Two dresses coming right up...

My little ladies will be playing some piano prelude music at church this Sunday.  In their minds, this means they should be attired in new dresses.  I couldn't find any flaws in their thinking.  Pictures were drafted.  Colors were requested.  Saturday rolled around.  It was overcast and rainy.  People were tired from a busy week of school and schedules.  No one cared that I was off in the sewing garage.  One dress got finished on Saturday.  The next dress got finished on Monday morning.  There will be two new dresses for their big piano debut.  With time to spare...

I'll follow up next week with the dresses on the models:

Dress #1:

The Marissa Pattern

by: Jennifer Paganelli

I bought the pattern on May 8th.  It took until September 18 to make it.

It was a flawless pattern.  I will be making it again.  The fit is so darling I can barely stand it.  One complaint, it calls for an invisible zipper, but the zipper insertion instructions aren't really for an invisible zipper.  It's a tiny detail.  I can fix that the next time around.

I had exactly two yards of this Jennifer Paganelli fabric left in my stash from Korea!  Jane is so happy about the whole thing, and so am I.  

Dress #2:

Ruby gets these ideas in her head.  They are very particular.  It is very hard to be so specific in what you want, and merge that together with your mother's imperfections.  

This dress is a compromise for her.  Somewhere in the middle of what she wanted, and what I could provide.  She completely fell apart about it at one point.  She is being remarkable upbeat and appreciative about it now.  She is learning. 

I think it's very sweet.  She pictured it in her mind with white lacy socks, a black headband, and shiny black Mary Janes.  Oh, to be six again.

You can't tell from these pictures, but that little white trim is also along the bottom hem.  The dress is a fine whale corduroy.  I was excited to try sewing with something new.  You can't iron fine corduroy very much/at all.  It was easy to work with though.  I will try it again before the corduroy season is over.

This is my own design.  No pattern.  I like to use the sleeve piece and the a-line front and back piece from the Oliver and S Jump Rope dress.  But I kind of just wing it after that.  

The tuxedo front detail idea I did borrow from HERE.

Though I do sew, in general I don't feel very crafty.  It's why I don't ever venture into the realm of hair accessories.  But with a few extra days on my hands and the dresses completed, this hair accessory is sort of tempting me.  We'll see...

Source: themotherhuddle.com via Annee on Pinterest