Premmie Baby Gowns

I got involved in making premmie baby gowns through facebook when a local lady organised a sewing bee to make them. It was definitely an eye opener talking to some of the mum's who've had premmie babies, I was lucky enough to have full term healthy babies so I never realised what it was like to have a baby in the NCIU. 

So onto the gowns, they are bright and very practical, they open at the neck and shoulders with a plastic press stud so they don't have to be removed for x-rays (like they would if they were metal studs). Made out of cotton so they can be washed and dried in the industrial hospital dryers.
I make them very similar to this tutorial here except that I leave on the seam allowances and cut around the pattern.

A couple of tips; I cut them out double layered with the lining and the main fabric right sides together, use a rotary cutter on the straight parts and then trace the curves with either chalk or a pen and cut the curves with scissors.Make sure your topstitching is nice and close to the edge and also make sure you clip well (I use pinking shears on the curves) and pull each corner out with a needle so its nice and crisp.
Its been really fun making them, I've been trying to do a few in-between projects and they add up really quickly!

A couple of quick links;

The original pattern and instructions at Miracle babies

A great tutorial at Badskirt

You can buy the KAM snap pliers on ebay or from Snaps Australia and I recommend buying the smaller size 16 studs so they fit on the small and medium gowns as the sz20's are a tad too big. I've bought the studs from ebay and Snaps Australia with no problem.

The gowns can be sent to Miracle babies if you live in Australia or they can be given directly to some hospitals with a NICU unit (you are welcome to email me if you are in Australia and I can help to link you up with one if you are interested in making any).