Baptism is an important step for a child and his family. You need to be able to properly prepare for this solemn event, collect the necessary things and pass an interview with Batiushka. This article talks about how to sew a baptismal kit with your own hands and what you need for this.
The baptismal shirt is the first item of clothing that a child is dressed in after the baptismal procedure. According to the rules, such a shirt should be long and light, mainly made from natural fabrics. By tradition, a shirt is provided God-parents.
Attention! There is a special pointer on the screw handle that helps the craftswoman find the right grip, thread control, finding the slot of the tongue, and so on.
Coarse calico is a completely natural material that is made from thick, non-twisted threads using a standard plain weave. Yarn with this method is woven with each other crosswise. Because of this, calico will be the most common fabric for the sacrament of baptism or bed linen.
In the 70-90s, baptismal shirts were made from cambric. This is a 100% cotton material made from a fairly thin twisted thread of a plain weave, thanks to which the cambric is durable, but at the same time soft, a little silky.
Note! In the Soviet Union, it was made according to GOST at various factories, and now only a few enterprises adhere to GOSTs for cambric.
Model for boys This material is soft, beautiful and quite durable. Satin is made from two types of yarn, which is dense for the warp, and thinner for the outside. This gives the product softness and a glossy shine that is similar to silk.
Material composition: 100% cotton. Mainly produced in Russia.
christening gown for girl The product for a boy or a girl differs only in the type of finish. Below is how to sew baptismal shirt with your own hands.
The first step is to take measurements.
What needs to be measured:
The style should be such that the child feels free in the product, and the movements are not constrained.
The color of the shirt is most often white or cream - this symbolizes the innocence of the child. After the baby is lowered into the water, it is necessary to put on a shirt or a cap, here the choice is made by the parents themselves. The following is how to build a pattern for a boy's christening shirt.
Dress pattern for a girl Step by step sketching process:
Shirt trim with lace When the sketch is ready, you need to carefully cut it out on paper with scissors. To check the size, you can attach a drawing to the child. If necessary, edit the pattern.
Elements of the product are transferred to the fabric:
Baptismal shirt for a boy to sew with your own hands. To begin with, all finished parts must be fixed with pins or needles. After that, on the inside, start sewing the shirt.
Baptism of a newborn baby It is better to do this with a machine so that the seams are stronger. When the product is sewn, it must be turned inside out and the edges should be processed.
The neckline, sleeves and seams can be worked with a zigzag so that the fabric does not crumble. This procedure is usually performed on an overlock, which will save a lot of time.
For decorating shirts, lace or satin ribbon is mainly used. For girls, it is better to sew lace around the bottom of the shirt. And for boys, the ribbon is sewn in a vertical line along the side of the shelf.
Materials and tools for work:
Name shirt with a hood Attach lace to the back and shelves of the product. The edge of the lace should be several centimeters larger than the main element. Sew on lace around the neckline, shoulders and sleeves.
Cut off excess fabric. Do the steps with lace on the back of the dress. Fold the sleeves with each other in the middle. Attach lace of smaller width along the folded edge of the sleeve and fix with pins.
Shirt for adults Cut off excess pieces of material. Do the same with the other sleeve. Sew the fixed places and pull the thread to collect the canvas.
Fold the shelf and back with each other. Make stitches on the shoulders and iron the allowances. Insert sleeves into armholes and secure. If necessary, pull the thread to tighten the fabric more.
Process the edges of the dress on an overlocker or manually with a zigzag stitch. Bend to the floor cm and flash. In the same way, process the back of the dress.
Position the front of the lace skirt over the linen petticoat and sew together. Sweep the cuts in one line along the top line of the skirt to gather the material. Pull the ends of the yarn to gather the skirt.
fabric cutting process Sew back elements. Gather the back of the skirt and sew it to the back. Make allowances along the chest line. Sew on a loop and a few buttons at the top. Fold the shelf and back with the outer parts together. Fold the details of the skirt and bodice. Wrap the bottom of the dress and stitch.
In figures 2 and 3 you can see examples of models for both girls and boys.
The basic set for baptism consists of a pectoral cross, a shirt or a christening shirt, sometimes they use a cap, a white cotton cap with lace. Be sure to buy an icon for the child and candles.
Note! It is also necessary to have two towels, one for the child, the second - for the Father (after the procedure, the towel remains with him).
You can sew a baptismal set for a girl with your own hands according to a pattern from the Internet or various needlework sites. Products can be with a smell or on ties.
Cap for a child from a year old Thus, sewing a christening shirt is not very difficult. The main thing is to correctly take measurements from the child and build a pattern. The process itself takes no more than an hour. You can decorate products at will, but most often white lace or oblique trim is used.
Baptism is an important moment in the life of a child, 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 christening clothes for both boys and girls. But with a sewing machine and a certain amount of free time, the godmother will cope with this task herself. From the article you will learn how to sew a dress for a girl for baptism with your own hands.
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? It depends on several reasons:
If the child is small, the simplest style is suitable - a straight long dress made of thin white fabric, trimmed with soft lace or sewing. The pattern will also be extremely simple, you don’t even need to look for it. It is enough to take a blouse or vest of a suitable size and cut out the details on it, making an increase in the right places.
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 materials for decoration, and take into account that the style must certainly be correct - that is, the dress should not be too short, under the neck and with sleeves.
The design of children's clothing is different from the decor of an adult. Some materials should be discarded. Completely unsuitable:
Important! In general, try to avoid anything that is too hard, or anything that could accidentally come off and hurt your baby.
The choice of fabric also depends on age. But there are universal materials that are suitable for girls and boys up to a year and a half and older:
Important! A girl of preschool age can sew a dress for christening with her own hands from silk, tulle, guipure, but for a baby of early age such materials will not work - it is better to limit yourself to universal ones.
Traditionally, light fabrics are chosen for church rites, most often white. But this is not necessary, the material can be tinted - cream, pinkish, bluish, with a green or beige tint.
Bright colors are not suitable, and it is better to refrain from a printed pattern - well, unless it comes across beautiful material into a small, barely noticeable flower. But the pattern in tone - smooth or textured, is quite suitable for a girl of three to five years.
To sew a baptismal dress for a girl with your own hands, the first step is to take care of the pattern. For a newborn, everything is extremely simple:
Even when you start 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 make even by hand. But still, when making children's clothing, you need to follow the rules:
The simplest dress will consist of only three parts - a solid shelf and two halves of the back. There are no darts, you don’t need to sew a sleeve either - it is one-piece. It is better to make a clasp at the back - these can be small buttons with air loops or ties, but you can also do it in front if you come across a blouse pattern, not a vest.
Here's what the process will look like:
You've probably already guessed how to sew a christening gown for a tiny girl. It is no more difficult than for a large doll.
Important! There is, however, one caveat - on clothes for newborns, the seams are very often made on the outside so that they do not rub the delicate skin of the baby. In principle, nothing prevents you from following this principle, and in order for the seams to look beautiful, you first need to overcast them with an overlock, and then sheathe them with thin lace or crochet.
Here is the sewing process:
It can be sewn in the same way as a dress for a girl, only made shorter. And you can get out of the situation and completely without fuss - pick up a suitable shirt from the children's dowry and beautifully trim it 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.
In addition to a dress or shirt, you will need other items:
In a baptismal swaddle, which is called kryzhma, the mother wraps the baby 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. In fact, this is a traditional material for baptismal supplies.
Important! If the width of the fabric is 110 cm, you will need about half a meter. The traditional size of the kryzhma is 74x44 cm, but it can be cut in any direction. You will need about 2.5 meters more of lace or soft lace.
Here's how easy it is to sew such a dowry:
Important! If you have a lace ribbon, you can first hem the edges of the hem, and then sew lace from the side of the fold.
You can carve it out by opening the existing bonnet of the right size - for sure your future goddaughter has more than one. In extreme cases, it will be possible to sew it again later. It consists of two parts:
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 about twice the length of the main part, and sweep it along the free edge, laying gathers or folds:
Baptismal clothes in the store are 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 finished one, if you try hard enough.
Baptism of a child is one of the most exciting ceremonies in the life of a baby and his parents. This is the first touch to the sacred. For a little man, baptism is the beginning of spiritual life.
The Sacrament of Baptism, as defined by the Church, was established by Jesus Christ himself.
At the end of I - beginning of II centuries. there was no special sequence in the performance of the Sacrament. The rite of Baptism included an announcement, repentance with renunciation of previous delusions and sins, and the rite of immersion in water.
At the end of the II and in the III century. new actions are added to the rite of Baptism: reading new prayers, lighting the water before the sacrament, anointing with oil. By the same time, the custom of dressing the newly baptized in white clothes and the laying of the cross dates back.
According to the Charter of the Church, an infant should be baptized on the eighth or fortieth day of life. Currently, children are baptized at an older age - from five months to one and a half years.
Babies must have godparents (one godparent is allowed), godparents who take responsibility for their godchildren and must introduce them to church sacraments and explain the foundations of Orthodoxy.
During the baptism of an infant, the recipient brings and holds the child in his arms throughout the sacrament until immersion in the font (a large bowl-shaped vessel that serves to conduct the sacrament of baptism in the Christian Church). After immersing the child three times in the font, he returns to the arms of his godfather, who wipes the body of the baby and puts on him clean new clothes, which symbolizes the rebirth of the child for spiritual life.
The sacrament of baptism includes several stages. The sequence of holy baptism:
1) consecration of water;
2) consecration of oil;
3) immersion in a font;
4) the vestment of the newly baptized.
1) Consecration of water.
The consecration of water for Baptism is one of the most important parts of the rites (sequentially combined prayers, chants, actions), which has the deepest connection with the sacrament itself.
In prayers and actions during the consecration of water for Baptism, all aspects of the sacrament are revealed, the whole connection with the world of mothers, and life in all its manifestations, is shown.
Saint John the Baptist called the people to repentance and cleansing from sins in the waters of the Jordan. And Jesus Christ himself sanctified the water element by being baptized by John.
2) Consecration of oil.
After the water is blessed, it is anointed with oil (sacred oil). Oil symbolizes healing, light and joy, a sign of reconciliation between God and man.
3) Immersion in the font.
Baptism is a sacrament in which the believer, when the body is immersed three times in water, with the invocation of God the father and son, and the Holy Spirit, dies to a carnal, sinful life, and is reborn from the Holy Spirit into a spiritual, holy life.
4) The vestment of the newly baptized.
Immediately after the three-time immersion of the newly baptized, he is dressed in new, light-colored clothes. Putting on a “light robe” after Baptism marks the return of a person to the integrity and innocence that he possessed in paradise, the restoration of his true nature, distorted by sin. Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, compares these clothes with the shining robes of Christ, who was transfigured on Mount Tabor. Not in sin, but in paradise, the true nature of man is revealed, and in the sacrament of Baptism he regains his original garment of glory. Together with clothes, a cross is put on the newly baptized. During the sacrament of baptism, the baby is dipped into the font, dried in a specially prepared towel and dressed in ceremonial clothes.
Russian traditions and modern trends in the manufacture of christening clothes
In the Bible, after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he wore clothes "white as light." Traditionally, during the rite of baptism, babies were dressed in white shirts, symbolizing birth with Christ for spiritual life.
Since ancient times, shirts and dresses for baptism were considered one of the main outfits of a person. It was made by hand in order to wear one single time and then keep as a keepsake for the rest of your life. Baptismal shirts for boys and christening dresses for girls were embroidered in the best traditions of the region and region.
Traditionally, in the 18th century, a simple-cut shirt (with a one-piece sleeve), without trim, and fasteners, made of linen or cotton, was used for baptism, a towel was included in the kit. Most often, the kit was made by hand. Already at 20 in the sacrament of baptism takes place in the church.
As for clothes, there is a custom: during the sacrament, the person being baptized puts on new white clothes as a symbol of the cleansing of the soul from sin and the beginning of a new life.
For babies, a shirt with embroidered crosses on the chest, shoulders and back was preferable.
By the beginning of the 21st century, two directions had formed in the manufacture of baptismal clothes:
Traditional approach;
Fundamentally new approach.
A traditional baptismal set made in the Assumption Monastery is white with embroidery. The set consists of a baptismal shirt and a bed sheet with a decoratively decorated corner. There is also a traditional baptismal set, consisting of a shirt and a bonnet. Finishing - Vologda lace in the form of angels, a cross and a fragment from a church prayer. This kit can be used regardless of the gender of the child.
In modern life, with its pace, they no longer sew by hand, but buy it in a store or receive it as a gift from relatives and friends. And there is nothing reprehensible in this - the church considers this fact absolutely normal. Modern manufacturers offer a large selection of clothes for the christening of children.
Since 1917, the church has been separated from the state, and for almost 70 years people have been alienated from spiritual life. And only in recent years have people returned to the faith and introduced their children to spirituality. The church, in turn, makes some concessions to established traditions. Since parents want to see their child smartly dressed, the church makes concessions to them and allows them to use modern design in ritual clothes.
Also now, not all Orthodox churches honor the tradition of dipping a child.
The modern trend is to give a solemn look to the side, decorating with various finishes, because baptism is the day of the spiritual birth of a child.
Modern trends in the manufacture of christening clothes:
A clear division of baptismal sets by gender: for boys and girls;
Use of new materials;
The complication of the cut;
Various color solutions.
Below are patterns of christening clothes for children:
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View the full catalog of children's patterns:
The baptism of a child is considered the first and most important Christian rite, a spiritual birth. This sacrament, unlike numerous church rites, is designed to change the inner life of the child, and not the earthly mission. Thrice immersion of an infant in a font, accompanied by prayers, or pouring water on an older child joins the soul to God and the Church.
The Great Sacrament is unthinkable without the necessary paraphernalia: a pectoral cross, a candle and a baptismal set (shirt and kryzhma). Each of these relics has its own symbolic and spiritual meaning.
This is the ceremonial attire in which the baby is dressed during the sacrament of baptism. It doesn't matter if it's a boy or a girl.
Putting on white clothes means the cleansing of the baptized person from sins and the obligation to lead a pure life. The white palette symbolizes the manifestation of joy from turning to Christ.
Mandatory requirements for clothing for baptism are the same. She must:
To these requirements, one should only add one more, dictated by the care of the child - christening clothes must be made of natural fabrics (softened linen, cotton, batiste), breathable and absorbent (in order to prevent allergies and other troubles).
All other signs of clothing for baptism are conditional, optional and invented by the laity:
This sign is by no means associated with any negative consequences or troubles for the baptized. A situation may simply arise that a size 20 shirt purchased with love will turn out to be small for a grown hero. After all, last week he barely got into a size 24 jumpsuit. Or vice versa. The hope that the goddaughter will reach a mass of 7 kg in a month becomes more and more illusory every day. And at the time of the sacrament, the child will literally drown in an outfit that is 2-3 sizes larger.
Kryzhma is a square white diaper (can be insulated). When the sacrament is performed, the baby is wrapped in it after the font. The obligation to make or buy kryzhma lies with the godmother.
Needless to say, the symbolic diaper should be made of natural fabric and exceed the size of the child? But everything else - decorating the kryzhma with lace, embroidering the date of the sacrament and the name of the baptized on the corner - is a matter of desire and taste. These moments do not affect the correctness of the christening.
After getting wet in the font, the kryzhma does not need to be washed. The water in the bowl generally has healing properties. Babies do not get colds after immersing themselves in the font, even during the winter months.
After the sacrament, the kryzhma remains in the house where the baby lives. This relic is endowed with miraculous powers - to heal a child from diseases and evil eye.
Kryzhma, made by hand, is a wonderful spiritual gift to the godson (-tse) from the godmother.
To sew a relic, you need to prepare:
Manufacturing
Immediately after the rite, the child is dressed in a white shirt, testifying that the baptized person begins a new life in Christ and is transfigured by the Divine Light.
The traditional spacious shirt has a simple cut with a minimum number of fasteners and ties, does not restrict movement and does not cause inconvenience to the baby. The godmother can sew such clothes on her own. It is better for beginner needlewomen to opt for two types of cut shirts:
The shirt, as a sacred relic, is also endowed with healing properties. In the event of a child’s illness, mothers put on a shirt, put it on top of the body (if it is already small) or leave it under the patient’s pillow.
The shirt cannot be transferred to other hands. She does not possess healing powers in relation to other children.
It is difficult to explain in words the process of making a shirt. It would probably be better to watch this one once than to listen and memorize the algorithm of actions ten times.
Many mothers think about whether it is necessary to buy a baptismal dress, a bonnet (hat), booties and other wardrobe items for their daughter?
Attention! The correct answer is you can, but you don't have to. More precisely, everything comes from the personal preferences of the parents. The church is loyal to any kind of clothing. In other words, the outfit for boys and girls has no fundamental difference.
To perform the sacrament, it is enough to bring a cross with you (buy on the spot), a shirt and a cap. If parents want to see their daughter in a dress and cap, please, the priest will not mind.
It is interesting! In the West, Catholics don't dip the baby into the bowl when performing the ceremony. This is where sophisticated models of baptismal dresses, sundresses and hats follow.
For the Slavs, the sacrament goes differently, so those who are baptized need shirts that can be easily and quickly put on, and everything else is surplus.
This question is often asked by mothers of not only girls, but also boys. No. A baptismal cap is not a mandatory attribute of the sacrament.
At the entrance to the church, only married women cover their heads as a sign of humility and respect for the Lord and husband. There is no need for a little girl to put on a cap, except perhaps from the cold and drafts.
Moreover, we remember the rite of cutting hair as part of the sacrament of baptism. In this case, the cap will interfere at all.
The rites are followed by baptisms. This is a holiday for the whole family, which gives hope for a brighter future and faith in the motto "everything will be fine!".
Of course, it is necessary to celebrate an important event dressed up, in a good mood and with close relatives (friends). In symbolic clothes, the baby will be simply unique! Such an angel!
Grow up and decide for yourself.
We will talk about this in one of our next articles.
Of course, you can buy a ready-made christening shirt, but you will agree that a hand-made shirt is completely different.
The christening shirt pattern is suitable for both a boy and a girl, the difference will only be in the choice of color for processing.
In general, it is customary to baptize babies on the 40th day after birth, and we baptized our children at this age, so I built the pattern for this 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 large 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 trim - 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 need a regular A4 sheet. We build a pattern, as shown in the photo.
Additional information:
The depth of the sprout of the back OA = 2.25 cm, the depth of the sprout of the shelf OB = 8.25 cm, the cutout OS = 15 cm.
The pattern is given already with allowances for the seams, nothing needs to be added when cutting.
The photo shows 2 neck lines: one for the back, the other for the front + cut.
Now about the increase in 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 neck, sleeve width and width of the bottom of the product.
Cut out the pattern.
For cutting, fold the fabric in half and attach a paper pattern so that the shoulder seams are aligned with the fold of the fabric, circle.
Now turn the pattern over and circle the same part symmetrically.
Thus, we will achieve with you that our shirt will have only side seams. We make the neck of the back.
We cut out our part without touching the neck.
On the reverse side, we make out the neck of the shelf and the cut.
As a result, we got this detail. (The shirt is photographed from the bottom up, 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 to a shirt and embroider it with a stitch either by hand or on a typewriter. Magnify the image by pressing the left button, then right-click, select save as, save and print.
That is, you do not need to draw a neck line, but immediately translate the embroidery pattern. And only when you embroider, you can carefully cut the neckline close to the line. I embroidered with ordinary reinforced threads in 4 additions.
The second option is the processing of the neck with an oblique inlay. We will consider this option in detail.
Cut out the neck along the drawn line.
Sew first one side of the bias tape, and then the other.
I usually sew the bias tape very carefully so that there is no misalignment when machine stitching occurs.
As a result, we get a processed neck. From the remnants of the oblique inlay, we sew a cross on the back.
Fold the shirt right side in and sew down the side seams.
And the baptismal shirt is ready.
If you noticed in the photo, I made a small mistake: when I sewed a cross on the back of the shirt, I did not change the bobbin thread on the typewriter from red to white, and a red line 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 take the child 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. In the photo is the shirt of my first son, which I specially embroidered for him on my hands, since there was enough time.
For the second son, I had to embroider already on a typewriter, because there was much less free time. And the last time I sewed baptismal shirts for my granddaughters, I used a simple neck trim with bias tape (especially since I had to sew two shirts at once, since they are twins).
About how to use a baptismal shirt and what to do with it after baptism, we will talk with you in one of our next articles.
If you have any questions write in the comments.
