Vivian Rose and Her New Smocked Daygown

Vivian Rose 2 hours old

Hurrah! Baby Girl arrived today, Monday, via C-section weighing in at 8 lbs. 7 oz., measuring 21 “.  Mother and Vivian Rose are both happy and well.  We are thrilled!

From the moment she was placed in her mother’s arms, she latched on and nursed for almost 2 hours.  Of course, it was not non-stop, but she never let her little mouth stray from the source of her contentment.  She screamed when she was moved to the opposite side and then went silent when she was in the vicinity of lunch.  So she was 2 hours old before we got a good look at her and took this photo.

Rebecca was very pleased with this pink Swiss flannel bishop daygown.

It matches the bonnet made earlier.

I really appreciate all your feedback on my detailed reports of mistakes.  Since all comments were in favor of an open and honest  description of the process, I’ll spell out all the stupid mistakes on this gown and my attempts at fixing them.

First, I really like Debbie Glenn’s painless placket.  I also like to cut my bishops with no center back seam, placing both front and back pieces on a fold.  The painless placket requires that you add 2 1/2″ to the back.  So I pinned the back pattern piece 1 1/4″ from the fold.  Good to go, right?

Mistake #1   Then, as I was dreaming about what Baby Vivian might be like, I began cutting right up from the hem on the pattern piece!  At 1″ up, I caught the mistake, but that eliminated the possibility of a 1″ hem.

Fix #1   The fix was to use scallops at the hemline, placing the 1″ cut at the peak between two scallops.  One row of scallops looked skimpy, two is a visually unpleasing even number, and three would be better. Okay.

Mistake #2   I had already chosen a small bolt of lace from my mother’s sewing stash.  There was enough lace only for sleeves,

and two rows of scallops. hmmmmm…..

Fix #2  So for the middle row, my favorite chameleon lace was used, with pink floss woven through the holes.  The bottom row of lace looks darker against the aged white table linen.  It is the same as the first row.

E-1…$1 per yard…1/4″ wide…white

A similar lace was used on the bonnet and neckline.

Mistake #3  My mother’s lace looked white in my brightly lighted sewing room.  But it was not quite white in daylight.  So now I had white and ivory lace used together on the same garment.

Fix #3….and this is not a perfect fix…….I smocked with pink, white and ecru.

With the fil tire’ embroidery at the bottom of the skirt, I decided to minimize the embroidery at the peaks of the pinstitched scallops.

The hand embroidered French knots  have simple lazy daisy leaves.

Sometimes, it seems like it would be easier to just scrap the project and start anew.  But I hadn’t enough pink Swiss flannel.

There is also a matching blanket.  This was recycled from a class project.  Just the simple Nivia monogram was added.  The fil tire’ heart is the same as on the skirt of the gown.

In spite of all the mistakes and head scratching fixes, I was generally pleased with the results.  Sometimes, the loveliness of the goods can carry a load of errors and still look okay.  On top of that, there will be a precious baby overshadowing every boo-boo.

Thanks for all your prayers and good wishes for Vivian Rose’s safe arrival and my daughter’s comfortable delivery.  Every prayer was answered.  God is good.