Sunday, April 5, 2015

Easter Dresses - same fabric, 3 different style outfits

On our trip in February, my mom, sister, and I went Joann's. My mom and sister found these fabrics, fell in love with them, and decided to get some to make my sister a dress from.

                                 

Once this decision was made, my mom decided she wanted a shirt from this fabric too. Simplicity patterns just happened to be on sale so we each sat down with a pattern book and before long my mom found several shirt patterns  that she liked (It's just as dangerous for my mom and sister to go into a fabric store as it is for me, no matter what we always leave with more than we went in for.) and we picked one to use the blue fabrics for. So it was decided, my mom and sister would have Easter outfits made from the same blue fabrics. Last weekend I realised Easter had snuck up on me and was just a week away so I pulled out the fabric and patterns to make the outfits. As I went about cutting the fabrics I realized how much I liked them and that I too wanted an Easter dress made from them. Surprisingly there was enough fabric! So, by last Sunday night I had all 3 Easter outfits completed. All out of the same fabric, but each very different.


First, my sister's. I made her a similar dress back in January out of flannel. She loved it and wanted another one like it. That was what we originally picked the blue fabric for. So her Easter dress was made in the same style as this one.


She loved the double layer skirt and I loved the little details, like the sleeve appliqués. So for her Easter dress I once again added sleeve appliqués, and some gold lace I found in my stash. 

                           

I also trimmed the bottom of the over skirt with the gold lace.
The dress was perfect for Easter egg hunting!

                             

Another pretty detail is the gold and white heart shaped buttons on the back. They finished the dress off perfectly! 

                                        

My little sister loves her dress and says it feels royal!

Next, my mom's outfit. She wanted a shirt rather than a dress, so that she could wear it often. So I made her shirt using this pattern. 

                                       

And then matching pants from this one (that we also got on our trip)

                                       

On the pants near the hem I added an appliqué like the ones on my sister's dress.
Her outfit wound up looking somewhat oriental, but very comfortable, and she got lots of compliments at Church!

                                 

And now my favorite of the 3, my own dress!
                                

I used this pattern and altered it a little bit to use both my favorite elements,                                 

the off the shoulder neckline and the criss-crossed ribbons on the back.


To make the criss-crosses I first sewed the ribbon on to a piece a tissue paper in the pattern I needed.


I then sewed the ribbon, attached to the tissue paper, to the side back pieces.


Next I tore off the tissue paper.


Finally I added a modesty panel and the back was done!


Now for the bodice I used the striped fabric, but for the skirt I wanted to use blue fabric with the all over gold pattern. I didn't want the transition between the skirt and bodice to be too abrupt however. So I cut 3 of the wide stripes from the striped fabric to sew onto the front if the skirt, centering one on each pleat.


The center stripe on the skirt matched up with the wide stripe on the center of the bodice, nicely tying together the different fabrics.

There is one other element to my dress that I love, pockets!


The hidden side seam pockets were easy to add and very convenient for carrying my phone and multitool. I wish I remembered to add pockets to every dress I make. The pockets and gorgeous fabric made this dress so much fun to wear!


And it was certainly fun to match my mom and sister in an obvious way while still maintaining our individuality! Easter is such a fun Holiday to make dresses for.

We have had a great Easter, spent with Church family and extend family, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

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