The baptism of a child is a very important event. In preparation for it, you need to prepare all the necessary attributes of the ceremony. Particular attention should be paid to the baptismal shirt. The sacrament of baptism is a canonical rite, so you need to adhere to some rules when choosing clothes for baptism. This article describes in detail what a baptismal shirt for a boy should look like and how to make it yourself.
Features of clothing for baptism
An important criterion for choosing a baptismal shirt is the fabric from which the shirt is made. It must be natural. Cotton, cambric, thin linen are suitable. A shirt knitted with cotton threads will also work. The fabric should absorb water well, because this is the shirt the priest will put on the child after the bath.
The color of the shirt should be white. This symbolizes the purity of the newborn soul. It is allowed to embroider a cross on the chest or along the bottom of a boy’s baptismal shirt using blue, silver or gold silk threads. Also now a delicate blue color of the shirt is allowed, but it is better to ask the priest who will baptize the baby about this.
It is very important that the neck is wide enough. The head should pass through it easily and freely.
The baptismal shirt should be loose, not restrict movement, and not put pressure. The seams should be smooth and soft so as not to cause discomfort to the child.
The optimal length is below the knee, as the legs should be slightly open. At the end of the ceremony they will be anointed with Myrrh, so they need free access.
Clothing for baptism is considered elegant clothing and decorative decorations would be appropriate on it. However, we should not forget that even at this moment we need to show humility and avoid excesses. For very young children, decor with lace and embroidery is suitable. Despite all the beauty of a baptismal shirt, it needs to be simple. If the boy is not very small, then there is no need for lace. A laconic cross stitch on the chest and Christian symbols along the bottom will be enough.
Patterns and knitting patterns
Sewing a baptismal shirt with your own hands is not difficult at all. You need to correctly calculate the amount of fabric, create a simple pattern and make simple seams. The most convenient option would be a shirt with one-piece sleeves. After all, the seams will not press and it is very comfortable to wear such clothes.
A very simple shirt pattern is shown in the photo below. It is easy to sew different sizes using it; you just need to know the measurements of the neck, chest, arm circumferences and length. The cut is straight, but the bottom can be widened if desired.
The fabric for such shirts is folded in half lengthwise and widthwise. They have no shoulder seams.
When transferring the pattern to the fabric, you must remember to leave seam allowances of 1-1.5 cm. To ensure that the side seams are neat and not stiff, you need to do them correctly. The side cuts are sewn down. Then half the allowance on the back is cut off.
Then wrap the narrow one into the wide allowance and baste it to the shirt. And then sew the seam.
Fold all edges twice and stitch.
Knitted shirts are also great for baptisms. They are usually knitted with a fillet net with a pattern of Christian symbols. The yarn used is cotton. The thickness of the thread depends on the time of year when the baptism will take place. Thin threads are suitable for summer. Crochet 1-1.5. If the weather is cold, then knit with thicker threads, hook 2-3.
The mesh is knitted as one double crochet and one chain stitch.
The standard shirt knitting pattern can be used. There are fasteners on the back. You can use different patterns for patterns.
Simple option
A master class with step-by-step photos and a description of the manufacturing process will help you sew a simple and beautiful shirt.
You should prepare natural white fabric, threads, scissors, paper and a pencil for the pattern.
We build a pattern with our data using the above pattern. We fold the fabric 4 times. The photo shows the fold lines.
Transfer the pattern to the fabric. We chop off the layers of fabric with sewing pins.
Cut out the workpiece.
We lay out the workpiece.
In the middle of the neckline on the shelf, cut 10 cm (half the width of the neck).
The edges of the seam must be overlaid or processed in the manner described in the article above.
We process the edges, bending the cut twice.
We process the edge of the neck in the same way, only you need to bend it at the edge 3 mm, and then again 5 mm. Fasten the hem of the fabric.
We sew on a typewriter.
Now we cut 1-1.5 cm from the cut to the sides.
We cut the corners at an angle of 45°. We process the edges in the same way as cuts.
History of the baptism ceremony
Baptism is a rite of passage for a child to join the church. Although a person can undergo this ceremony at any age, it is customary in Orthodox society to baptize a baby between the eighth and fortieth day of his life. The baptism process itself does not require any special preparations. It is enough to agree in advance with the priest on the date of the ceremony and come to the church at the appointed time with the necessary set of things and the future godparents of your child.
For a child, the presence of godparents is mandatory, although adults undergoing baptism no longer need them. The custom of having godparents dates back to the times when people were persecuted for their faith, and only those who had a guarantor who was ready to bear responsibility for the convert to the Orthodox faith agreed to baptize. Now almost all adults and baptized people can be godparents. Traditions prohibit children (girls under 13, boys under 15), non-Orthodox people and those who are married from acting as godparents. The baptism of a child creates a bond between people, making them spiritual relatives, so they cannot be spouses either at the time of baptism or after it.
Who gives what
To conduct a church ceremony you need a cross, a baptismal shirt or dress, and a diaper. According to custom, the godfather must buy the cross. It can be purchased in advance or directly in the church, the main thing is that the priest has time to consecrate the cross before the ceremony.
The godmother gives the cap and baptismal gown to the child. The outfit can also be purchased at the church. The set at the church shop includes a cap, clothes and a diaper. Some godparents, instead of buying an impersonal baptismal shirt, prefer to sew it themselves. You can also buy a diaper separately if the one sold in the set does not seem large and warm enough to you.
Traditions and signs
There are many traditions and signs associated with the rite of baptism. Firstly, throughout the entire ceremony the baby should be held in their arms not by the parents, but by his godparents. If it is a boy, then before immersion in the font he should be held by his godmother, and then by his father, and vice versa.
The clothes a baby wears at baptism traditionally cannot be sold or even simply given to other people. The child’s baptismal attire is kept in the family, away from prying eyes, since it is generally believed that it is a kind of talisman against all troubles and problems.
Styles and models
The baptism of a girl is also the first “coming out” of your child. During this ceremony, all eyes will be on your baby, so it’s worth choosing a baptismal dress in which she will look charming.
Christening gown
The simplest option is a loose-fitting cotton christening shirt. These can be bought at the church shop. The classic christening dress has a loose fit and is worn directly over the head. These points make it easier to dress the baby after receiving her as a godmother after the bath.
Long outfit
Instead of a traditional shirt that barely covers the baby’s knees, you can choose a shirt that goes all the way to the toes. This elegant dress is distinguished by the presence of elegant lace trim, white thread embroidery, or small artificial flowers. These decorative elements add sophistication to the outfit.
Hooded
An additional element of the baptismal dress can be a hood. In a dress with a hood, your child will be warm, and he won’t need a cap. The hood, like the dress itself, can be decorated with lace, embroidery, satin ribbons and other small details.
Current colors
The traditional color of the baptismal dress is white. It is the white shirt that symbolizes the purity that only the souls of babies are distinguished by. But if you wish, you can deviate a little from this custom and choose a dress in other pastel shades for your baby. It can be beige, light shades of pink or blue. You can also choose a gold-colored dress, which is also a symbol of the child’s bright soul.
Length
Traditionally, the baptismal shirt is length just below the knees. But you can follow Western fashion and choose a long dress that reaches your child’s heels. The baptismal attire should not completely cover the child’s legs, since after the font the priest anoints them with Myrrh. Otherwise, the church does not regulate the length of the baptismal attire, and you choose the option that you think will best suit the child yourself.
Materials
Materials for sewing a baptismal attire should be natural and pleasant to the touch. Simple shirts can be made from soft linen or cotton. More sophisticated ones are made of thin cambric, decorated with embroidery with silk or viscose threads. An option such as a knitted dress is also popular. To create it, either thin cotton yarn or denser wool yarn is used.
How to choose
There are no special criteria for choosing a christening dress for a child, but we can give you some tips to help you choose the right outfit for your baby. Firstly, the color of the dress should be light. As already mentioned, you don’t have to stick to a classic white shirt, but dark-colored outfits are not suitable for baptism.
It is desirable that the dress has a minimum number of buttons, buttons and fasteners. The dress should be easy to put on and take off over the head so as not to delay the ceremony. If your baby's outfit includes a cap, it should also be removed during baptism.
There should not be too many decorative elements on the dress. Often the christening outfit is decorated with embroidery, appliqués, ribbons or bows. It all looks cute separately, but if the outfit is overly richly decorated, then it’s already too much. Moreover, the Orthodox Church does not encourage excessive pretentiousness.
When choosing the material from which the dress is made, pay attention not so much to its attractiveness, but to whether the baby will be comfortable in it during baptism. For summer ceremonies, it is better to choose a dress made of thin fabric, such as cotton, silk or cambric. But during baptism in winter, it is better to dress the child in a warmer dress, for example, knitted or woolen, so that the baby does not get sick after swimming in cool water.
Accessories
The only accessories needed for a baptismal shirt are a cap and a cross, which are placed on the child’s neck during the ceremony. The cap can either be made in the same style as the dress, or be a harmonious addition to it, made from a different material and with other decorations. For older girls, the cap can be replaced with a scarf, which is also decorated with embroidery or lace.
Beautiful dresses and images
For newborns
A dress for a newborn baby should be as loose and pleasant to the body as possible. In such a dress with a thick base and a translucent top, decorated with a print of white flowers, the baby will feel good, and guests will be charmed by her cute outfit. It will be complemented by a matching cap decorated with printed flowers.
Up to a year
For the baptism of a child who is only a few months old, a delicate flared shirt is suitable. The simple cut makes it easy to dress and undress your baby, and the elegant lace trim at the bottom, at the collar and along the edges of the sleeves makes the outfit elegant. The shirt is unbuttoned at the chest, and the legs remain slightly open, which is very convenient for the Anointing process. A cap decorated with lace also comes with the dress.
Baptism is an important moment in a child’s life, although he himself does not realize it. Parents want their little daughter or son to look especially cute on this day. In stores you can now find sets of baptismal clothing for both boys and girls. But if you have a sewing machine and some free time, the godmother can handle this task herself. From the article you will learn how to sew a dress for a girl's baptism with your own hands.
Choosing a style
If you have been asked to be a godmother, you will most likely have to make your own christening gown. And you will certainly think: what should it be like? This depends on several reasons:
- your girl's age;
- her height and weight;
- Availability of suitable fabrics and accessories in the store.
From birth to one and a half years
If the child is small, the simplest style will do - a straight long dress made of thin white fabric, trimmed with soft lace or sewing. The pattern will be extremely simple, you don’t even need to look for it. It is enough to take a blouse or vest that is suitable in size and cut out the details according to it, making increases in the right places.
From one and a half years and older
In this case, an elegant dress, flared, with a high or low waist, is suitable. You can decorate it with embroidery, sewing, lace. It is sewn in the same way as any other summer children's clothing. The main thing is to choose the right fabric and finishing materials, and take into account that the style must certainly be correct - that is, the dress should not be too short, with a neckline and sleeves.
What should you give up?
The design of children's clothing differs from that of adults. Some materials should be discarded. Not suitable at all:
- beads;
- beads;
- sequins;
- rigid synthetic lace;
- hooks
Important! In general, try to avoid anything that is too hard, or anything that could accidentally come off and cause harm to the baby.
Choosing material
The choice of fabric also depends on age. But there are universal materials that are suitable for girls and boys up to one and a half years old and older:
- batiste;
- chiffon;
- chintz;
- satin;
- crepe de Chine.
Important! For a girl of preschool age, you can sew a baptismal dress with your own hands from silk, tulle, or guipure, but for a young child such materials are not suitable - it is better to limit yourself to universal ones.
Color
Traditionally, light fabrics, most often white, are chosen for church ceremonies. But this is not necessary; the material can have a tint - cream, pinkish, bluish, with a green or beige tint.
Bright colors are not suitable, and it is better to refrain from printed designs - well, unless you come across beautiful material with a small, barely noticeable flower. But a matching pattern - smooth or textured - is quite suitable for a girl of three to five years old.
Making a pattern
To sew a baptismal dress for a girl with your own hands, the first thing you need to do is take care of the pattern. For a newborn, everything is extremely simple:
- Take a suit-sized vest or blouse.
- Spread it out thoroughly.
- Smooth out the seams.
- Trace on a piece of paper (graph paper is best).
- Extend the sleeves by 3-5 cm.
- Lower the bottom line by 10 cm - if the dress is a little long, nothing bad will happen if your girl doesn’t know how to walk yet.
- Cut out the patterns, there will be 2 of them in total.
Uncover
Even when you take up sewing for the first time, you can easily see that sewing clothes for babies is a real pleasure. Very little fabric is required, half a meter is enough for the eyes, the seams are short and easy to do even by hand. But still, when making children's clothing you need to follow the rules:
- Cut the shelf and back strictly along the grain.
- Do not forget to cut the allowances in the corners - this is especially important in clothes for newborns, since each fold is clearly visible.
- Select threads that strictly match the fabric in thickness and quality, otherwise you won’t end up with a lot of trouble. The same applies to needles.
The simplest dress will consist of only three parts - a solid front and two halves of the back. There are no darts, there is no need to sew in the sleeve either - it is one-piece. It is better to make the fastening at the back - these can be small buttons with air loops or ties, but it can also be done at the front if you come across a pattern for a blouse and not a vest.
Here's what the process will look like:
- Fold the fabric along the grain so that the fold is in the middle of the front or back.
- Trace the piece using a 0.5 cm seam allowance.
- Cut the workpiece according to the allowances.
- Cut the second part in the same way.
Assembly
You've probably already guessed how to sew a baptismal dress for a tiny girl. This is no more difficult than for a large doll.
Important! There is, however, one nuance - on clothes for newborns, the seams are often made on the outside so that they do not rub the baby’s delicate skin. In principle, nothing prevents you from following this principle, and to make the seams look beautiful, you first need to overlock them with an overlocker, and then trim them with thin lace or crochet them.
This is what the sewing process will look like:
- Place the pieces with the wrong sides facing in.
- Sew the shoulder and side seams either by machine or by hand.
- Hem the fastener line by 0.2 and 0.5 cm.
- Sew buttons and air loops.
- Cover the closure with lace or sewing, pleating the trim.
- Finish the neckline with the same finish.
- Cut a piece of sewing twice as long as the bottom cut.
- Sweep it along the free edge, laying folds, in the end you should get a strip that will fit exactly along the cut.
- Fold the hem section.
- Sew the embroidery with a finishing stitch on the outside.
- Finish the sleeves in the same way.
Boy's shirt
It can be sewn in the same way as a dress for a girl, just make it shorter. Or you can get out of the situation without any fuss - pick up a suitable shirt from the children's trousseau and decorate it beautifully with lace or sewing. Batiste is perhaps the most popular material for newborns, so there will certainly be something suitable in your baby’s wardrobe.
What else do you need for a christening?
In addition to a dress or shirt, you will need other items:
- diaper;
- cap
Diaper
The mother wraps the baby in a baptismal swaddling cloth, which is called kryzhma, after he is dipped into the font. It is best to sew it from the same material as the dress or shirt. The ideal option is cambric, it is soft, absorbs water well and at the same time looks very beautiful and noble. Actually, this is a traditional material for baptismal accessories.
Important! If the fabric is 110 cm wide, you will need about half a meter. The traditional dimensions of the kryzhma are 74x44 cm, but it can be cut in any direction. You will need about 2.5 more meters of lace stitching or soft lace.
Here's how easy it is to sew such a trousseau:
- Cut out a rectangle of the given size.
- Sew along the free edge with a basting stitch, using medium-length stitches, and make a gather.
- Fold the diaper and sewing right sides together, aligning the free edge of the sewing with the cut of the diaper.
- Baste your sewing, not forgetting to place folds - pay special attention to the corners, they should look especially neat.
- Topstitch the sewing.
- Overlock the free edge of the sewing and the sections of the diaper together.
Important! If you have a lace ribbon, you can first hem the edges of the edge, and then sew lace on the fold side.
Cap
You can cut it out by ripping out an existing cap of the required size - your future goddaughter will probably have more than one. In extreme cases, it will be possible to sew it again later. It consists of two parts:
- the main part is a rectangle or trapezoid;
- bottom.
Both the front part and the seam between the bottom and the main strip are trimmed with lace. Therefore, immediately prepare a piece that is approximately twice as long as the main part, and sweep it along the free edge, placing gathers or folds:
- Fold the lace strip with the main right sides so that the cut that will be stitched to the bottom completely coincides with the free edge of the lace.
Baptismal clothing in the store is usually quite expensive. But if you wish, you can please your future goddaughter and her parents if you do everything yourself. A homemade dress can look no worse than a ready-made one if you try hard enough.
There is an invisible and inextricable connection between mother and daughter. In literature and even in everyday life there are many examples of what maternal love is capable of. And one can only guess how much positive energy a child will receive from clothes sewn with his own hands by a person who loves his little one without any reason or conditions, but only because she exists. For a handicraft mother, it will be a special delight not only to look at her daughter in a beautiful and unique outfit, but also to directly participate in its creation. Patterns for creating stylish dresses for girls are very different, but we will show you the most popular ones.
We offer you several patterns for creating dresses for little girls so that you can sew them yourself from start to finish. The step-by-step execution and patterns will be understandable to both novice craftswomen and experienced craftswomen who have encountered fabric and scissors not for the first time.
Let's look at the patterns for a baby's baptismal outfit
Until relatively recently, among our great-grandmothers, baptismal dresses were considered the main outfit in the life of a little person. The ritual of sewing was special, painstaking and always homely - as a guarantee that adversity, transmitted with unscrupulous thoughts from someone else’s craftswoman, would not be brought into the child’s life. Although, at the same time, the requirements for the baptismal attire were not too high: color, rough, simple fabric, and an image of a cross on the shirt.
Even today, despite the fact that religion does not occupy the first place in the life of a modern person, we nevertheless treat the selection of a baptismal set with full responsibility. For our part, we would recommend remembering the traditions of our ancestors and sewing clothes for the Orthodox ceremony yourself, showing originality of creativity and love for the baby.
Choice of fabric.For children's clothing, fabrics should be natural and soft. If you want to use silk or elegant satin, then it is better to duplicate the dress with a cotton lining.
As for color preference, the fabric should be plain. In the old days, it was customary to dress babies for baptism in white clothes. Today, clothing cuts and colors can be selected based on gender.
A simple baptismal dress can be sewn using a ready-made dress for your daughter.
We transfer the bodice drawing onto a sheet of paper:
We lengthened it a little, relative to the original; in the picture the length is marked with a red line.
Add seam allowances.
We cut out the first part (front) and draw the back along its contour, raising the neckline.
Add a shelf so that you can sew buttons to it later:
Cut out the parts from the fabric. We cut the back in half, leaving the front as a single piece.
Sew it together.
We draw the sleeves, not forgetting about the allowances.
We cut out a strip of fabric with a length equal to the bottom of the sleeve and an arbitrary width.
Sew to the sleeve.
We fold and stitch our strip twice.
Fold in half and stitch on the side.
We attach the sleeves to the armhole and sew them on.
We sew the loops.
We measure the required length of the skirt (plus allowance) and width (the size at the bottom of the bodice is doubled). We cut out the fabric, stitch it on the side and zigzag the top edge.
Combine with the bodice and stitch.
Decorate the dress with textile flowers along the waist.
To make a fluffy dress, duplicate the main skirt with a petticoat.
Trying to make casual dresses for little fashionistas
For a newborn girl, you can use this pattern.
And for a 1 year old baby there is another simple pattern. It will be an ideal option for summer, especially if you choose a light, airy fabric, such as chintz. For little ones, it is better to use natural fabrics that do not cause irritation. Especially during the hot season.
Not too difficult to sew, such a wonderful dress can be repeated in several versions, combining different fabrics and using additional lace and decorative elements to decorate the outfit.
If your daughter is a little older, then you can use this dress pattern, which should suit a 3-year-old girl.
Having updated her everyday wardrobe, all that remains is to create an elegant dress for going out - and our princess will be fully armed with her new wardrobe.
One of the options for a beautiful dress that can be sewn without much difficulty.
Another interesting model.
And a completely irresistible ball gown, like Cinderella herself. In such a dress it would not be a shame to go to a party for a birthday or even a gala evening in honor of a wedding. And if you show a little more imagination and add light jewelry, a tiara, an elegant handbag, and perhaps even long gloves to the outfit, then no one will have any doubt that the Fairy Godmother herself conjured the image of the princess.
The patterns we offer can serve as the basis for your imagination. We believe that with their help you will be able to create many wonderful outfits for your beloved daughter and that means we have coped with our task. I wish you success in your creativity - sew with love.
And several videos on the topic of the article
He will grow up and then decide for himself.
We will talk about this with you in one of our next articles.
Of course, you can buy a ready-made baptismal shirt, but you will agree that a handmade shirt is completely different.
The christening shirt pattern is suitable for both a boy and a girl, the only difference will be in the choice of color for processing.
In general, it is customary for babies to be baptized on the 40th day after birth, and we baptized our children at this exact age, so I made the pattern for this exact age. But this pattern is also suitable for a baby up to six months.
If your baby is older, it is not at all difficult to change the pattern, you just need to take a larger base, but more on that later.
For this baptismal kit you will need:
White thin fabric: 60-65 cm for a shirt and 90 cm for a diaper, bias binding - 70 cm, sewing: 1.2 m for a shirt and 3.6 m for a diaper.
So, the first thing we will do is build a pattern.
To do this you will need a regular A4 sheet. We build a pattern as shown in the photo.
Additional information:
Back sprout depth OA=2.25 cm, shelf sprout depth OB=8.25 cm, cutout OS=15 cm.
The pattern is given already with seam allowances; nothing needs to be added when cutting.
The photo shows 2 necklines: one for the back, the other for the front + slit.
Now about increasing the pattern. For a larger size, take a sheet not of A4, but of a larger format, for example A3, and build a pattern in the same way, increasing the neckline, sleeve width and bottom width of the product.
Cut out the pattern.
To cut, fold the fabric in half and attach the paper pattern so that the shoulder seams are aligned with the fold of the fabric, trace.
Now turn the pattern over and trace the same piece symmetrically.
Thus, we will achieve with you that our shirt will only have side seams. We design the neck of the back.
We cut out our part without touching the neck.
On the reverse side we design the neck of the shelf and the cut.
As a result, we got this detail. (The shirt was photographed from bottom to top, so the image is slightly distorted. In fact, the front and back are exactly the same).
I offer you two options for processing the neck.
The first option is embroidery. If you have time and you know how to embroider at least a little, you can transfer this embroidery image onto a shirt and embroider it with satin stitch either by hand or on a machine. Click the left button to enlarge the image, then click the right button, select save as, save and print.
That is, you do not need to draw a neck line, but immediately transfer the embroidery pattern. And only when you have embroidered, can you carefully cut out the neckline close to the line. I embroidered with regular reinforced threads in 4 folds.
The second option is to process the neckline with bias tape. We will consider this option in detail.
Cut out the neck along the drawn line.
Sew on one side of the bias tape first, and then the other.
I usually sew the bias tape very carefully so that there is no movement when machine stitching.
As a result, we get a processed neck. Using the remnants of the bias tape, sew a cross onto the back.
Fold the shirt right sides inward and sew the side seams.
And the baptismal shirt is ready.
If you noticed in the photo, I made a small mistake: when I sewed the cross on the back of the shirt, I did not change the bottom thread on the machine from red to white, and the red stitching is visible on the wrong side. Pay attention to this in your work!
In addition to the baptismal shirt, you can sew a special diaper in which you will receive the baby from the font. This is an ordinary diaper measuring 90x90 cm, the edges of which are also processed with the same sewing, and again we sew a cross in the center.
Now, it will depend only on you. The photo shows my first son's shirt, which I specially embroidered for him in my hands, since I had enough time.
For my second son I had to embroider on a machine because I had much less free time. And the last time, when I sewed christening shirts for my granddaughters, I used a simple processing of the neckline with bias tape (especially since I had to sew two shirts at once, since they are twins).
We will talk to you about how to use a baptismal shirt and what to do with it after baptism in one of our next articles.
If you have any questions, write in the comments.
