Sewing: Easter Dresses for the Girls

I found this fabulous bunny fabric at Home Fabrics. I love that store. Inevitably when I visit I find something I have to buy for my stash because it will be perfect for a little girls dress, or a jacket for me. I found a great fabric there when I was planning Scarlett's nursery and they even located more of it in a store in Idaho and shipped it for me! I bought this fabric before Scarlett was born with no particular plans for it (cute diaper bag? Pillows?) but this spring throught it would be perfect for easter dresses.


Audrey's dress is from a Children's Corner Pattern--Pleats II. which I was lucky enough to purchase on eBay because it doesn't seem to be available anymore. It is such a classic, beautiful pattern! I love it!

It called for purchased lace trim but I used this purchased ruffle trim instead. I was worried about finding the right color--was thinking light blue or maybe green but went with this off-white, which I think works much better. For a little punch of color I added the coral piping--purchased too to save time.


I like using covered buttons and it was fun finding deciding which fabric swatches for which buttons and where.


This pattern results in such a nicely constructed dress: french seams and a deep hem and nice facings. I added some snaps to keep the collar closed nicely in front.

I think Audrey looked darling in her Easter dress! Love that collar and the cute little sleeves and the exaggerated a-line. I wish the weather had been a little more sunny and my backyard a bit more green, but the Easter egg hunt was fun all the same!

Scarlett's dress is from New Look pattern 6842. I think this is a darling pattern. I love all the ruffles! Around the neck, down the front and all the way around the back--girlie!

I used the purchased ruffle trim (which it calls for) and added the piping again.

Scarlett looks pretty serious about the whole thing, but I think she enjoyed herself too!

Card: Happy Easter

When Audrey was little I occassionally sent out cards to her grandparents featuring some recent adroable pic. I haven't done it as often lately, but Easter inspired me.

First, I found these cute velvet and fur bunny ears at Target and couldn't resist taking some pictures of the girls wearing them.

Second, I finally put up a few Easter decorations this year. Hasn't been much of an impetus before the girls, but now that Audrey is old enough to appreciate it it is fun.

My mother always used to bring in a branch with flowering buds or pussy willows and hang little painted eggs and birds from it--beautiful wood ornaments we got while living in Germany. It's been hard to find their equivalent, but I found some things that remind me of them. I put the Easter Tree in a tall glass vase an decided to take some pictures of Audrey looking at it. This was my favorite:


So with these cute photos, why not an Easter card? I ordered some from KodakGallery -- square tri-fold with pale easter egg motif on the front.

I am including a small thumbnail on the back of this shot of Audrey with bunny ears:



Though I really love this photo too:

Sewing: Peter Pan Collared Dresses with Ribbon Sashes

I had in mind to make simple dresses for Audrey and Scarlett to wear under their crochet sweaters (the upsized "baby announcement" sweater for Scarlett and the toddler version for Audrey) and found this great pinpoint fabric on clearance at Joann. It is a gorgeous color--somewhere between apricot and pink--and it is a cotton-poly blend, so practical for little girls. I had purchased this equally gorgeous ribbon months ago thinking it deserved to be the inspiration for some girls dresses and look how beautifully they work together!



I used NewLook pattern 6769 but used the same fabric (instead of contrast for the sleeves) and used the ribbon for the sash. I love the simple, feminine lines of this dress, the puffy sleeves, the pleats in the front...


And I love this ribbon! These dresses are my favorite thing I've sewn for my girls, so far anyway.

Look how cute they look:

Crochet: Toddler Version of Baby Announcement Sweater

I loved this sweater from the "baby announcement" layette I made for Scarlett so much, that I decided to try making it larger for Audrey. Thankfully, it worked! I love this sweater! Instead of the fingering weight yarn the pattern called for, I sized up to a DK weight and used KnitPicks Merino Style yarn in Nutmeg. Then I just followed the pattern as it was written. (I tried upsizing the sweater for Scarlett too, but used the original yarn, with a larger hook, and modified the pattern and it was not nearly as successful...)

I loved working with this yarn. It has great stitch definition and it's really soft. I think the sweater drapes beautifully too. This may be my favorite project yet!

I picked this warm, woodsy color because I thought it would coordinate well with Scarlett's sweater without being too matchy-matchy. (I'm trying to move away from the identical outfits to the complementary outfits, which I find even more fun, and my husband, an identical twin, finds less spooky.)

I added buttons, which the pattern didn't call for, but I thought necessary for a toddler sweater. I also modified the collar, as with Scarlett's original sweater, so that it doesn't overlap the front facings.

I can't wait for Audrey to wear this! It may even work for the Fall if she doesn't grow too much.

Crochet: Upsized Version of Baby Announcement Sweater and Bonnet

I loved the baby announcement layette I crocheted for Scarlett before she was born, and found it too sad that she never really got to wear it before she outgrew it. So I decided to make it again, bigger! I was able to find more of the Jaeger Baby Merino yarn I used for the original--in the same dyelot if you can believe it! I was so thrilled because I had a skein and a half left from the original, but thought it wasn't quite enough to finish a sweater.

This is actually the third time I've tried remaking this sweater because I tried increasing the size once with a larger hook and didn't work fast enough and realized Scarlett would be too big for it when I finished. And then I tried again and abandoned the project because the proportions were all skiwampus. Yes, I am a bit nutty. Let's blame it on the postpartum hormones! But I was determined to make this come together! This final version worked a bit better but it's not as pretty as the original sweater. I used a hook 3 sizes bigger and then reduced the number of stitches in my foundation chain, and consequently the number of shells in the body and sleeves, and the fabric is a bit too spongey compared to the original.

All that said, I am still pretty pleased to have this set in a size Scarlett can wear, at least a few times. And I can't say enough about how much I love this ribbon I found to go with it. It is the most amazing shade of pinky brown--cafe au lait perhaps.