The Dress of all Dresses

It really doesn't get much better than this!  Mom finally decided to give up Katelyn's blessing dress. . . the one that Katelyn "initiated".  Dad convinced me that she secretly framed it down in her craft room and wasn't willing to give it up.  She kept saying she had some "finishing touches". . . likely story!  

Our Christmas package came, and there was no dress.  I thought for sure she would have included it in there, but no. 

She called a couple of days later and she said she had finished the dress and was sending it with a friend and they were going to meet up with me to give me the dress!  I was very very excited!

That weekend, it really did come.  It was even more wonderful and perfect.  Here's a tour of this amazing dress which was skillfully created by my mother.  You can click on any of the pictures to get a bigger look if you'd like.  It really is that cool!

The whole dress. . . top to bottom

The front chest section.

Mom weaved thin little ribbon together and at each intersection she sewed on tiny pearl beads!  The beads kept slipping under the ribbon, so the tacked them down some how.  These beads and ribbon were such a tedious job, and I love them so much!  She also attached a thick ribbon that wraps around and ties in the back.

The slip

All along the bottom layer, the slip, she made these amazing details.  I don't really know what the lines are called, but I like them!   She attached the lace and inserted the ribbon.  The first time Katelyn wore this dress, her toes kept on catching on the ribbon and messing it up.  You can't see them, but there are little pearl beads attaching the backside of the ribbon to the lace.  No more baby toes snagging up the ribbon!   Mom also embroidered the line of bows and attached the tatting.

Her Name

For each girl that gets blessed in this dress, their name will be embroidered on the slip.  Katelyn is lucky to be first!

The Scallops. . . not scalpels :)

The slip is just a little bit longer than the top layer of the dress to show off the details.  The top layer has beautiful scalloped edges.  I called them scalpels one time on accident and it took a little bit to figure out that they aren't scalpels. . . no surgery here :)  Each scallop has a bow at the start of it and they circle the whole dress.

The Back

Here is the back of the dress.  Mom weaved the ribbon again on the back, but we didn't want beads on the back.  She attached big pearl buttons.  The ribbon ties in the back.  

I didn't take a close up picture of the sleeves.  They are perfectly poofy.  They are lined with some shimmery fabric.  They are so tiny. . . which makes them adorable!

Katelyn was the perfect model for this photo shoot!  She loved the dress so much that she wanted to put the whole thing in her mouth.  I was able to capture these sweet pictures before she wrinkled it too much!

I didn't quite know what I wanted for our family's blessing dress, so I mostly just let my mom do what ever she wanted.  I LOVE how it turned out and I can't believe how beautiful it turned out.  My mom is simply amazing and even though she didn't really frame it and hang it up in her craft room, I wouldn't blame her if she did.  This dress is priceless.  I am so lucky she made this for me.  I hope Katelyn loves it as much as I do and that all my daughters have their daughters blessed in it too.  I would love for the slip to be filled with names!  How neat would that be?!  Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom!  I love it!