Blessing outfits and blessings

When it came time to make Magnus' blessing outfit I did what anyone my age would do, I went to Pinterest. I also went to my stash of vintage patterns because I like to dress my kids in old fashioned clothes. 

This pattern was acquired at a Relief Society activity at the "give and take" table. There was a fairly large box of old patterns. I decided it would be a bad idea to take the whole box so I limited myself to a few. I love the look of kids in overalls and rompers. I think it's a limited time sort of thing so you have to jump in and do it before it's too late. 

I loved the look of this romper on Etsy so I looked for a way to combine the two sources of inspiration. I went to the fabric store and looked at all their white fabric. I wanted there to be interest and I decided the interest would come via texture. 

I used cotton sateen for the "shirt" and seersucker for the overalls. I altered the shirt pattern down to Magnus' size and then altered it further into a onesie. It worked but it didn't work at the same time. It didn't cover his diaper but, the overalls covered most everything else!

I altered the pattern for the overalls down to Magnus' size and then I made the bottom section a little longer. The original pattern was almost like a skirt with the centers connected, I wanted more defined shorts. I added snaps to the onesie and overalls for ease in dressing and diaper changes. 

I took some pictures a few days after because I realized we only had pictures of our family. 

Last week I had the opportunity to make something very special, a burial outfit. My wonderful sister gave birth to twins last month at 32 weeks. They were mono mono twins which necessitated hospitalized monitoring for the last month and a half of my sister's pregnancy. It was known that one of the twins, Cooper, had a heart defect that would require open heart surgery. Two weeks after their miraculous birth, Cooper passed away in his parent's arms. They brought him to Utah for burial. 

I didn't know what to say or do to help my sister so I offered up my skills. Without a set of measurements I did the only thing I could do, I prayed. After I prayed I went to work. I had a few mason jars on my sewing table that I used for sizing. I scaled down Magnus' blessing outfit pattern and hoped it would fit Cooper. I combined pattern elements into a new outfit that I hoped Hilary would like. After I finished patterning I used the rest of the cotton sateen. It was so soft and pliable. The outfit came together quickly, I had this much done by 10:30 that evening. 

I snagged one of Mina's dolls for a fitting. James suggested adding Velcro up the back seam for ease in dressing. I hadn't thought about that and I appreciated his input. 

The combination of functional buttons in the front and Velcro in the back made it easier to dress. 

I added buttons and waist tabs to the romper. Later on I added a satin bow tie that I made from Hilary's wedding dress sash. I'm glad I was able to help in some small way. 

The outfit fit perfectly.