Little Diva Dress

As soon as she found the chapstick, I knew I wasn't getting her to cooperate and look at the camera anymore. Oh, but she looks like a little diva in this ensemble! (For the record, I totally would not put up with diva behavior from my girls, though!)

This was my absolute FAVORITE Easter dress this year. It was a lot of work, but totally worth every bit of it! I started making a tutorial for it, but ended up sewing long into the night/early Easter morning. My sewing table is in a corner of our bedroom and my old beast of a machine is LOUD, so I wasn't going to subject my sleeping husband to flash photography on top of all of that racket.  

The construction of the skirt is similar to THIS tutorial from GirlInspired, except I cut my curved edges on more of an angle, used a rolled hem on the ruffles, and also made the ruffled inner section triangular (I wasn't ruffling any more than I had to!)

It was so heavy that I knew it would need a petticoat underneath, so I built one of those into the dress. It was definitely a good call and makes it super adorable on her, even if it is a bit more impractical when squeezing into a crowded pew on Easter Sunday.

The halter part was a breeze, so I might incorporate that part into a dress later and show you how to do it. I just don't think I have it in me to make another dress with this much ruffling. I am ruffled out. Seriously.

Now, for the twirling picture:

Oh, well, not so much. :)

Making (elaborate) Easter dresses for my girls is a lot of work, but it makes me happy to see them all dressed up and I know we are making some memories here...

To recap, here are the other dresses shown above:

Twirly Lace Dress Tutorial (green)

Boutique Style Peasant Dress with Ribbon & Pearls Necklace (pink)

Flutter Sleeve Sundress (purple)

Next Easter, I wonder if I will have four or five dresses to make? :)

I am linking this up to Project Run & Play's Sew-Along for Week 4: Spring Formal Wear.  I just couldn't wait until Week 4 of their competition to show everyone what I made this year. :)  These dresses make a great formal wear collection all together, although the Little Diva Dress is probably the fanciest one. :) You can read more about Project Run & Play HERE.

Linked up at: Craftastic Monday, Take A Look Tuesday, You Inspired, Show Off Your Stuff Party, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Make It Wear It Thursday, Somewhat Simple, What We Wore, Read, and Made, Sugar and Spice, Friday Favs Party, Show and Tell Saturday, and Threading Your Way.

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.

Summer Breeze Charm Tote

After sewing my little heart out for the girls last week, I was determined to finally make something for myself!  Last year, I won a giveaway at Quilting, Losing, and Tea (Thanks, Karen!).  I thought that the Summer Breeze II charm squares would make a lovely tote bag and have been wanting to make one for myself ever since.  Well, I needed some coordinating fabric for the handles and tossed around some different ideas for how I wanted to make it.  My friend, Anita, helped me out a bit with all of that and I ended up with a mish-mash of things to get this:

 

I saw a bag that she made with side ties and LOVED it! It really helps pull the bag together, but allows for more room if you need it (and let's face it, with all of these kids, I will probably need it!)  I think it will be a great size to take along to soccer and softball games this Spring (in our school colors of blue and gold! Go Eagles!!)

Lots of pockets for necessary things (I even did my first zipper pocket! WOOHOO!) and lots of room for snacks and things to entertain the kids/me. Now, I want to make a coordinating clutch or pouch to hold my embroidery projects- they are great to work on while waiting for practices and such. (Sadly, I am using a plastic sandwich bag right now.)

The handles are super sturdy- four layers of fabric and fusible fleece! My poor sewing machine!

I tried to FMQ the bag, but I can't lower the feed dogs on my machine and even if I cover them with the darning plate, I don't have the correct presser foot to make the tension work.  So, I just fought against the feed dogs. It isn't pretty and it was quite a workout, but it gives the ripply texture I wanted.

If it hadn't been for SewLux's Charm Madness Blog Hop, I probably would not have pushed myself to get it done so quickly. So... Thank you!

They have lots of great ideas over there, so check it out! I am linking up my charm square project for a chance to win a giveaway, but really, I have already won because I can cross this one off of my to-do list!

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...