I am the type of person who just gets rid of a lot of things I’m not using anymore. But there are certain things I want to hold on to not for me, but for my children.
A few of those special outfits they wore, like Henry’s Christening outfit and Molly’s first dress that Grammie made her. Even outfits that I wore when I was a little girl that I get to see Molly in now.
I want Henry and Molly to have these when they have children or just to look back on when they get older.
I did a little research on how to preserve clothing then I kind of did it the easy way. I also wanted to include some photo’s of them wearing the outfits as well as any photo’s of myself wearing them.
Storing Special Kids Clothes
Supplies: (affiliate links added for your convenience. See my full disclosure here.)
- Special outfits
- Acid free tissue paper
- Box or archival box (I just bought a box from Michael’s
- Photos
First I gathered all the outfits I wanted to store so far. Henry’s Christening outfit, Molly’s First Christmas Dress, and some others that were special to me.
I then hand washed them. That’s an important step because over time the dirt will stain, and get embedded into the fabric. It can also attract bugs or moths.
After they were dry, I started layering them flat in-between a few sheets of the archival tissue paper. I tried not to fold them but if I had to I put the tissue paper in the fold as well.
I also put photo’s of the kids wearing the outfits in-between tissue paper on top of the outfits.
This special Christmas dress, my sister wore it on her first Christmas, I wore it for my first Christmas and I put Molly in it on her first as well. I included pictures of everyone wearing it and the date. My sister, me and my daughter. I think it’s really nice to have it all in one place for her to look back on.
To store the box I am placing it in this cedar chest which was my Grandmother’s that I repainted. Since I don’t have a true archival box I think this is the safest place.
At some point I will probably separate the the clothes for each child and maybe put the photos in a nice Shutterfly book with some special memories on the inside.
It’s a nice feeling knowing this is done because if something happens and I am not around Henry and Molly will have this special box to look at and understand what everything is.
Mary Sue Megchelsen Chatfield
Wednesday 8th of February 2017
What a great idea ~ love it!