pintuck practice

I am making a blessing dress for baby Ruby (which may or may not actually be her name.  We started calling her that a while ago, and I think it will stick, but don't hold me to it).

Normally when I start a new project, I just wing it, but a blessing dress is special.  It should have french seams and pretty details and not look like mom made it all willy nilly.  I decided this was going to require some research and practice.

Step one, the research (borrowed from my mother-in-law):

There is a newer version available, but I am digging the retro 1979 copy.  It is chock-full of handy information and diagrams.

Step two, the practice (diamond pintucks):

I used this great Riley Blake print to guide my pintucks, no marking required (love that).  I just folded along the dots and sewed.  I'm sure it will be harder to replicate on a plain, white fabric, but it was great practice anyway.  Plus, now I have a cute piece of pintuck fabric for another dress!

Diamond pintucks are a lot easier than they look.  First you sew all of your pintucks in rows going in one diagonal direction.  Iron them down so the tucks are all going in the same direction.  Then sew all of the rows of pintucks going the other diagonal direction, creating the diamond.   Iron again and you are all done.  It looks pretty special (in my opinion) for not all that much extra work.