Happy 65th Anniversary Gram & Gramps!

My son-in-law's grandmother had given me her wedding gown thinking I might be able to use it in my business. Knowing that their 65th anniversary was coming up I thought a gift to remember her gown by would be just the thing. I took some of the fabric and lace and soaked them overnight in Oxyclean. The lace was "crunchy" and easy to tear so I only used small squares of it. The buttons on the gown were covered in lace so I wanted to use them as well. The gown had beading, which I used as a decoration. I embroidered their initials as well as their wedding date on the back of the pillow. I was also wondering if there would be a market for christening gowns made from heirloom wedding gowns?

www.christeningcreations.com

Chicago Bound

Our newest mom contacted us with a request for a specific looking romper with a detachable skirt. She sent her gown ups with 2 shamrocks representing twins she had lost. Mom wanted them to be a part of this very special day. Unfortunately, something happened to the package, which was shipped UPS between Chicago and my home in NJ. Fortunately the dress was unharmed but the shamrocks and the order form she sent were missing. This is the first time this has ever happened with shipping but we use the US Post Office anyway. We cut out and placed just one small applique on the bodice of the romper, hand stitching it on. The overlay of the skirt we recreated in the christening skirt and used the bodice detail as the waistband of the skirt. Buttons were placed on the romper waistband and buttonholes in the skirt waistband. At a meeting with a new customer who saw this outfit decided she wanted the same for her son and another who we had already met with saw it and wanted to change her outfit to the same. We're very pleased (and so was mom) with the outcome.



The christening outfit arrived and I can't thank you enough. I absolutely love the romper and skirt. I can't wait for Kevin to wear it this weekend. I am so glad I found you guys online and can't thank you enough for your responsiveness and turnaround time on top of putting together exactly what we were looking for from a conversion.

Thank you for going above and beyond everything else and including the shamrocks. Knowing that our Riley and Aiden will be a part of Kevin's special day means more than I can tell you

With gratitude,
Katie

 

Creation Insights

We're currently working on a new christening gown, bonnet and shoes using a wedding gown that has rows of clear beading on it. We like to use these on baby's gown and hand sew them on by hand. We've "borrowed" the idea from another gown of placing several small beads on the covered buttons to add a little glam. We've also created little flowers for the custom shoes using the large and small beads.

 

In Loving Memory

 Our customer came to us with her mom's wedding gown. Mom had passed away and this was her way of making her mom a part of a very special day for her daughter. Her only concern was that we be able to leave enough fabric for her sister to be able to use someday down the road when she has a child of her own. What a wonderful way to honor a special woman in her life! We were thrilled to be able to help make that happen. God bless!

 

Website Updated

We've just updated our website to include 2 more gallery pages with new photos and an easier to use products page to check out our pricing! Check it out and tell us what you think!

Baby Beatrice

Mom and Grand mom came to us with grand mom's gown (can you say hello to the 70s?) to have a christening gown, bonnet and shoes made along with a bib. The bib was made from new materials except for the lace, which came from grand mom's veil. The gown was very yellowed and we tried to whiten it a bit with good ole OxiClean. I think they were surprised to see it became a creamy ivory color! The shoes had the christening date embroidered on the bottom. We're happy to report that the family was well pleased with the results...

Teddy Bear for Baby

A grand mom contacted us to create a teddy bear from her wedding gown for her soon to be christened granddaughter and another one for her soon to be born grandson. We used the lace applique as a collar and pink ribbon as an accent. The baby's birth date was machine embroidered on teddy's foot as will her grandson's when he is born. What a wonderful way to pass on memories from grandma! We are going to also offer, when there is suitable material, for teddy to be dressed in a vest or skirt. Thanks Cathy for this wonderful idea. I have 1 granddaughter myself and 1 on the way in March too and will be using my own gown for them. I'll post pics when done! For information and pricing, check out our website, www.christeningcreations.com! How cute is this?

Christening Outfit for Dillon

This is Dillon's awesome outfit and messenger cap. Mom brought a picture and wanted it copied exactly. It's a one piece with blue trim on the middle, neck and around the sleeves. There's an embroidered piece inside his cap from mom's dress with her wedding date and an embroidered piece with his own christening date inside his outfit. Both were made with fabric from mom's gown. Dillon is 9 months old and this is the largest christening outfit we've made so far. Mom was very happy with the results!

Christening Blankets

Our latest customer from Texas told us they don't use formal christening gowns where she is so from her wedding gown we created christening blankets for her twins. We embroidered their names on each of the blankets and for the boy, we also embroidered a cross. The girl's was more frilly, using lace & more of the beading from the dress than the boy's. On his we created satin piping to dress it up a bit. Both blankets were lined with soft white minky. We think they both look sweet and can't wait for pictures of them wrapped up in their blankies!

Handmade IS better!

Just ask anyone who owns couture! We are constantly amazed at how the wedding gowns we work with are constructed. Amazing what the industry gets away with. Not only the construction, but the alterations which we know our customers pay dearly for! Not many brides get "up close and personal" with their wedding gowns the way we do when we construct their christening outfits. We are picky, picky, picky in the construction of our products.

Coming soon! Our website!!

Joelle's Gown

Joelle's gown came to us via her mom, who lives in NJ. It was a soft chiffon covered satin, ruched on the side with appliques that seemed to be cemented on! We used the same ruching on the bonnet and were able to remove some of the applique for the bonnet. Joelle wanted to be able to use the gown for a boy possibly down the road so we kept it fairly simple but also made a boy's bonnet so that we could "glam up" the girl's bonnet. Grandma picked up the gown yesterday. We sure hope Mom is as happy as Grandma was!

 

 

                         

Megan's Dress

Our newest creation was picked up today by mom & dad. Mom's gown came to us with quite a bit of stains on the bottom from dragging around on the ground. Also, the dress was stepped on and the hem came out. We were able to work our magic by finding the least stained areas to cut out baby's dress. Sometimes the length of the dress changes depending on what our customer wants or how badly stained the dress is but we were able to do the traditional long dress. We used the smaller beading and hand stitched it on the edge of the sleeves and used one band of them on the bonnet. We took just a small amount of the beaded trim work to put on the bodice and place a small decorative touch on the bonnet just to pull it all together.

We Love Getting Thank You's!!!

We love when our customers are happy! Bless you Ashley!

I've Moved!

Last week I moved into my new home so we now have 2 locations to service our NJ customers, Ocean and Middlesex Counties. Angie and I are still figuring out our working arrangement but are already hard at work on our newest christening gown creation for a customer in Conn. Being busy with the move, I did not have time to take a picture of the "before" gown, this time grandma is having the gown done for her upcoming grandchild. Meanwhile, here's some pictures or our "kids" in their gowns. So precious! Thanks Moms for sending them.

Newest Conversion from Wedding Gown

Our newest wedding gown came from Phila. Pa. A beautiful dress with a pleated bodice, spaghetti strapes, netting with tiny white and pink flowers, satin and organza with flowers and beading on the bottom. Our original thought was to make the same type top for the christening gown but realized that that much pleating on such a small bodice would make it very stiff and uncomfortable for baby Ella so instead we just used 3 of the pleats on the bottom of the bodice and placed some of  the flowers and beads on top to create a look similar to mommy's wedding gown.  For the bottom we used the same satin and organza. We created a bonnet using the satin and organza, embellishing with a few more beads on the sides to complete the look. We wish Ella and her family much joy on her christening day! Ella's mommy has a shop on Etsy with some adorable hats and headbands. Please visit her site at http://www.etsy.com/shop/MySweetEllaGrace

Wedding Gown Convert

Our newest confection began this time with a beautiful ivory gown with ecru satin finishing off the bottom and around a waistline that was so small, I don't think I've been that size since I was about 3. The dress was memaid-ish in style so that meant there was not alot of fabric. Jenn, the newest member of our "family," ordered not only a gown for her daughter's christening day but also a boy's romper "just in case". She also wanted a jacket, but by the time we cut out those two outfits, there was nothing much but scraps left. In trying to mirror her gown for her daughter, we had to remove several appliques from the sides and back (stubborn little suckers) and re-applied them to the dress and bonnet, while using the satin waistline on the gown and the satin edging on the bottom of the dress  and to finish off the bottom of the boy's romper and the bottom of the gown. We put a little bit of each of us in our creations, (ouch, sometimes more than a piece) but we love every minute of it. God's blessings on your christening day!

Newest Christening Gown

Our hats are off to our newest customer who bravely shipped her wedding gown from Florida to NJ to complete strangers, who then promptly cut it up to create a christening gown for her daughter Grace. Kudos to you Trish! Through emails and photos sent by text we were able to keep her informed of our progress and we loved her sense of humor. We also received pictures of Grace, an absolute cutie! So, here's our before and after pics. We wish you and your family a beautiful Christening Day!



An Ivory Dream Come True

We've just finished another beautiful Christening gown made from an ivory silk with ecru lace. It's wonderful to see how beautiful and one of a kind each gown we make comes out depending on the gown we use. This time it was only the train, a cathedral train from which we only needed to use the underneath plain side with the lace bottom, using some lace to make a collar and the real beauty of a handmade gown is that the mom got to take the appliques we removed and place them the way she wanted on the gown. The back of the gown resembled the back of her wedding dress. A matching jacket and bonnet pulled the look all together.How wonderful to create this heirloom gown and still preserve mom's wedding gown. She was so thrilled she said she wanted to have another girl just so she could wear it. We were just as thrilled that she was our customer. We so enjoy making sure each creation is just what our customer wants.