Easter Dress!

Well, I finished Cate's Easter dress and didn't even have to stay up until 3AM to do it (unlike last year)!  I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.  There are a few things I'd do differently if I was making the dress again, but overall, it's just what I envisioned for her Easter dress.

I used a vintage repro pattern from Simplicity and the fabric is quilting cotton from the Robert Kaufman Mingle line called Spring Pebble.  I like to think of the print as Jelly Beans.  :)  I also used some pink grosgrain ribbon and a flower button from Joann's for the waistline detail and a tiny pink bow, also from Joann's, at the neckline.

 

It was so beautiful outside on Easter Sunday!  It was exactly the kind of weather you want for Easter--sunny, warmish, and springlike.  It's also the kind of weather I rarely saw on Easter, growing up.  You can't really count on spring arriving in Iowa until late April, long past Easter-time.  This did not stop my mother from dressing me in cute spring dresses anyway.  There was one memorable Easter where it snowed and I wore my short-sleeved dress and sandles anyway.  We always spent the weekend of Easter at my grandparent's house so there wasn't the possibility of last minute wardrobe changes.

 

I took these pictures of Cate while we walked around our apartment complex.  Taking posed pictures of toddlers is...challenging.  I have enormous respect for people who do it professionally.  Getting Cate to sit still at all is a minor miracle, let alone convincing her to smile and look at the camera.  Candids are equally challenging because as soon as she sees me with the camera, she either stares at me with a, "What are you doing?" look on her face or she tries to grab the camera.  Pleas of, "No, no, keep playing," go unheeded.  It's easiest to take a picture when she's not looking, such as when she's walking away from me.

I had envisioned making a coordinating skirt for myself and a tie from the jelly bean fabric for my husband, but I would have had to have started several weeks earlier to accomplish that.  I still like the idea for getting family pictures taken, so maybe I'll still do it.

I hope all of you had a lovely Easter Sunday (or just a lovely Sunday if you don't celebrate Easter)!

Sewing Cate's Easter Dress

I've mentioned before that my mom sewed many of my clothes when I was little and she sewed every Christmas and Easter dress I wore until I was in high school.  I suspect my Grandma sewed Mom's Easter and Christmas dresses, too.  So, there's a little self-imposed pressure for me to do the same.  So far, I haven't been on the ball with the Christmas dresses, but I sewed last year's Easter dress and right now I'm working on this year's Easter dress.


I'm using Simplicity 2629 which is a vintage reproduction.  I'm using a quilting weight cotton fabric. I'm not sure how to categorize the print, but the pink, green, and orange spots remind of jelly beans, making it a good choice for an Easter dress.  To say that I like this pattern would be an understatement--three out of the four dresses I've made for Cate are from this pattern!  The first was her coming home dress, the second was last year's Easter dress and the third is this year's Easter dress.  The design is fairly simple, but I've managed to make each dress unique.  This time, I am making the shorter version of the dress with the following changes:

• No lace at the collar or sleeves
• Self-fabric ruffle at the bottom
• Extend the tucks to the waistline
• Sew a ribbon at the waistline
• Snaps on the back instead of buttons (have done this in the previous versions, too)

So far, I have the dress cut out, the ruffle pieces sewn together, gathering stitches sewn on the ruffle and sleeve caps, the casing for the elastic on the sleeves sewn, and I've started hemming the ruffle by hand.  I'm kinda skipping all over the place in the construction right now because I am avoiding sewing the tucks and I'm doing the hand sewing while watching TV.  Here's my sewing schedule for the week:

• Wed.:  Extend tuck markings to waistline, sew tucks, sew placket on back of dress, purchase and wash grosgrain ribbon for waistline
• Thurs.:  Insert elastic into sleeves, sew shoulder seams, insert sleeves, sew side seams, finish seams, make bias tape for neckline, try on Cate to make sure it all fits right!
• Fri.:  Attach ribbon to waistline, finish ruffle hem, finish neckline
• Sat.:  Attach ruffle, sew on snaps in back
• Sun.:  Wear to Easter Mass, take lots of pics!