Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter Dresses

Yep it's that time of year for beautiful new dresses.  And what girl doesn't love a new dress?  I remember growing up my mom would always make my sisters and my Easter dresses.  It was always fun as a little girl.  So I am following that tradition and making my girls Easter dresses as well.  I love how they turned out.  They might be one of my favorite dresses ever!


I got the pattern from You Can Make This and it is very worth the cost.  I love that it comes in such a large array of sizes too.  This way I can use this pattern for years for all 3 of my girls.  And believe me I will use this pattern again and again.  It also has a pattern for a beautiful shirt.  Here is the link to the pattern.
 I love the details of this dress.




The pattern is a fairly simple pattern to follow but there are a few simple alterations I would suggest.
-First the neck line was a little low for me so retraced a neck line about 1 inch higher (I kinda wish I would have done 2 inches.)
-Also the pattern had the same amount of material going around my babies waist as it did for my 6yr old.  So I cut 10 inches off the width of the dress for her (before you gather it and sew it to the top piece.)
-I also cut 2 inches of the length of my babies dress.  Since she just learned to walk that much length would have been cumbersome to her.  For my older girls I LOVE the length!
- Now you may recognize this material from my Bias Tape tutorials.  Yes this is what I used my home made bias tape for and I love it.  But if you make bias tape for this dress your first stitch of sewing on the bias tape will show.  So I would recommend basting it on so you can easily unpick it.  (It isn't a necessary stitch for the finished dress)
-To make this dress a little more sturdy for rambuncious girls on the inside of the dress I did a button instead of a tie.  You can also do a button with a tie on the outside of the dress if you want even more security.
 -Lastly my middle child is rather thin so when I did the button hole on the inside I made it about 2 inches from the edge and the tie on the outside ties about an inch behind the side seam instead of right on the side seam.
So all of these were super easy alterations.  So it was fast and easy to customize this dress for each of my children.

I would highly recommend this pattern, it is beautiful!
My girls love this dress too.


(Sorry about the fuzzy spot, my baby got a hold of my camera and I didn't realize the spot was there until it was too late.)

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!And may your spring be sunny!

* Also don't forget about my 100 follower giveaway, last I checked we were at 74 so we need to get referring people so I can give away this awesome prize.  Go here for details.*
And here is another sneak peak.  It is reversable.  (Front side is floral and back side is the blue and white pattern.

2 comments:

Bonnie said...

So proud of my nieces and their Easter sewing!

Ashley said...

Wow Liz. Those dresses look absolutely adorable! Great work. I love them and your girls look adorable in them!