Sadie's Baptism Dress

It is common practice in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to baptize children at age  eight as they are thought to be accountable for their actions at this age.  I try to honor this special occasion with a new dress for my grand daughters.  Grand daughter number three was baptized last Saturday in Arizona  which is also where I finished up the final touches on her dress a couple of days earlier.

The dresses include some English smocking, are mostly white, and are selected from my collection of Australian Smocking and Embroidery magazines.  Sadie chose this dress from Issue 90.  I had to make a few adaptations as my pleater will only pleat 16 rows at a time and the pattern called for 24 rows.

I used satin for this dress as was shown in the magazine.  I will never use satin again.  It was so hard to roll it through the pleater and I had to back smock the entire piece to hold the pleats in place.  I also had to top stitch the scallop overlay on the hem to keep the scallops, well, scallops.

The blue satin and matching piping was buttery and soft in feel but also hard to sew. Sadie really liked touching that blue fabric.

I was a bit disappointed in my final product, but when I took it to Sadie it fit perfectly and she made the dress.  All that smocking was done as I listened to General Conference.

Sadie loved it!  And I love Sadie!!

Baby Warren and his special day

I enjoyed sewing for my new grandson's special day when he would receive his name and a blessing.  His mother picked this romper from Australian Smocking and Embroidery issue number 85.

She liked the simple smocking design inset and pleating.

We decided to make it without a collar.  I ordered the cotton pique and blue pique piping from Farmhouse Fabrics.

It has buttons on the back yoke and the pattern called for buttons in the crotch area but I found some white snap tape and used that instead.

I also knit or crochet a baby afghan for each grand baby.  I loved this pattern with the solid knit center. . .

and decorative  outside band.

I've been working on it for months, especially on our drives back and forth from Arizona to Utah.

These knit booties were given to Warren's father when he was a baby.  I pulled them out of the cedar chest for Warren and replaced the yellow ribbon with some matching blue ribbon.

And there he is!  He is such a sweet baby boy with gorgeous, what I think will be, blue eyes.

He was exactly two months old on his blessing day.

I wanted to make sure that I had a picture with him.

Grandpa Glen, the gadget shopper, found this hat.

You may wonder why he would buy such a hat.

Warren thought it was funny (or that Grandpa Glen was funny).  It is supposed to keep the soap out of his eyes when he has a bath.

This sweet little boy has three beautiful sisters who have fallen in love with this little guy. He also has a wonderful and lovely mother and a hands on and handsome father.  He is one lucky boy!

 

He had several family members who came to the church for this great event.  These are primary family members.  There were also great aunts, uncles, and 2nd cousins who made a quick get away.  These are the life moments that feed the soul and fill the heart.  We are so happy to have him as part of the family.

Children's Parade

Provo City celebrates big for the 4th of July.  They celebrate the "Festival of Freedom" and it truly is a year round effort.  They sponsor essay contests and art contests for students and children but all children are invited to join in the Children's Parade.  That event occurred last Saturday with the Timpview Band leading the way.

Nothing like a marching band to celebrate the Fourth.

Following the band were decorated bicycles.

And wagons.

Crepe paper woven through one's bicycle spokes always brings back my childhood.

It was a lovely day although a bit warm.  All the west is under a giant high pressure system and HOT air.

Finally I saw them.  My family participants.  I had been assigned to park at the end of the route on Center Street for possible rides back to the starting point.

Julianna was our flag girl.

Toby had raided Grandpa Glen's box of red/white/blue goodies.

Heather borrowed Uncle Sam from the front porch as a parade partner.  She helped him wave to the crowd.

Oscar displayed his flag and begged a ride from his momma.

Nate brought friends along.

It was a six and a half block walk west on Center toward downtown.

I love this time of year full of smaller town America.

At the end of the route there were Popsicles.

Popsicles for everyone.

Oscar picked orange.

Julianna picked blue.

Handsome Toby in his sparkly Uncle Sam hat.

Sam needed a rest, too.

I shared my root beer Popsicle with Nate.  Yeah for the Children's Parade!  Let the celebrations begin!

Dress for a very special occasion

I spent time this summer working on a special dress for a very special girl.  Ruby will wear this dress before and after her baptism on Saturday.  In our church, children are baptized at the age of eight.  Learn more here.

Some months ago my sweet Ruby called and asked if I would make her a dress for this very special day.  Of course I said "yes."  I went to my Australian Smocking & Embroidery magazines and pulled out several with dresses which worked size wise and were for special occasions.  Then I let Ruby select the one that she liked best.

She selected "Aine" from issue number 89 .  I must tell you that I am very sad that this magazine will end with issue 100 due out in a few weeks.  It has been my inspiration.  Thank goodness there are many previous issues on my shelf.

Ruby wanted a bit of color on her white dress and these are the colors that she selected for the smocking.

I ordered the matching peach piping and lace trim from Farmhouse Fabrics.  The lace trim came 5 inches wide and I trimmed and gathered it for the neck ruffle and also cut the cap sleeves from it.  I thought that the cap sleeves looked a bit tight in the magazine pictures so I cut it a tad bigger than the pattern.

This is the bottom of the skirt.  I already had this Swiss cotton border fabric which was used for the bodice and skirt of the dress.

The dress is completely lined with white Swiss voile also ordered from Farmhouse Fabrics.

I love the back neckline which I raised just a bit from the pattern in the magazine.

It has lovely flower shaped buttons also purchased from Farmhouse Fabrics.  I honestly don't know what I would do about fabrics and notions for special dresses without online fabric stores like Farmhouse.

I think it is the perfect dress for a beautiful eight year old to wear on her baptism day in hot Arizona during August.