The First Communion is a very special event in the life of children and their families.

The First Communion is also known as First Holy Communion. This is a very important ceremony in the Catholic Church.

The First Communion is also celebrated in other Christian churches such as the Presbyterian, Lutheran, and some Anglican Churches.

The age of children taking their First Communion is generally between 5 and 8 years.

Usually, sometime during the month of May, a child prepares with some intense studies for this step into their church’s family.

It is customary, during the ritual, that a girl wears a long white dress along with a white veil or other white headpiece while a boy wears a fancy white or traditional dark blue suit with a white shirt, dress shoes, and conservative tie.

The last day for normal orders of First Communion dresses is March 30

How to Select your Flower Girl

The flower girl is usually between 4 and 8 years old and is ‘special’ to the bride, the groom, or both. Often the selected flower girl is a niece or cousin, a close family friend, or a neighbor. Some weddings have two (2), three (3), or even four (4) flower girls. Sometimes there is no flower girl at all.

The flower girl walks with a basket of flowers, scattering flowers, flower petals, flower stems or potpourri, before the bride makes her trip down the isle. Preferably, the basket is small and wrapped in satin and decorated with ribbons or flowers.

The flower girl usually walks down the aisle behind the bridesmaids. On some occasions the flower girl walks in front of (or behind) the maid of honor, depending on the ceremony.

Usually the flower girl is no younger than 4 years old as a younger child may become easily confused, or frightened. Girls older than eight may be better reserved for reading something aloud during the ceremony, or even junior bridesmaid.

The christening or baptismal gown is traditional ceremonial garb for a child being baptized in most Christian denominations. The custom of wearing a christening gown goes back to early Christianity and what was known as “white week”. The white week was a time when newly baptized Christians wore white linen robes to symbolize their rebirth and new life.

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Initially, bonnets were a wreath of leaves and flowers worn to celebrate the coming of spring, the beginning of new life after the long cold winter.
In addition to natural flowers and leaves, many material were used to make these decorative wreaths, including paper, fabric, ribbon, hair, feathers, and sea shells. The round shape symbolized the shape of the sun and the path the earth takes around the sun. 

Baby bonnets were made with a wide brim and a deep curtain at the neckline to protect the baby from sun, rain and wind. 

Recently wearing a baby bonnet became popular and fashonable as babies of the rich and famous were seen wearing baby bonnets.

These baby’s bonnets are made using either expensive fabrics or traditional gingham. During the summer, baby bonnets would be made of light weight fabrics such as batiste, In the winter bonnets would be made using velvet, satin, moiré, and heavier materials in addition to being more lavishly decorated.

While most of the baby bonnets are designed for girls, there are bonnets or caps designed for boys also. The design of caps for boys is much simpler. These caps are worn when taking baby pictures, and often complement the christening outfit. 

Babies up to one year old, frequently wear a soft cotton cap to help regulate their head temperature. Baby’s bonnets usually cover the hair and ears, leaving the forehead uncovered, thus framing the face.

Most bonnet worn today are soft head coverings worn by babies. Todays bonnets are styled similar to bonnets women used to wear in the 1800’s when bonnets were fabricated from several layers of fabric by women on isolated prairie farms using available material. 

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Here are some babymeasurements that Bumba Bella Boutique uses, as a guide, when making the Preemie and Newborn baby items. This chart attempts to reconcile differences in data available. Please note that the size of the items made using this chart may vary with style. In addition, this information is representative of babies measurements which vary greatly due to  innumerable factors.

Originally, rompers were only for baby boys and were one-piece suits. Boys rompers were mostly worn by pre-school children, being popular among nursery age children. Rompers are functionally and intended mainly as a play suit. Although some formal rompers are made using fabrics such as velvet and silk, most rompers are made using light weight fabric and are designed to be loose fitting. Rompers come in different styles and closed, almost always, with buttons. Rompers come with different pants and sleeves lengths. Some romper styles have the blouse joined to the pants. More stylish now is the separate two (2) piece outfit, mostly with front buttoning. The light blue fabric is especially popular. Rompers are one of several boys garments that have a front pleated insert. This insert is usually hand smocked although some may be machine smocked or machine embroidered. When the front insert is enhanced with picture smocking, these pictures often use animals, cars, trucks, buses, and trains among other topics.

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Drawn-work Lace is painstakingly made by carefully removing, by hand, some threads from the fabric and then embroidering with other threads to form a lace like fabric.

It is strikingly beautiful. The image to the right shows one of the steps in making drawn-work lace using 1/16 gingham fabric. 

Pulled-thread work and withdrawn work are synonyms. Gingham fabric is especially suitable for pulled-thread or withdrawn work because this fabric is evenly woven. That is, gingham has the same number of threads per inch in warp and weft. In addition, the weave of gingham fabric is slightly open; too closely woven a weave will cause the fabric to pucker when embroidered. Gingham weave, also, is not too open. The more open the weave the easier the threads can be displaced when the garment is laundered affecting the quality of the item. 

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Click here to visit our 'how to make drawn-work lace tutorial'.

Each 'Smocked Dress by BumbaBella' is a new Hand Smocked Dress, made in USA by Naturalized US citizens. We are legal emigrants to the USA, from Colombia, and proud of both our adopted country and the heritage we bring with us from our land of birth. We learned our seamstress skills in our land of birth and improved upon those skills here in the USA.

A cummerbund (sometimes spelled cummerband or cumberbund or cumberband) is an accessory that consists of a broad waist sash, usually pleated, which is often worn with formal wear. The cummerbund was first introduced by military officers as an alternative to a waistcoat, and later expanded to civilian use. The modern use of the cummerbund is an alternative to the semi-formal dress code.

The cummerbund is essentially a wide band around the waist, made using fabrics of many colors. Although, initially the cummerbund had the pleats face up, the contemporary use is with the pleats down as its use is purely aesthetic.