Guest Blogger: Polyhymnia and the Christening Gown Wrap Up

Note from Clio: I am finally home from my travels, but totally drained. So now, Polyhymnia will tell you - from her point of view - how the Christening Gown Project went. Really, we lived and breathed this project for a month. So, I think this final word on the topic will be cathartic for us both. Here she is...

Today, I received an email from Erato,titled “Being crafty.” She had so much fun crafting together at her place during the Christening Gown project, that she’s invited Clio, Terpsichore, and me over for another craft day.

I have a couple of projects I’ve been toying with, including a blanket for Baby B (the little niece I’m excitedly waiting for), planning sketches for a mural for Little C’s nursery, and *gasp* finishing some raw, and thankfully hidden, seams in Little C’s christening gown. The christening gown…

Back in March, when I asked Clio and Erato if I was crazy to take on sewing Little C’s christening gown, they should have both yelled “YES!” I’m glad I did it, but without Clio taking on the lion’s share of the project, Little C would have been naked on the altar.For anyone who was inspired to be crazy enough to attempt this project for themselves, here are some things to consider…

My wedding gown

Cutting up “The Dress” – If you think of your wedding dress as “The Dress”, if you have taken it out to look at or try on since your wedding, if you have any qualms at all about cutting up your dress DO NOT DO THIS PROJECT! I had not thought about my wedding dress since I took it off after my wedding. If fact, I wasn’t even sure where it was (my Mom had it). It was never cleaned - still wearing make-up, grime and water stains from the snow that was on the ground 5 years ago at my wedding. I found that folks at the Christening were most intrigued by the fact that I cut-up my wedding dress, but I had ZERO doubts about it. Don’t get me wrong – I LOVED my dress – but now it was just a really big, closet-eating memento. It would never hold the same magic. But with this project, it would get a whole new life.

Bead motif

Beading – Sewing something with beadwork sucks big time. I think I killed my Kenmore sewing machine when I accidentally hit an errant bead dead-on. And I had removed a lot of beads… a lot of beads. Anyway, the tension on my machine is now completely off and I need to have it tuned-up and serviced. Besides that, Clio and I spent DAYS fixing the beadwork before the Christening.

Teeny tiny sleeve - so hard to stitch...

Hand-stitching – Many portions of the project had to be hand-sewn, because the tiny proportions left little room to maneuver with a machine. Tiny armholes, little cuffs, small booties… Cute but deadly!

The finished outfit

Part of what made this project such a crazy feat was my lack of skill and another part was lack of time. At the end of it all, I was super-proud of our accomplishment on the day of my son’s Christening and I think Clio felt the same sense of pride in our project. It was immensely satisfying to see how princely the outfit looked on Little C. (I’m sure I’ll catch flak someday from him for putting him in “a skirt”, but I loved the traditional look in church.) At any rate, I think I need a break from christening gowns for a while (at least until the next baby), so I will instead tackle one of my other projects at Erato’s craft get-together. Happy crafting!