Easter Dress

Let's start this post off with a little Jamie cuteness shall we? He didn't get an Easter outfit made for him, but I think he is rocking these threads anyway. What a chill little monkey he is!

I barely "finished" Maddie's Easter dress in time. By "finished" I mean it was finished enough to be wearable - the zipper was only basted in and the waist ties weren't really on correctly. But hey, she was able to put it on and wear it to church, run around hunting eggs and lugging gravel around Grammy's backyard (she is obsessed with that gravel), it even made it through a hand washing afterwards so I could get it ready to rework and tidy up a few things on it. The dress did end up a lot larger than I thought it would seeing as I made it in a toddler 2 and Maddie is at the top of the weight range and over the height range for that size according to the pattern. This was my first time doing an entire dress from a pattern and I actually had fun. The pattern was a Project Runway Inspired for Simplicity and it was fun to get so many options for sleeves, skirt type, and add ons. Maybe not the best idea to pick as your first pattern one that has a collar, zipper, and is fully lined, especially when you start only a few days before the event! Oh well! I was also really thrilled with the bubble skirt, just want to make the next one shorter and puffier, although the nice thing is she will be able to still grow into this dress.

Here is the most amazing thing about this dress. I already had everything I needed to make it! The pattern I got months ago for 99 cents at Joanns during one of the Simplicity pattern sales! The linen for the bodice was one of my old skirts. The gorgeous fabric I used for the skirt is from the meadowsweet line and I won that online in a giveaway sponsored by Jane's Fabrics! The lining I used muslin left over from the skirts I made for the maternity pictures last year. The tulle for the bubble skirt and the interfacing for the waistband I already had from other projects! The only thing I had to buy was a zipper! Amazing!

She really, I mean really, loves that gravel. She had a whole Easter basket with candy and a stuffed lamby inside but spent an hour carrying around the gravel in an old plastic plant container. I cannot explain it. Most of these pictures were taken with my iphone, all of the "real" pictures are on Grammy's camera, but I still don't think I got a full on picture of her looking at the camera that shows the whole dress. Well, actually I did, but she's laying on the floor in the middle of a huge tantrum, and I can't post that can I?