{"id":25505,"date":"2013-01-14T21:14:36","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T02:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=25505"},"modified":"2013-01-19T15:23:17","modified_gmt":"2013-01-19T20:23:17","slug":"smocked-polka-dot-gownmy-attempt-at-contemporary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/14\/smocked-polka-dot-gownmy-attempt-at-contemporary\/","title":{"rendered":"Smocked Polka Dot Gown~My Attempt at “Contemporary”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nAs I began planning Vivian Rose’s layette,\u00c2\u00a0 I pulled out my favorite baby patterns, including this Baby’s Smocked Layette.<\/a> \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Making it was just a pleasure.<\/p>\n

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I love this pattern.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Because of the simple design an excellent directions, the gown practically falls together.\u00c2\u00a0 I especially like the illustration of the drawn up neckline in preparation for binding.\u00c2\u00a0 It includes precise measurements for the width of the front and sleeves at the neckline.\u00c2\u00a0 The back opening buttons all the way down to the hem, making it easy to dress Baby.<\/p>\n

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My incentive to make this came from a photo<\/a> of a precious pink daygown shown in a post on one of my favorite blogs, Mommy’s Apron Strings<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 According to Lisa (Mommy of said apron strings), it took only 3 hours to make. In that post, Lisa included\u00c2\u00a0 this link<\/a> to Jeannie B.’s blog which showed a precious baby wearing the same gown in white.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:\u00c2\u00a0 Another beautiful interpretation of this pattern was made by Karen and shown on her Butterflies and Fairies blog<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Check it out.<\/p>\n

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Only the front and sleeves are smocked, making it a very quick project.<\/p>\n

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Both finished dresses by Jeannie and Lisa are very classic. \u00c2\u00a0 In an effort to include a contemporary garment in the layette for Vivian Rose, I used a lime and pink polka dot flannel, adding rick rack and bright buttons for embellishment.<\/p>\n

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The back facings were machine stitched in a serpentine scallop pattern with a 2.5\/80 twin needle threaded in green and pink.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 It was many times faster than hand whipping it would have been.\u00c2\u00a0 As usual, I was in a hurry.<\/p>\n

The back button colors alternate between pink and lime green because I didn’t have 5\u00c2\u00a0 of either color on hand.\u00c2\u00a0 Recalling my effort at a contemporary look, I okayed this make-do decision.<\/p>\n

Normally, I would have hand stitched the hem.\u00c2\u00a0 But for this gown, the hem was machine stitched then covered with pink rick rack.\u00c2\u00a0 In my hurry up mode, this time saver seemed like a good idea.<\/p>\n

And by\u00c2\u00a0 the way, I really<\/em> dislike\u00c2\u00a0 rick rack that has curled after washing.\u00c2\u00a0 So I always attach it free motion, in a zig zag pattern stitching from upper to lower point on the rick rack.\u00c2\u00a0 It remains flat for all eternity, regardless of how many times it is laundered.<\/p>\n

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Rick rack is secured using free motion technique stitching from point to point. It covers the machine stitched hem.<\/p><\/div>\n

Another time saver was serging the seams instead of stitching French seams.\u00c2\u00a0 The flannel would make a bulky seam and I had no remorse for serging on domestic flannel.<\/p>\n

The attempt at contemporary, apparently, was futile, as my daughter laughed out loud when she saw the gown.\u00c2\u00a0 She said this is NOT contemporary and that there is no way a smocked bishop style baby garment is anything but classic.\u00c2\u00a0 Hmmmm…okay.\u00c2\u00a0 But she loves it.<\/p>\n

If our Florida winter temperatures stay at the unseasonably high\u00c2\u00a0 80’s, Vivian Rose may never wear this gown, contemporary or not.\u00c2\u00a0 ~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

P.S.\u00c2\u00a0 Today, we spent some time on the back porch so she could get more sun.\u00c2\u00a0 She loves being outdoors.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I began planning Vivian Rose’s layette,\u00c2\u00a0 I pulled out my favorite baby patterns, including this Baby’s Smocked Layette. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Making it was just a pleasure. I love this pattern.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Because of the simple design an excellent directions, the gown … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,31,24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25505"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25505"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25642,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25505\/revisions\/25642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}