items 1 & 2

I joined the blog 25 things for charity sometime in 2007. Typically, I fall behind in keeping track of the items I make and donate. Perhaps I'll do better with that this year. Here are a couple of bereavement gowns to start off the new year.


I normally donate to the hospital where Tessa was a patient in the NICU for the first week of her life. I donate in memory of my niece and somehow in my mind I think of it as some kind of cosmic play date between two cousins, Tessa and Lucy, who would have been similarly aged if Lucy had lived. I miss that little baby girl. I miss her for me. I miss her for her Nanny and PopPop. I miss her for my daughters. And mostly, I miss her for her parents. I wish my sister and her husband still had their little daughter with them.


The buttons on this little boy outfit were too cute to pass up. I found them at Joann's fabric store a while back and they seemed to fit perfectly here. While I sewed them on, I thought of another little angel - the son of my sister's best friend. Today would have been his birthday.

Both were crocheted from the pattern Toni's burial gown. It is by far my favorite pattern for preemies. It works up so quickly and, I think, is a very sweet gown that can be used for a boy (without the shell skirt), or a girl. Because of the stitching, it does need to be lined, but that only takes a few minutes. I like choosing a nice color to go with the gown. Soon I want to make white gowns with different flannel linings; pink, blue, yellow, green.

There was no pattern for the bonnet in the first and second pictures and I doubt I could recreate it exactly. I did like how it turned out though. The blanket is a simple shell stitch like the Christmas doll blanket I made. If I can find the rest of the blue/green/white yarn, I plan to make a blanket for the second gown as well. Or maybe I'll just make a solid blue.