Easter for Two Special Girls

I have two of the most adorable nieces known to mankind.  It seems like every other Easter I get the chance to buy them their dresses. This year it was my turn and instead of buying them dresses I asked them for their color requests.  The older one, L, requested a dress EXACTLY like the one I made V when I tested the Saffron Twirl dress.  Red and brown sash.  The younger one, E, didn't really put in a color request so I picked something I thought would look nice on her; I found the prettiest ombre purple and paired it with a turquoise sash.

So the nitty gritty details on the dresses.  This is Saffron number 3 and 4 for me.  I started with the ombre purple dress because I was dying to see it all made up.  Now a word to the wise, if you are using ombre fabric take note of how the colors are set up.  The purple I bought was light towards the selvedge and dark at the middle of the fabric.  Now I knew I wanted this dress to go from light to dark from top to bottom but I didn't think this through when I bought the fabric.  So I cut the bodice from the lighter colors and then got to the skirt.... crap-ola I could get one side of the skirt out of the dark middle fabric I was wanting but then the other side would have to be cut from the lighter fabric opposite of side I cut the bodice from.  So it was back to the store for me.  Bright side?  I now have enough fabric to make V another Saffron in the opposite ombre effect to her cousin's dress.  The turquoise ties I cut as the longer ties so E could have the choice of having the wrap around effect or one nice big bow in the back.

L's dress was made with the same red poplin that I made my bleuet and V's first made by me Saffron.
This fabric has just a bit of stretch which is perfect.  In true mommy brain fashion, I started sewing up this dress and forgot to add the button band in the bodice, OOPS.   So I used the same change I did when I originally made this dress for V.  I left it until the very end, measured down from the arm seam, marked, and made two button holes on the dress.  Then two buttons on the button band and voila fixed!  Turns out that this was a blessing in disguise as the 5T on L is just a bit snug so without the button band it should work pretty well on her.

The girls got their dresses via mail on Monday and tried them on Tuesday.  My sister in law sent me the sweetest video of them prancing and twirling.  Makes me happy that they love their made just for them dresses!  Are you making anything for any extended family loved ones?

Viever