Research Point - Project 3 - Christening Robe

Research Point

For this I chose a christening gown that had been worn by my daughter.

It is a white knitted dress.  The bodice is stocking stitch with pearls added, the skirt is a lace pattern.  The collar, cuffs and frill at the bottom of the skirt are knitted in a lace pattern with pearls all along the edges.  The bottom of the skirt is gathered with a fabric rosebud on each gather and there is pink ribbon threaded around the waist, neck and cuffs tied into a bow.

I hand-knitted this dress for the christening of my daughter twenty-two years ago, we lived in Yorkshire at the time.  It is knitted in 4 ply wool and the pearls are knitted in.  I originally knitted it as a traditional christening gown, but she was just a year old by the time of the christening, and walking, so I made the gathers in the skirt to shorten it and gathered in the waist so that if fitted her properly.  She wore a lace petticoat underneath which made it a little bit shorter as well.

My favourite part is the beads around the edge of the collar and the bottom, I can't actually remember how I did this, but I did thread all the beads on before knitting!

Even if I didn't know the history of this piece and had just come across it in a shop I think I would assume it was knitted with a lot of love for a special little girl.

I created a board of christening gown images on Pinterest