Flower Girls

Jackee and Jared are married! My husbands little brother just got married and he and his *new* wife are living it up on their honeymoon in Disneyland. I'm so jealous, I want to be in Disneyland! Back when they got engaged Jackee sent me a text that got me all bajiggity (do you know that word?). She asked if Lorelai would like to be a flower girl (along with my niece Natalee) and would I make the dresses? Um, yeah, my birthday is in October but I'll take it, this is the best present ever!!

A few days later Jackee let me know that the colors for the wedding were going to be orange and blue. A Broncos inspired wedding for sure, not going to lie, we are Denver fans around here. My husband was excited to wear a bright orange tux and thankfully that didn't happen.

My initial idea for the dresses went something like this...

As time went on and I got a better feel for the kind of wedding this was going to be the design changed in my mind. I decided to make something a little more whimsical and definitely fun. I bought some blue and orange satin that I just loved, they were so vibrant! I also bought some ivory satin for the top but I just wasn't into it once I brought it home. After searching around for inspiration I went out again and bought some white lace.

I pulled out a shirt pattern I drafted for Lorelai some time ago and got to work. I modified it so that I could put a zipper down the back and I sewed the skirt right onto the waist so that it would be a one piece garment. Lorelai helped me when is was time to ruffle all the tiers. Here are a few action shots courtesy of my cell phone...

I love when flower girls have wreaths in their hair so of course these little girls needed some. I picked up my supplies at Hobby Lobby and whipped up the wreaths in an hour. I don't have any pics of the process but it was pretty simple once I brought out the hot glue gun.

I used some adorable chunky heart beads I got on clearance at Joann's, left over flowers from the wreaths, and some orange ribbon to make their adorable necklaces. They needed the necklaces to break up all that white on top and I feel like they tied the whole outfit together.

Finally for the shoes I bought some $6 white shoes from Wally World and with some mod podge, glitter, and some necklace left overs and transformed them into these cutesy little things.

The shoes were a trial in patience, a test I failed miserably, but I've already got a few ideas to make them better.

In the end the flower girls were a hit. Lorelai loved her dress, Natalee loved her dress that was "like Lorelai's dress" and the bride was thrilled with the results.

Not that I'm totally biased or anything, but I think these girls were the cutest, most colorful, and best behaved flower girls ever/



I hope you enjoyed these. I think Uncle Jared was pleased.
This was his 'leaving for the honeymoon' outfit. He didn't wear it the entire time :)

Today I'm linking up at  Ladybird LN
&
Six Sister Stuff

Happy Easter Everyone!

I have made my sweet Lorelai a dress every year for Easter. It is a tradition I really love.

Easter 2008: This was the first dress I made for Lorelai. She was only a few weeks old at the time so I bought a pattern and followed the measurements for a newborn. I noticed pretty quickly that this pattern was pretty far off size wise. At the time I wasn't really sure what to do to remedy it so I just finished the dress. It was definitely too big so I just put it away. I don't remember what she wore that year for Easter Sunday but a week or two down the road I braved re-sizing the pattern to fit my baby's needs and made her first official "made by mommy" dress.





Very cute but a little late to truly be her Easter dress.

Easter 2009: Well I remembered last years dress and dug it out. To my immense pleasure it fit my 14 mos old Lorelai perfectly. So I cheated that year I guess and she wore the dress I'd made the year before.



Easter 2010: My niece Natalee was born in January of this year and I thought it would be so adorable if she and Lorelai had matching Easter dresses. We could do pictures and would just be too cute to handle. I remembered the woes of patterns and newborns and was able to make a dress for Natty on the first try. When it came to pictures we were just plum outta luck. The girls were just not in the mood.



Easter 2011: Prince William and Kate Middleton were all over the news as they were just about to get married and I was totally lovin' on all the wild fastenators (sp? idk). That is where I drew a lot of my inspiration. I always had an Easter hat as a wee one and I felt like Lorelai needed one too, just a little updated.



My sister Bekah also got an Easter outfit this year. She was also more interested in modeling than Lorelai was.




(Easter 2011 pictures courtesy of Emily @ Freeze Frame Photography)

Easter 2012: Easter present. This year I branched out. I found some fabric that I loved so much I made the brave decision to make something for myself as well as Lorelai's traditional dress. These aren't my favorite garments I've ever made but on the whole I like how they turned out and it was really fun making something for myself.


(Images courtesy Emily @ Freeze Frame Photography)
I also threw in a little tie for my sweet Kent baby with the "manly-est" part of the fabric left overs I could manage.




I hope you had a wonderful Easter and that all you other moms out there are remembering to take just a little time for yourself.