I hope to inspire and entertain you with a lot of sewing and a little of everything else!

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Wee Chicklet Gown

Caught you there, right? You're thinking the gum, but I'm talking about the baby animals. I call them that because my little boy has named out latest batch of pets: chicklets and ducklings. I will share them soon!!
I have so many things to share, but I need to take the photos. We were sort of stuck in winter here until about 3 weeks ago, so now I am motivated to get some great pictures.
This preemie gown and bonnet was the first of a 2-day class my Guild held with Joy Welsh. We had a great time- she is a lovely lady and a super talented teacher, too. I wish she lived closer!
The gown is from her multi-sized preemie/baby gown and this class showed us how to make the front and back hems, sleeves, and bonnet in-the-hoop on the embroidery machine. Then we added the machine shadow-work chicklets.
I have used her shadow-work designs before and the technique is much easier than you would think. All of the embroidery on this set is stitched with DMC 50wt cotton thread.
The front hem was too large for my biggest (6x10) hoop, so I did a re-hooping for the first time. It went smoothly and I don't think you can tell where the design was matched up.
You probably can't tell from the photos how tiny this set is. I think it would fit about a 3 lb baby. The model is one of the first reborn dolls my daughter painted. She does an amazing job!!
Joy designed this set to have a liner, sort of like a built-in slip, under the front and inside the bonnet. These pieces were trimmed with narrow lace and peek out. I absolutely love the way it looks and it's a great treatment for hemlines especially if you want a built in slip/liner to cover the back of embroidery.
The lace looks like it's stitched behind the embroidery, but it's actually a full/separate panel.
The bonnet is also fully lined and the ties are silk ribbon.
I love this little set and had so much fun making it, too! Thank you, JOY!

Here's a sneak preview of one of our new chicklets in my azalea. Her name is Henny Penny!
pinterest-dffa4.html