Rock-a-bye Baby

The Quest: Baby dress, bonnet, & sleeper

Outcome: Victorious! (completed and given away)

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            Dress and Bonnet

·        lavender striped cotton outer

·        lavender t-shirt fabric lining

·        hand-sewn snaps

·        flat fell seams

·        store-bought cotton ruffle embellishments

·        elastic gathered cuffs

           

            Sleeper

·        striped stretch outer

·        lavender t-shirt fabric inner

·        rivet-style snaps

This project probably took me a little more than two weeks, sewing during the evenings and free periods in school.  A few people have been very kind and given me fabric, so this was a good chance to use up some of it, though I still added a few more stamps to my Pandora House card.   The patterns came from a Japanese sewing book called “Hand-sewn Baby Clothes and Small Articles.”   I can’t actually read Japanese that well, but the book had picture illustrations and though it took me a while to understand the flat-fell seam through pictures alone, eventually I did get it.

Oops! plan how the pattern fits!

I didn’t plan very well, and as a result the back of the dress is made with just the lining as I wasn’t able to fit the piece on the striped outer fabric.  The bodice and sleeves are unlined.  According to the pattern, I first stitched the bodice sides, then the skirt, then attached the skirt to the bodice.  It was at this point I learned the benefits of two lines of basting for adding stability to my gathers.  The bodice/skirt seam is tucked into bias tape to help smooth it out so it won’t irritate the baby who will spend most her time laying on it.   

bias tape seam

Then the shoulders are stitched together, the neck-line hemmed with bias tape and then the sleeves (sewn and already gathered at the wrist) are attached.  I couldn’t make sense of the direction for the armscye seam, it somehow included bias tape.  So I just used the flat fell seam again and I think it will work.  The last thing to be done was to hand stitch the snaps on. 

After the dress the bonnet was a breeze, though it took me longer then expected to stitch up the bias tape that makes up the bonnet’s ribbon. 

 

The sleeper was a quick, extra project because I really wanted to give something more useful than a cute baby dress.  At first I considered adding a layer of quilt batting, but decided not to.  As warm as my lap was sewing it, it really didn’t need it.    

While sewing this project I made a resolution, one I know I should have done for a while, but never followed through on. I resolved to waste less time on the internet. I've been spending an unhealthy amount of time on the internet, just wasting time and accomplishing nothing but numbing my mind.  Essentially I've banned myself from certain sites, or severely restricted how much time I allow myself on them. 

Sewing in the evenings gave me something to fill those hours while going through the initial withdrawal from the internet.  Sewing can take up a large potion of my time for weeks at a time, but at least I’m creating something and using my brain rather than numbing it like I did before.. I truly believe mentally and spiritually I’m better off without it.  As I was sewing the baby’s dress, I was also able to devote myself to prayer, something that’s been missing in my life recently. I prayed for blessings for the new baby and her family, for strength for myself to walk a narrower path, and many other things that I should have been praying about all along but hadn’t.  I don’t spend all my time praying however.  Sewing gives me something to do with my hands so I can finally watch television shows on my laptop without needing it for something else.  I also spend some evenings video chatting with a friend who has also recently discovered the joys of sewing.