80 Yr. Old Liturgical Lace Gown

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90 inch hem, silk dupioni lining.

Liturgical lace netting, smocked and pearl beaded bodice, tiny piping, neckline frill, french seams, silk dupioni lining

Detail of beaded smocking and piping.

Sleeve detail. silk ribbon woven thru smocking, french seams, bound armscye

90 inch hem, silk dupioni lining.

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This is a christening gown made from the liturgical lace netting of a priest's alb that is over 80 years old. I inherited it many years ago. The heavy liturgical embroidery on the ethereal netting waited a long time for just the right use. My pattern is partly  "Antique Lace" from Australian Smocking and Embroidery #74. I changed a few things in an effort to utilize as much of the lace as possible and as wisely as possible.  The gown is lined with silk dupioni in an off white. The neckline has a frill made from the lace netting. The yoke is piped. The smocking is beaded with tiny pearl beads. The sleeves are gathered by silk ribbon woven thru smocking. I remember smocking those sleeves and getting very frustrated. It felt like I was smocking air! All of the details are in ecru, including the floss.

As far as construction, the skirt lining hangs freely. The bodice lining is treated as one with the lace. The back closure is three buttons and the actual lace edged opening of the alb. All seams are French seams. The armscyes have their seams trimmed and bound with dupioni. The major challenges of the construction were optimizing the available lace and layout, and stitching that felt like I was smocking on steel wool. The pleats were done two layers together, the dupioni and the netting. The netting must be extremely durable as it certainly is rough to stitch on, very deceiving! 

This garment was made as one of a pair of non-matching Christening gowns for twin babies. Using this lace inheritance in a manner worthy of its provenance was something I thought of for years. I am glad it was used in this manner.

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Traditional Silk Christening Gown

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Comments (4)

dpog writes: You do beautiful work. I especially admirer your hand work on this. It is amazing on this lace. How did you mark it for smocking? My Grandmother taught me when I was about 8 years old. It seems that it is almost a lost art. I am glad to see it executed so exquisitely.
Posted: 7:47 am on January 6th

ButtonsandSweetpees writes: This is so beautiful. I would be so scared to cut into it, knowing that it was so old. I remember from twenty four years ago looking at the lace for my wedding dress which was on my cutting table (dining room table at the time) for a whole month before I would cut it.
You do beautiful work!
Posted: 12:00 pm on December 30th

Sherfy writes: Both gowns are absolutely stunning, but if I had to choose my favorite, it would be the baby boy's.
Posted: 9:53 am on December 29th

Maamool writes: I always love your work. Exquisite!
Posted: 9:05 am on December 29th

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