with a zig zag stitch, and each time the needle crosses over, it has to catch each little hole with the needle.

This machine method finishes off the seam allowances, but each piece of lace is attached using 3 different methods.

It's very labor intensive.

Each of the 14 gowns (3 have been for boys) 

I've made are unique.

This is the slip, which I've made for each gown.

Each of those pieces of lace have been attached to each other separately.

I embroidered a design at the front of the hem, 

also with seed pearls.

In the 1800's or earlier, when women hand made these gowns,

they would embroider the child's initials at the back of the hem.

The intent is that each child who wears the gown will have their initials embroidered to the existing initials.

Eventually, there will be initials embroidered all around the hem.

That's partly why I use natural fibers, 

so that it will last throughout the years.

The first name (Riley) is always in the middle, her middle initial J, is on the left, and her family name H is on the right.

That's the old fashioned way to do it!

I also use mother of pearl buttons on the back.

Here comes cuteness overload, but Riley was very serious.

I looked after her one evening and she missed her mom :)

This is Riley in her gown and bonnet, the day of her blessing.

This is Riley's pretty mom, Kimalee.

There was a lot going on that day, and I wasn't able to get a photo of Riley with both of her parents.

This is my favorite!

I also smock the bonnet and use silk satin ribbon.

I borrowed Riley from her aunt for a quick photo, but she was pretty done with pictures, lol!

I mean really done!!!!

Riley has a beautiful smile, and here it is!

If you've followed this far, thank you :)

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 :)