Gus' Baptism

In 2000, I made Gus' baptismal gown. As you can tell, he was unbearably cute! This is about the only picture of him where he is happy. He seemed to have understood that he was wearing a dress and that this was uncool. Bill must have been whispering things in his ear.

I used a pattern from Vogue that was copied from Theodore Roosevelt's baptismal gown. It included a cap, gown and slip.

I bought the cotton batiste, laces and entredeux from G Street Fabrics. Warning: the materials for heirloom sewing are VERY expensive. I probably spent a good $200. Sewing the batiste was like sewing air. I ended up heavily starching it and rinsing the starch out.

Heirloom sewing is actually relatively simple. The fabric, laces and entredeux are attached to each other with a simple zig zag stitch. It is however, very time consuming. You have to attach row after row of laces and entredeux. All of the seams are finished with french seams.

Gus, Bill and I with my parents. Bonnie also wore Gus's baptismal gown. Bill's brother was ordained a priest the day before, so I ran out of energy to sew Bonnie her own gown as well as a set of vestments. Here is a picture of my dad holding Bonnie in her sling at the baptism.