Handmade Easter Dresses

I found my inspiration for this year's Easter clothes in a few different places. I usually only sew clothes for my kids a few times a year. Easter, Halloween, and sometimes Christmas. Here are the links and instructions for this year's creations.

Emma's Dress was actually a shirt tutorial that I found here at Sew Mama Sew. There is a complete tutorial with great step by step instruction that are very easy to follow. I just made it long enough for a dress and instead of doing pleats I did small gathers in the front and back. It was so much easier to do that instead of having to measure and make sure the pleats were exact. The only thing I would do different is I probably would have made it a floor length instead of knee. I think it looks a bit like a swim cover up this way. But overall I'm happy with the way it turned out!

Isabelle and Lucy's skirts were made from instructions out of Izzy and Ivy designs. I bought the booklet from broadbents. I wasn't a fan of the instructions. They didn't make sense so I improvised. Basically, if you can cut a rectangle, then you can make this skirt. What I did was cut 2 waistband pieces to 6 x 15 3/4 and 2 skirt pieces to 13x26. and two bow pieces to 9x27. If you've made a skirt before you can probably figure out how to piece these together. It's pretty easy. If not, you'll have to call me or buy the book.

Sewing Henry's vest and tie was so much fun. I have found that most handmade boy clothes are kind of dorky. But this turned out so cute. I love the little wooden buttons and the fact that his yellow polkadot tie matches the details on the girls dresses.
I downloaded the pattern for his vest here at you can make this. It was so easy! I will be making many more of these in the future. The total cost of his vest and tie was about $6.00. I found the tutorial for his tie here at very homemade. Again very easy and the tutorial was fantastic.

Easter Weekend 2011

I think Easter Weekend should be turned into a 3 day holiday. Don't you? Can't we move President's day around each year so that it falls on Easter? Or mandate that spring break be scheduled around Easter? There is just so much to do on Saturday and Sunday it would be so much more enjoyable if Monday wasn't looming around the corner. But no worries... I had a wonderful weekend with my family and friends.

We started the fun with our 3rd annual Neighborhood Easter Hunt. We do it on our street every year and each year it gets bigger and bigger. Lucy was so excited this year so we sent her down the street with her big sisters and told her we would come down in a bit. As I came down the street she was running towards me in a panic. Can you guess why?

I guess she didn't know HE would be there.

She still looks a little unsure about things. A painful reminder of the year of the Easter Goat.

Henry doesn't seem to mind a bit. He's such an easy going little guy. (love him!)

The hunt begins...

Emma & Emma. Total besties!

Emma & Iza found the gold and silver eggs which won them the prizes of a giant chocolate bunny and Egg. I was afraid it would look suspicious because Mr. was the one who hid them. But I can assure you they found them on their own.

Later that day we went to Emma's soccer game. I took this adorable picture of Henry. Such a silly baby.

And of course we did the egg thing. It kept the girls busy for hours while I franticly finished sewing their Easter Dresses.

Sunday came too early. The kids were up at 7:00. We had a simple breakfast of eggs (surprised?), and bagels. Then on to hunt for our baskets and candy. The Easter Bunny is sneaky around here. He hid the baskets all over the house.

We managed to find all the baskets, candy, get ready for church, take pictures, watch a movie about the Savior, and still make it to church by 10:30. Phew! .

Happy Easter Friends.

A Few Things...

The past few months have been pretty normal around here. We've just been going about our regular routines of school, work, lessons, and play. In February, Em & Iza had their annual piano recital. Emma played Fur Elise and The Crystal Cave. Isabelle played Once Upon a December and The Drum Song. They played great and I was a proud momma.

Earlier this month my brother Jared came for a visit from Portland with his kids. We had a great time hanging out together and the kids loved spending time together. We celebrated Jacqueline's 10th birthday at Classic skating. Good times, good times.

Henry turned 10 months old on the 10th. I'm not ready for him to be a big boy. I just love that he can take a bath in the sink still. He gets so messy after he eats that I just pop him in the sink while I clean up. He thinks it's funny and laughs.

Last month He got a really bad cold. He had a hard time breathing so we had to give him breathing treatments to open up his little lungs. Poor little guy. Last week he had an ear infection and his ear drum burst. Not a happy little monkey. He is feeling so much better this week.

Spring break ended today. I would have loved a few extra days to finish up some projects around the house and more play time with my kids. We had a fantastic week going to movies, playing outside, and a few small day trips. We took the kids to This is The Place on Friday. I thought it would be a fun place for the girls to go since they are obsessed with all things pioneer. They play "pioneer" outside every chance they get.

Lucy insists on dressing herself these days. This is her favorite outfit for doing gymnastics. Don't you just love her tights? She makes me laugh.

I really can't tell you how much I'm ready for the weather to change. I'm usually pretty content with what is, but I'm tired of freezing. My yard needs me and I'm too big of a wuss to brave the cold and go outside. With Easter days away I'll be praying for warmth.