Courtney’s First Communion Dress

Sewing for children and grandchildren is a true labor of love.  But like birthing a baby, some labors are longer and harder than others.  Always though, the resulting product is worth the effort.

First communion dresses rank right up there with christening gowns in the expenditure  of labor and love. With the able assistance of her mother, Wanda Stewart, the ensemble that Judy Day created  for her granddaughter Courtney is the result of months of stitching as well as proof positive of  immeasurable grandmotherly love.

The set grew to include so many items—dress, slip, purse, garment bag, hanger, headpiece and Bible cover.  The many interesting and intricate details will require more than one post, so please come back for the final installment.  Each piece is exquisite, so you won’t want to miss any of it. 

I’ll let Judy tell you her interesting story about the challenges and specifications that went into designing this dress.  Certainly, she met and exceeded those challenges to create a garment worthy of this all important milestone in Courtney’s spiritual journey.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was one of those projects that gave me a lot of time to reflect on family and how much I enjoy sewing for them.  I am blessed in that both of my daughters as well as my daughter-in-law appreciate my love of sewing and the projects I stitch for them and their families.

When my daughter-in-law returned home from her grandmother’s funeral, Courtney was just a year old.  I was handed an antique embroidered panel from her grandmother’s living room curtains as she said, “I would like to have something from this on Courtney’s First Communion dress. “  She explained that she had played “bride” under this beautiful embroidered  sheer when she herself was a little girl.

That request came to haunt me over the next 6 years.  I knew it would mean a lot to my DIL and her mother, but the panel was just not speaking to me.  Time and time again, I took it out for a fresh look.

So early this spring, with the dress front and back pieces smocked and beaded, waiting to be sewn together, I spread the curtain out over the pool table.  It stayed there, draped to the floor for a couple of days.  Still, it was not speaking to me!

One morning as I was going down the stairs, the beautiful cutwork-like “beading” near the hemline literally jumped out at me! I had been looking at the embroidery and not the beading.

The creative inspiration for the dress came from the  April 2007 issue of Creative Needle magazine which included a smocked Bible cover by Janet Sewell.  The article is entitled First Communion.  (This issue also has an article about how to make a Bug Castle, by Janice Ferguson.)

The dress was smocked from the shoulder to the midriff with  half space, 2-step baby waves forming diamonds.  Twenty four rows were pleated—that meant 48 separate rows of smocking!  3mm pearl glass seed beads were smocked into the design at the top and bottom of each diamond.

The dress fabric was cotton Swiss batiste from Martha Pullen (www.marthapullen.com).  The dress pattern was Dottie’s Day Dress by Collars, Etc. pattern company (www.collarsetc.com).

The embroidery design at the lower front of the dress is from the Trinity Crosses collection from Martha Pullen and was stitched with 100 weight Madeira silk thread. I sized the design larger in Designer’s Gallery Custom Works with Size Works.

My DIL wanted individual crosses around the hem of the dress so I used CustomWorks to remove 2 of the Trinity Crosses.

The antique beading was attached to the hemline with the pinstitch, using a wing needle.  English lace was softly gathered and attached to the bottom of the beading as well as to the puff sleeves which were set into the armhole with entredeux.

The back of the dress features a 4″ wide sash and covered buttons.

I used the same pattern for the slip, trimming the seam allowance from the neckline and armholes.  This allowed me to add a tiny bit of lace at the neck and armhole to give it a more finished look.

To get a smaller lace, I just cut off part of the width.  I used a tiny stitch length to sew it onto the slip and then zig zagged over the seams.  Depending on the density of the lace pattern, this might be risky on a garment that will be washed several times.

A smaller version of the Trinity Crosses is embroidered on the bodice of the slip.

The beading and lace on the dress just did not look proportional to me so the lower edge of the slip has 3 rows of lace so it peeks out from under the dress.  It gives the illusion that the lace is wider than it actually is. After seeing the Easter dress that Janice made for Laurel with the slip ruffle peeking out, I fell in love with the look.

The most personal feature of the slip,  Courtney’s family history is embroidered in white silk thread.  It includes her name, the date,  occasion, church, city, and the names of her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.  Also included is information about the antique beading and who made the dress.  The history was created in LetterWorks III.

The headpiece was a circle of white flowers purchased from the bridal department at JoAnn’s Fabrics.  The tulle was attached to a small comb and tucked under her bun and the circle of flowers.

To be continued…..Next—Bible cover, purse, garment bag, hanger.   You’ll want to learn how to make the dainty, quick and easy purse/bag.