Spreading the love...

Now that the Christening gown is complete, Sarah had one last request...

She wanted to share a little of the gowns with other family members....the cousins

First she thought of making handkerchiefs out of the fabric that was left....handkerchiefs? some exclaimed, what will we do with those?....no, how about something else...

I suggested the idea of keepsake pillows, and showed her pictures of the ones I had made the previous year.  She liked that idea, but since she'd be handing them out at Christmas, she thought, how about "pillow ornaments" in the shape of a heart!

Sounds perfect to me!
So, I was asked to make 6 from the fabric of the grandmother's gown (champagne satin) and 2 from the fabric of her mother's gown (sheer white organdy and french lace). I also made Sarah a special pillow of her own, incorporating all three fabrics (including her jacket lace), as a surprise! And I wanted her pillow to be an absolute surprise, so I took a piece of fabric, serged the edges (neatly finished), wrapped the pillow in it and tied it with a bow - with the same ribbon that was used on the Christening gown.
I just wish I could be there when she opens that up!!!

12/10/17
Finally complete!....well...almost

As a final touch, knowing that these will be going on an airplane before distributing, I wondered "how can I package them individually?" I wanted to put each in its individual bag, but that wouldn't work as the bags would get crushed in packing...hmmm...it was the morning that they were being picked up and I thought - maybe I have enough fabric left to make a stocking!!!! Wow....I did. I took the bodice of the mother's gown, and made a stocking, using the cording from the grandmother's gown on the edges. Great idea! All the little pillow ornaments fit, they will now be easy to transport, and to distribute she can just pull one at a time out of the stocking!!!

         

          Pillow ornaments made from extra fabrics left from the christening gown created (below)