Re-Run: Alastair’s Little Lamb Daygown

Things have been incredibly hectic around here for these past few days. My few free hours have been spent working on this blog, enlarging the pictures and trying to insert a custom photo at the top of each page. Apparently, WordPress gremlins are foiling my efforts because sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

I have a pit bull personality. Long after determination and perseverance becomes nothing more than beating my head against the wall, I bang on. But after many of my own wasted hours trying to insert the custom header, then fruitless consultation with my computer scientist daughter (#1 Tech Support), I’ve stepped away from the issue. #2 Tech Support, my computer genius son-in-law, was not even approached as he is up to his USB port designing complicated stuff beyond my ken.

So now that I’ve put it aside, I’ve moved on to getting a “store” up. I’m doing this on my own, without above mentioned tech support, so it will be fairly primitive. But it should work. My original purpose for this blog was to have an outlet for my excessive sewing chit chat and to sell some of my excessive sewing supplies.

As of today, I have written 414 posts. See what I mean about excessive chit chat?!? Surely NO ONE has read all or even most of these. So while I continue to scan, photograph, describe and price store inventory, some of the earliest posts will be re-run.  This is a stroll down memory lane for me. It’s probably a walk down a new path for you.

So here it is—Alastair’s Little Lamb Daygown…………

This design is from Wendy Schoen’s book, Embroidery for Boys. From the moment I laid eyes on Counting Sheep when the book was first released about 15 years ago, I knew I had to make it. Finally, Alastair, the baby boy of our dreams (well, in addition to Robert, our other “dream boy”), wears the gown of my dreams.Wendy recommends using a Sarah Howard Stone daygown, which I did. But surely, any raglan daygown (unsmocked) would work.

The contrasting gray Madeira border is machine pin stitched (pointe de paris) with Madeira Cotona 80 wt. thread, but the feather stitch is done by hand. Rather than Wendy’s ruffled, tatted edge sleeve, as per the pattern, I mimicked the Madeira applique’ border in miniature and used it for an elastic casing. Of course, someday long before this garment reaches the status of “family heirloom”,” the elastic will go limp and die. But it can be replaced easily for another family babe.

After the gown was constructed and two lambs were embroidered, I put the daygown aside. I stashed it in a bag while waiting at the hospital for the baby to be born.  I planned to work on it while we awaited Alastair’s arrival. Since he is my daughter’s first baby, I expected to have 12-18 hours for embroidery.

Instead, I camped out at the birthing center for 2 false alarms, then again at the hospital for what we thought was surely the real thing for 36 hours. Finally, after another 36 hours at hospital, 9 lb. 6 oz. Alastair was finally delivered by Caesarean section.

I ran out of Madeira peaks long before I ran out of waiting room time. So I did sheep at each point. I felt like the OctoMom of lambs! They just kept coming and coming.