Flutter Sleeve Sundress

Besides the zipper, this dress was the easiest Easter dress I made this year. Making the dress was definitely easier than taking pictures of her wearing it! You see, she has an ever-evolving "picture smile" and it has recently morphed into this:

Painful, right? One day she will be very embarrassed that I posted these pictures. I am sorry, dear. Just keep practicing that smile, OK?

I even tried to get a picture of her having a ridiculous tantrum, but she flipped back to that smile before it snapped.

OK, but this post is not about her modeling skills. It is about the dress...

I was tired of gathering after the last dress, so this waist has pleats instead. Love them!  It has fluttery sleeves that were super easy (especially with my new rolled hem skills)

For a little something extra, I made a fabric flower for the front to pin on. It is made similarly to THIS one, but I used scraps of the white cotton fabric instead of felt.

The back has an invisible zipper that tripped me up a little. I couldn't find my zipper foot and tried to make do (not a good idea there) and then I found out I got carried away and twisted it so I had to start over. Oops. The sash in the back ties things together nicely and fancies things up a bit.

I did make a ruffle at the bottom. Bleh. :P Ruffles. Can you tell that I am sick of ruffles? Wait until you see the next one!

So, here is the finished product:

One day I might make a tutorial for this one. It was easy enough. One day. Maybe. I am not promising anything.

This dress was super easy and I was happy with how it turned out.  The important thing is that she can still twirl with her sisters...

One more Easter dress left to show you! I am saving the best for last!!!

UPDATE: If you would like to see step-by-step pictures of how I made this dress, essenitally, you can click HERE. I made a doll-sized version- the only differences are that I did a snap instead of a zipper and, of course, the sizes.

Linked up at: You Inspired, Show Off Your Stuff Party, Make It Wear It Thursday,and Threading Your Way

Boutique Style Peasant Dress (and Ribbon & Pearls Necklace)

This dress was simple to make... in theory. :)   I didn't take pics of the whole process since I made changes along the way, but I will explain it a little bit here. I made the bodice in a peasant dress style (doesn't get too much easier than that!)

I trimmed the sleeves in eyelet lace after my first idea didn't work out. I had JUST enough on hand- only an inch to spare!

She wanted to be able to twirl around like here sister, so I made the skirt extra full. It is two full widths of fabric- that is a lot of gathering! But, it twirls...

...and this one is losing her shoe. I really need to work with these girls on their twirling.

So, two full widths of fabric to make the skirt meant that the ruffle was FOUR full widths of fabric! I gathered all of that by hand. It took FOR. EV. ER. I was going to make two ruffles at the bottom, but ran out of ambition after the first one. Oh, and I used pink thread to hem the ruffle for contrast. When I get a new sewing machine with fancy stitches I will try some of that on my hems for fun.

So, to pull all of that fabric from the loose-fitting peasant top together around the waist I added a contrasting white sash. It is sewn to the bodice with the topstitching at the top and bottom across the front of the dress. Then it doesn't wiggle around and pulls the bodice in more evenly. It just ties in the back so that it is still loose enough to be easy to put on and take off.

To really make it "pop" I added a BIG, frayed-edge fabric flower. I used THIS tutorial from Girl Inspired. It is backed in felt and pinned to the dress so I can still throw the dress in the washing machine.

I thought the dress still needed a little something and talked about it with my sister. She mentioned something about beads and suddenly a light bulb and a thought cloud with a ribbon pearl necklace were floating above my head. I was going to use pink or white ribbon, but didn't have enough on hand. The aqua gives it a nice contrast, though!

It was super easy to make and I already had the beads from something I was going to make years ago that I never got around to doing.

So, put it all together and this is what you get:

Two more Easter dresses to go! Stay tuned...

UPDATE: If you would like to see step-by-step pictures of how I made this dress, you can click HERE to see the matching doll-sized version. The process is exactly the same!

Linking up at:  Take-a-Look Tuesday, You Inspired, Show Off Your Stuff Party, Make It Wear It Thursday, and Threading Your Way.

Sneak Peek at the First Easter Dress!

I am busy sewing up a storm over here! One Easter dress is totally finished and two more are started.  The other one is still just a sketch and some random scribblings. I usually like to wait until they are all finished, but I am so excited about this one and I also wanted to audition for The Sew Off, so I only have a few hours to spare before auditions close. :)

I designed this dress for my oldest daughter from various elements of other dresses I have seen and liked.  I am still thinking of a name for it, too.  I will give the full tutorial later, but in the mean time, here are some of her modeling shots.

It has a cross-front bodice, just because I have never made one and wanted to try it.  I also fell in love with the idea of a wide band overlaid with crochet lace trim.

What little girls wouldn't love a pretty laced up back?

The challenge was getting the lacing to work with a full circle skirt.  She specifically asked for one that twirled, which meant that I had to make a dash to the store for more fabric last night.

Oh, but it twirls! I don't know how people get such cute pictures of their little girls twirling in circle skirts.  Then again, my girls are half falling over when they try to twirl so maybe it isn't all the photography.  I am going to have to make them practice twirling.

Hmmm... So if you can think of a good name for this one, I would love to hear your ideas!  UPDATE: Combining a few of the suggestions, I came up with the Twirly Lace Dress and posted the tutorial HERE. Thanks for all of your help!!

I am also linking up at GirlInspired (love her blog, for obvious reasons!) and maybe some other places on my Link Parties page.  Then, it is back to sewing! Stay tuned...

Halley's Plan B Dress

Halley's dress was not what I intended to make.  It was supposed to have a yoke across the neck and ties on one side, but I just could not get it to lay flat, so I ended up ripping it apart and going to Plan B!  It still has the big bow on one shoulder like she wanted, so it works. 

I also found a way to incorporate some extra white into the dress so that it would coordinate with her sisters' dresses. 

Here is a little tutorial of how I saved the day made it...

(Everything has a 3/8" seam allowance.)

I started with the main dress piece that I salvaged from the first idea- here are the top measurements (my daughter is a size 8).

It is cut in an a-line shape to be 24" high and 24" wide at the bottom.  You will need to cut two of the main fabric and two of the lining.  I already had the sides sewed together since I messed up Plan A, but you can do this before or after you sew the bands on the top... whatever.

To incorporate more white, I cut top bands 2" by 7" - you need four of them.

The shoulder strap is made from a yellow piece 4 3/4" by 9" - sew long sides together, flip, press, and topstitch edges.

To make the ties for the CUTE bow on the other shoulder, take strips measuring 4 3/4" wide by 28" long, fold in half lengthwise, sew, flip, and topstitch the edges.  I sewed across the bottoms of mine on an angle instead of straight across cause the "pointiness" just looked better for this style.

I gathered the tops and pinned a band to each one.

Sew the band on and then turn the lining inside out.  Stick the outside into the lining and put the right sides together like this...

Pin all the way around the top, lining everything up...

Sew in place.  If you flip it, now it should look like this...

But, wait!  We need the straps!  You probably could have put some of them in before sewing, but I figured it was enough to worry about getting everything lined up.  So, turned it inside out and seam ripped a little to put the strap and a tie in like so...

I tried the dress on her first to get the angles- you can do that or just estimate from this picture.
For the back side, I did the tie the same way, but the strap I just inserted from the right side.

Then I topstitched the back to hold it in place. (Don't look too close!  My totpstitching stinks!)

I added a ruffle at the bottom, too, for more length and more white to match the other dresses.  It is just a strip 6 inches by about 90 inches pressed in half, gathered, sewed on, and topstitched.  Kinda basic, but if you have any questions, let me know!

So, that is it!  Plan B Dress in a fraction of the time I struggled with the first idea.

I also used some scraps to make her a cute, rolled rosette fabric headband.  You can find tutorials on those everywhere... just do a search for it.

I hope this one is a lot more clear than yesterday's Bubble Dress Tutorial.  It is a totally different style. Just like my girls.
Well, that wraps up my Easter dress posts for this year... four dresses, four colors, four styles, four sweet girls!  Thanks so much for letting me show all of them off a bit! =)