Silk Easter Dress

As I mentioned previously, I think this silk dress is one of the most gorgeous things I have ever made. It makes my heart skip a beat a little.

I think it makes Addie’s heart skip a little, too.

Let’s talk through the details of making the dress. The bodice was cut from Whimsy Couture’s knot dress pattern – I used the 12-18 month size pattern pieces for the dress bodice. My finished dress is a size 3T. {I noticed that the knot dress pattern that she has for sale now is a “remixed” pattern and indicates “better fitting bodices” so you may need to adjust accordingly}  Before sewing the bodice and bodice lining together, I made two straps by cutting fabric strips about 2″ wide, then turned the edges in to the center and pressed, then pressed in half again and stitched down the sides (to finish with ½″ wide straps). Measure on your child to approximate the length of the straps. I set the straps 3″ from the center on each side and then sewed the bodice front and back to the bodice lining.

The dress closes with an invisible, side zipper.

I used two 36″ wide panels of fabric for the skirt – gather attach to bodice with side open for the zipper. There is a simple pressed under hem and then I stitched a beautiful flower trim around the bottom. I found the trim at a scrapbook store – I’m headed there today so I’ll try to snag some more and write down the manufacturer. Have I mentioned before that scrapbook manufacturers have THE BEST trim? I think so, at least.

The dress is worn with a fluffy pettiskirt for extra fancy, but I also love the dress without the pettiskirt or brooch. Simple and white are probably my favorite combination ever. I wasn’t going to try the photo shoot until Addie actually wears it for Easter (what with the white silk at all), but Addie seriously begged me for a photo shoot and volunteered that she would smile really nice. So, we tried that. After she was finished making silly faces at herself in the dresser mirror, she gave me three hundred pouty and silly faces and two smiles. SO! That is what we have to share today.

 

 This post is so long already, I’m going to do a tutorial for the brooch separately.

I’m headed to a photography class tonight – do you think they’ll teach me how to get my kids to pose pretty in less than 500 pictures???