A Special Sewing Project

A few weeks ago, Jeff asked if we still had a baby boy’s blessing outfit in our closet; if we did, he wanted to use it for Austin’s blessing. Unfortunately, we no longer have any.* However, we do have time and resources, so I volunteered to make one just for Austin. I think it turned out nicely, and I had an absolutely wonderful couple of days putting it together.

At first I was a bit concerned about needing “snap tape” to complete the project. It’s not something I recall ever seeing before. However, once I went looking for it, I did find it in the notions aisle. Before that, though, I found this tutorial on how to make your own, and when the snap tape was expensive and beige (not white), I decided I would make my own. It would probably be nicer with non-sewn-in snaps, and with the size 01 snaps, I probably should have used 3/4″ twill tape; however, for a first attempt, I’m quite pleased with the result, and it was actually quite simple to do, just a bit time-consuming. I particularly liked being able to choose exactly where to place the snaps.

I was also a bit concerned about sizing it, since the baby lives a thousand miles away. I looked at his monthly Instagram pictures, compared them to a picture I had of his uncle wearing an outfit I still had, and just followed the pattern. When it was all complete, I started second-guessing myself that it would be too long and baggy. So, I carefully took it in an inch or two along the waistband seam. That made it look a bit more properly proportional, and it turned out to be a perfect fit.

Can’t forget the cute little shoes!

Note: A couple of months later I was able to make a similar little outfit for Austin’s cousin. It was much quicker the second time around, especially since not a lot of time elapsed between the two projects. It would be easier doing the sewing when the subject was around, but even then I’m happy with the result. Babies grow a lot between months one and three! The shoes that we had trouble fitting onto Austin’s feet didn’t even stay on Joshua’s!

* I’m not sure what happened to the little jumper I made for Weston when he was a baby, when the one Wayne’s mom had saved for him was too small. I guess we forgot that Weston didn’t wear it, when we gave it to him for his little boy to wear. Oops! David and Steven wore it. Brad and Jeff were also too big for it, but they didn’t wear white outfits. I did save Jeff’s little blue sailor outfit, but Alicia wanted something white.