Easter Dresses - Penultimate Post!

When I post the next picture, they will be done and modeled!  Last night I assembled the back and front skirt panels before bed. This morning I stitched the side seams, gathered and attached the skirts to the bodices.  I am pretty happy with my gathers this time, but does anyone who sews not hate gathering??

I took a better picture--with my camera instead of my iPod--to celebrate my progress:

I still have to put in the invisible zipper and hem the skirt, and then they'll be done!  Ready for Easter after all!  Not so my first project, which was supposed to turn into bunny treat bags.  Oh well.  Maybe next year!

Easter Dress Progress: Bodice done!

Well, except the zipper. I love the sleeves. And the best part? The sleeves didn't have to be hemmed!

Easter Dresses: Slowly but Surely...

Well, between one thing and another, it was long after Spring Break (the second week after Spring Break, to be precise) when I cut out Easter dresses for my girls. Tonight I finally started sewing them, so here's the bodice front. Keep your fingers crossed that I will have the rest done before Sunday!

Easter Scrap Project - Next steps

Having cut a whole bunch of 5" squares,

I'm pairing them up...

...and tracing shapes on them:

(This could take a while...)

Easter Dresses! - Pt 1

Yesterday I bought some fabric to make the girls Easter dresses. The first fabric I found was at the local quilt shop:

It's lovely, but it would require just exactly the right dress pattern, and I just couldn't come up with the right combination with the ModKid and Ottobre patterns I already own, so I went to JoAnn's to see what they might have. (I'll probably go back for the puff flower print sometime when I find the right pattern...)

At JoAnn's, I found a beautiful floral that made me think instantly of one of the patterns I had in mind for the first fabric. It proved nearly impossible to match, however... until I got to the special occasion fabric. There, I happened to find polyester shantung in exactly the right colors. So I figured, what the heck? I may regret it at some point, but the fabric is so pretty, maybe not!

Here is the fabric:

And here is the pattern--a lovely version made by Astrid from Denmark, who blogs at Connecting the Dots and sews with Ottobre patterns:

This pattern comes from the Summer 2008 issue of Ottobre.  My only reservation (besides the fear that I somehow managed to buy too little fabric...) is that with the way the shantung ravels, I should probably make French seams.  I don't think the bodice is lined.  And I'm not a fan of having a lined, sleeveless bodice.  I've had some issues with trying to turn a lined, sleeveless bodice right-side-out.  I need to check on that.  But anyway, I haven't washed the fabric or traced the pattern yet, so I have time to figure it all out!

Easter Sewing #1!

Spring Break is coming up this week, and I have a little time and less inspiration, so I thought I might work on a couple of projects. The first is a surprise! It is fun because it uses some of the scraps I've been saving. The first step is to cut 5" squares of fabric. I'll check back in with the next step--maybe it'll keep me honest! And then I'll show where you can find the pattern and tutorial. Here is my first batch of squares:

Once Upon a Thread

I stumbled across this project the other day by blogger Katy at no big dill, and I'm completely in love with it.  The inaugural post is here, explaining the concept, which is to sew things that are inspired by your favorite books, which for the most part, happen to be children's picture books.  Since I love children's literature, perhaps more than I love sewing, I think this concept is amazing!  I immediately thought of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is rendered here (LOVE IT!).  This is probably my favorite story about the process of creating (or conceiving) a project based on a book, and my first introduction to what sounds like a great book, The Dot by Peter Reynolds.  Other projects that I liked were A Bad Case of the Stripes, A Tree is Nice, The Giving Tree, and Goodnight Moon (for this one I like the decorated "room" more than the pajamas, though they are also nice!)  This one made me feel nostalgic, featuring as it did Gyo Fujikawa!  And this book looks like it might make me cry.  Like The Giving Tree, it appears to be one of those books meant to make adults appreciate life in its simplicity rather than, strictly speaking, to tell children a story.  Most of the above were guest posts, and reading through, I can't wait to see it repeated next year.