A is for Alphabet

Well hello! I have been hoping to get back to blogging more frequently, but it has been crazy with school starting, and a baby who refuses to nap in his bed, after doing so for a few weeks prior. :)  I do have a hope to get a few posts up this week, with some back to school sewing I've been working on.



This dress isn't Samantha's back to school outfit (I'll have to share that later this week!), but it is for school. Last year Katy at no big dill did an alphabet sewing personal challenge for her daughter who was in preschool and studied a letter each week. This year she is doing it as a sew-along, and since Samantha's class is studying a letter each week I had to join in. I may not be making amazing outfits like Katy, but she will get some new part of an outfit each week.

I decided on Wednesday night that she needed an outfit for Friday, and spent a lot of time thinking about "A" things. Finally I checked to see what Katy had done and I had to copy her alphabet dress.
We headed out to JoAnn's early to check to see what fabric they had, and I managed to make a Geranium dress during nap times and lunch.



I added a bit of length to it, as her Easter dress is already almost too short. I also did the version with the faux cap sleeves and the u-notch. I really love the way it came out, and hopefully will fit for a while!



We had to have special buttons - I wanted letter buttons, but Samantha chose these airplane buttons (after mommy said no to ridiculously expensive apple buttons). She even specified how they needed to be sewn on (up because airplanes fly up!).



I can't wait for the next few letters!

Easter Outfits

This past winter, when Rae released her Geranium Dress pattern I knew I had to have it. I love cute simple dresses like this - that can be worn with a long sleeve shirt and leggings if necessary, and without. I also loved the different choices for length (top or dress), pleats or gathers, the different necklines and sleeve options.



For the girl's first Geranium Dresses, I chose the pleated, scoop neck (no notch) and 'sleeveless' version. I knew it might be chilly with Easter so early this year, so I wanted them to be able to wear a shirt underneath if necessary.



I struggled for a long time with what fabric I wanted to use. I wanted the to match without being identical. I saw someone in the Geranium Flickr group had used some of the Lizzy House Butterflies, and knew that would be perfect. I was lucky enough to find some in both colors on Etsy (why do I always want to use old, out of print fabrics for things?).

I used buttons from my vintage button stash (I need to find more larger buttons, it seems that most of what I have is too small to work well on dresses like this), and love the way they compliment the dresses.



While Ben seemed to want a dress (he had to 'try on' Ellie's as I was fitting hers), I decided to fix his Christmas vest that came out too small around the neckline. I cut the neckline off, and crocheted an edging. It worked just perfectly, and he looked very handsome in his little vest!

Happy Easter from our little cuties!