{"id":4967,"date":"2018-04-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prd-www.mccdn.io\/vitals\/?p=4967"},"modified":"2024-12-10T16:31:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T16:31:46","slug":"volunteer-sews-tiny-gowns-for-grieving-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/updates-www.mccdn.io\/vitals\/volunteer-sews-tiny-gowns-for-grieving-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteer sews tiny gowns for grieving parents","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

By Cheryl Reid-Simons<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tiny gowns Katie Foster makes could easily be mistaken for doll clothes. It\u2019s hard to imagine most of them fitting a real child, sized more to fit a soda bottle than what we picture as a newborn.<\/p>\n

But the children she sews for are real. They are loved. And their short lives mattered. That\u2019s the message Foster hopes to give the grieving parents whose children are lovingly clothed in her gowns.<\/p>\n

For the past three years, Foster, 47, has been taking donated or purchased wedding gowns and turning them into burial gowns for babies who die before or shortly after birth. An accomplished seamstress, Foster has made everything from custom wedding gowns to mascot costumes for schools.<\/p>\n

But she says she believes the bereavement gowns are why she learned to sew at the age of four.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always kind of wondered why I could sew, why I had this skill,\u201d she says. \u201cNow I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster, who has three adult children, says she also knows the pain of a pregnancy that ends with an empty nursery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe women in my family, we have an easy time getting pregnant but a hard time staying pregnant,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She suffered early losses herself and says too often people are uncomfortable talking about miscarriage and early infant loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should\u00a0be OK to talk about loss,\u201d she says. \u201cNormal death is hard enough. But losing a child, losing a baby, it\u2019s death on a whole other level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster began sewing gowns for a national organization based in Texas but stopped after her full-time schooling and job search left little free time. When she took up sewing again, Foster decided to look for local hospitals that could use her gowns.<\/p>\n

She now provides gowns for MultiCare and Madigan Army Medical Center. She also sews small flannel blankets for babies too tiny for even her smallest gowns.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Foster says she uses wedding gowns not just because they typically are made with beautiful fabric but because of what they represent.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody wants to wear their Mom\u2019s wedding gown,\u201d she says. \u201cBut there\u2019s so much joy and love in it. You plan for you wedding and you put your hopes and dreams into that dress.\u201d<\/p>\n

But about a year ago, a grief counsellor pointed out that the white gowns closely resemble Christening gowns and not all families who use them share her Christian faith.<\/p>\n

At first, the suggestion to change things up felt like a criticism, she admits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking at it from a \u2018me\u2019 point of view,\u201d she says. \u201cThe natural instinct is to make an item that fits our own vision of what an angel looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

After thinking about it, Foster says she realized pretty quickly that it wasn\u2019t about what she wanted the gowns to look like.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everybody has the same idea of what they want their baby to look like the last time they see them,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s my duty to try to give them something for their child.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today, Foster has wedding gowns in her closet, ready to be sewn into gowns. But the hospitals she works with already have all they need right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to find more hospitals,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

And while she\u2019d like to be making more gowns, she\u2019s grateful that the demand isn\u2019t high.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means babies aren\u2019t dying,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Foster typically doesn\u2019t meet the families who use her gowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an anonymous thing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In part, that protects her from the emotional toll and helps her focus on the handiwork. But it\u2019s also because she doesn\u2019t want any families to feel like they need to pay her or even write her a note.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want them to feel as if they owe me anything,\u201d she says. \u201cThe entire intent of the gowns is just so they know someone in the world cares that their child existed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tiny gowns Katie Foster makes could easily be mistaken for doll clothes. But the children she sews for are real.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":315,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foundations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVolunteer sews tiny gowns for grieving parents - MultiCare Vitals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/updates-www.mccdn.io\/vitals\/volunteer-sews-tiny-gowns-for-grieving-parents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Volunteer sews tiny gowns for grieving parents - MultiCare Vitals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The tiny gowns Katie Foster makes could easily be mistaken for doll clothes. 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