I have a very distinct memory of my mom frantically working on three Easter Dresses the day before Easter (and I believe she sewed through the night) when I was younger. I think I was 6-ish, but the dresses were a big, bright water-color-y floral print and all of the girls matched. I don’t know what my little brother wore. But the reason I remember that Easter is because I really did feel like it was a special day with all of us in our pretty new dresses, all matching, sitting at church together and then later, collecting those eggs with our cousins. And I remember my mom thinking we were “SO CUTE!” all together. And every time I wore the dress after that, I remembered that special Sunday.
So, here I am just continuing tradition, except I have my dresses done a few days in advance. It kind of became a family joke how my mom would sew dresses for us up to the last minute.
I used patter pieces for the bodices and sleeves (usually I mix-and-match patterns for these pieces. With a gathered sleeve, anything can fit anything, it seems!). We had a… problem earlier last week where I cut into some beautiful, soft fabric and eked out every last inch of it with my pattern. But when I got to sewing, I realized I didn’t cut out a piece (an important one!) and had to scrap the entire project when I couldn’t find more of the fabric. So, this go-around I used a basic dress and it was casualty-free.
I picked out the baby’s fabric a while ago, and after the first dress disaster, I let the munchkin pick out her own. She wandered around the shop for a few minutes and came back with the purple. What a fun coincidence, and I am enjoying how they match.
I originally just had the contrast band on the bottom, but when I finished the dresses, they really needed some breaking-up of the main fabric. So I added sashes, just top-stitching them to the bodice. Now they are perfect.
I hope my kids get the feeling that there is something special about this Sunday for our family like I did those 20 or so years ago.
Thanks for teaching me how to sew, mom, and for making us those awesome Easter dresses :)
10 creative people said::
Your dresses...and your girls, are beautiful! Thanks for the idea to top-stitch the sashes on...I've been debating about the best way to attach the sash to my oldest dress for a few days now and top-stitching never came to mind...duh! You've saved me the effort of creating belt loops, opening the side seams, etc.:)
Cuteness! My mom totally usesd to do that too; didn't start our dresses until the night before and stayed up all night. Of course, then it was just for me and her :) Oh and yeah, our girls' dresses will be quite similar...and almost done!
Beautiful fabric, those dresses are super cute.
Your Mom and I sound like kindred spirits! I'm going upstairs right now to finish my third daughter's Easter dress!
CUTE! I love them, and it's so cute that they match, but not exactly match! :)
Your dresses turned out DARLING!
So adorable!! :)
So, so, so cute!
I sewed absolutely nothing this year.
So cute my friend. It was fun to see you this morning and catch up on your blog. I saw your post about wanting a new family picture...how about a trade? Something crafty in exchange for some pictures? Let me know if you are up for it. My site is wwwleahdavisphotography.com
Hugs
Leah
I am so not very good at sewing- so I can't keep the tradition going in my family- but I too remember my mom making us all easter dresses back in the day! Your girls look great!!
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