Family Christening Gown from "Grandmother's Hope Chest"

Spiritual - "O Christ, sweet Jesus, give me this holy charity, that I may persevere in doing good and never give it up; for he who possess charity is founded on You, the living rock, and by following Your example, he learns from You how to love His Creator and his neighbor.   St. Catherine of Siena

Sewing - When my daughter and her husband were expecting their first child, I asked them to pick out a Christening gown from Grandmother's Hope Chest, French Sewing by Machine by Martha Campbell Pullen, PhD.   They chose the Christening Puffing Coat and Underdress. 



The "coat"  is actually an overdress and buttons at the front bodice.  It is made of white Nelona and Cluny lace.  There are three panels of 2-inch puffing sandwiched between panels of three double needle pintucks with machine featherstitching between the sets of three pintucks. The sleeves have a straigth panel of the feather/pintucks strips with entredeux on both  sides and Cluny lace at the edges of the sleeves.  The lined front bodice, closed with two buttons, has pintucks/featherstitching panels with entredeux between each panel. A 5-inch ruffle edged with Cluny lace is attached to the bottom of the coat with entredeux. The total length of the gown is 33".














The underdress  or slip has Cluny lace at the neck and the sleeves.  It has a 5 inch ruffle that is trimmed with Cluny.  Each child that is christened in this dress has his/her name embroidered on the slip along with the date of the baptism.  The Christening cap is made of panels featherstitching /pintucks with Cluny lace at the brim.