Easter Outfits 2013

No, I didn't make my husband's suit (I wish I had that kind of patience!), but this is my favorite picture from yesterday that shows off my daughter's dress well. (I'll probably be enlarging this picture.) This is one of the first outfits that has actually turned out as gorgeous as I envisioned when I was planning it. I'm super-excited about it, especially since I made myself a matching one!

I am not photogenic. Not by a long shot. But I wanted to show you how our dresses matched. We both love them, so it's a win-win all around. I didn't take this picture, and the flash did funny things to the colors. My sweater does match my dress (at least in the daylight where I tested it). I actually knit the sweater before I made the dresses. My daughter already had a pink sweater that would work, so I didn't have to knit hers.

The idea for these dresses was born when I saw a similar ruffle and flower treatment done to a skirt in an online tutorial (here at Little Birdie Secrets). I simply used jumpers/sleeveless dresses as the base.

My own jumper is a fast and easy "2 Hour" kind of pattern (Simplicity #9830, if it's still available). It's as easy as they make it sound. Really.

I sort of made up my daughter's by using a bodice pattern from another dress I knew fit her and then changing the waistline and adding an A-line skirt that would fit it. I completely lined the bodice of hers, since it makes it really easy instead of fiddling with facings on small bodices.

I learned to use the ruffler attachment for my sewing machine! This Youtube video was fantastic. I bought my ruffler attachment at Hancock Fabrics at least a year ago, tried it, and couldn't figure it out to save my life. So I put it aside until I wanted to do these dresses and knew there was no way I was going to do all this ruffling the traditional way. I figured it out enough to get four strips ruffled, and that will have to do for now.

When I have more patience, I'll have to play around on my machine and figure out what was causing the rat's nest of thread on the back as I got to the end of the fourth strip. (Here's a great list of easy things to check when your sewing machine plays that trick on you, courtesy of About.com. Hint: It's not always the bobbin tension.)

You know I didn't go out and spend a fortune on this fabric, right? It was two sheets that have been sitting here for about two years, begging to be made into something really special. I finally figured out what would showcase them best! I'm especially thrilled to have a total materials cost of $6 for both dresses. That's how much the sheets cost at the thrift store where I got them, and I actually have over half of the striped one left. It has a gorgeous border on it that is waiting for just the right project to come along, too.