This preemie daygown was made for a tiny baby girl who was born last week weighing 3 lbs. 9 ounces. Almost 8 weeks before her due date, she is doing quite well in the neonatal intensive care unit at an excellent hospital. But she is sooooo little!
Her mother was a classmate of my daughter’s as well as one of my favorite students in my children’s sewing classes. Now she is a wife and new mother to a precious baby daughter who will probably be in the hospital for some time.
I had planned to smock a daygown for this little darling, but she arrived before I even began. So I whipped up this simple A-line so she would have something girlie to wear over her itty bitty institutional nappies. If I can find a little more time, I’d like to make a bonnet and blanket.
She is a very pretty little thing, but I was shocked at her size. Each of my babies weighed exactly 9 lbs. 1 ounce and all three of my grandchildren were 10 pounders. Even at that, they seemed tiny to me. I can’t imagine a baby almost 1/3 their size!
Sewing such a small garment was a new experience for me. When our first grandchild was on her way, we expected a tiny babe because her mother is so small. So I made a preemie daygown for her coming home. But even weighing 10 lbs., the gown fit perfectly.
She would not have fit in this!
The pattern is very simple, with a kimono style layout with only one pattern piece, except for the bias neck binding.The neck binding finished at only 7″!!! Necklines for standard newborn-4 month daygowns finish at 10 1/2″. Only side seams are needed on this gown.
The fabric is Swiss flannel hemstitched with French lace. The construction, hemstitching, feather stitching and machine embroidery were all done on my sweet, ever ready and reliable Brother Duetta. It does beautiful hemstitching.
My favorite font, #22 in PE-Design, was used for the monogram. The flowers and design between the buttonholes is from Fil Tire’ and Fancywork Elements.
I’m not at all satisfied with this gown, but time was short and I rushed. It is so hard for me to accept that a baby can be that small for more than a few days, even though my head says it is so. So I felt pressured to get the dress done and delivered.
The feather stitched oval is too large and not even properly shaped. The beading and lace look skimpy. They were applied flat to the sleeves but the edging should have been gathered. The embroidery design between the buttonholes is not evenly spaced.
It seems that since my sewing projects are no longer featured in magazines or scrutinized as class projects, I have gotten sloppy. More projects are finished with my “relaxed” sewing attitude, but the level of satisfaction is not nearly so great. I’m going to think on that a while.
What about you? Are you very fussy? How willing are you to redo?
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