I am making a baptism outfit for my grandson in preparation for his baptism in July. I bought some gorgeous fabric from a local store called Tissu’ – wonderful, fine denier broadcloth that is just slightly transparent. It is a bit heavier than the Swiss batiste I made other gowns with, but this outfit will be a romper with a button on skirt. I am doing lots and lots of pintucks since those are so lovely without being “fussy.” However things have not all gone well. First I got out the romper not quite on grain. Of course I didn’t figure this out until I had 10 or so rows of the pin tucking done. It is really important that pintucks be done on a straight grain since they have a tendency to wrinkle if off grain. Ok, toss that one away and cut another. I was extra careful with the grain line this time, and the pintucks (21 of them), and I got as far as putting the back and front together. The next step was to put the neckband on. I had cut it per the pattern, but it was about a 1/2″ too short! Cut another neckband, and I have a hassle putting it on because the instructions say to use a 5/8″ seam then trim to 1/4″. It is much harder to apply a bias strip with that large of seam allowance. Then I found out the width wasn’t enough to finish the application! Signal much cussing and gnashing of teeth. There is no way I was going to be able to take the band off so I cut another romper front and started from the pintuck step again (the third time!). Last night I got this far.
Excuse the pins. I was using them to hold the neck binding together while I hand stitched it. Today I put the sleeves on. It sounds like such a small job but it took me almost two hours, but the sleeves and side of the romper top are done.
I love the little cuffs on the sleeves. Next comes the placket on the romper bottom followed by putting the top and bottom together with the waistband between them. I will stop then. I will be seeing the grandson next week, and I will try it on him before I finish it completely.
Not much else got done today. I am being quite lazy. Kevin has been working on the sprinkler system. He finally decided that an additional sprinkler was needed on the north side of the house, so he dug into the line and did it. He is also working on the drip system in the rose bed at the front of the house. He is definitely NOT being lazy.