Dusting off the Sewing Machine

I was honored when my sister Rosalie asked me to make a baptismal gown for my newest niece, Coral Marie. I tooled over to the Walmart and found a pattern. Then I went to the local fabric store, Four Seasons Fabric, where I found a simple, white muslin, some lace, and shell buttons.

After that, I pre-shruck the fabric and then cut out the pattern:

This was my first sewing project in a while, so I took a little time before I started sewing to dust out the inner workings of my sewing machine and oil the machine. It sounded better than ever afterwards. 

Soon the machine was humming through the first stitches, making pleats on the skirt:

Then I made six rows of tucks on the bottom of the skirt and sewed on the lace. I hemmed up the skirt, using a decorative stitch:

I made the tucks and sewed lace on the bodice. And made a very small collar. Then it was time to sew the skirt to the bodice:

Next came the sleeves, so tiny and adorable!

Adding sleeves to any garment is my least favorite step. The smaller the garment, the more difficult to move the fabric through the machine for the stitching. This is what I was working with:

After I finished with the sleeves, I only needed to make buttonholes and sew on buttons to finish:

I made a slip, just long enough for the lace to peek out from under the baptismal gown:

And a few more detailed pictures: