Making Christening Dresses: How I Made a Dress for My Daughter

For many religious families, a christening gown is a treasured heirloom. From generation to generation, a family member passes it on to the next person who has a child and will be baptized.

It seems that for parents, only a few items of clothing are precious during the first year of a child’s life. For example: The first outfit that has any kind of meaning is the hospital homecoming outfit.

In all cultures of the world, there are traditions surrounding a baptism. However, it is mostly a well-understood idea to introduce the baby to her community: be it the church, a tribe, or even just her family.

The following is a story about a mother who makes her daughter a christening gown.

I wanted to do something for my oldest daughter that would be special throughout her life. Just before she was born, I decided to make her the dress that she would wear on the day of her baptism.

The pattern that I came to know as “The Tree of Life” seemed appropriate since she would begin her spiritual life in church that day. I bought a bunch of white yarn for typing, as well as a crochet book that gave me ways to make the lace confection she had planned. My husband bought me a tote bag as a gift so he could carry my work in progress wherever he went. I remember it was a bright green and yellow bag, which stayed open at my feet whenever I dropped it off anywhere I went. She went everywhere with me.

So the next six saw me busy working on her dress. She knitted and knitted on the way to work, at home, family parties, and even gatherings. During breaks at work, he would draw stitch after stitch. Coworkers and family members kept track of progress by measuring it. As the dress grew larger, I found myself explaining to strangers in coffee shops or passers-by in the park about the pattern I had chosen.

I was halfway done with the dress when I had my daughter, Cara. I brought her dress with me and when she was only three hours old, I measured it against her, checking her length. She came home with us and with us for every excursion of our outings, including the mommy and me massage workshops. The dress was becoming a labor that would never end. Each row took about two hours to complete.

The night before her christening I found myself putting the finishing touches on the dress. I placed sparkling lace in the front and knitted a light green bow through a centered hole at the waist. Although the weather was warm, he looked like an angel in the dress he had made for her for so long. He didn’t want it to be, so he only wore it for two hours.

After the christening was over, the dress was never put away for storage or passed on. No, she hung in her closet as a reminder of what it was for. She used it to play dress up when she was three years old. When she was four years old, Cara used it in preschool to play the role of princess. She used it many times since then.

What started out as a whim for me eventually turned into a worn out outfit. Am I mad that this happened? Not all. It was nice for me to do something for her on my own.