I had decided that I was going to make Easter dresses again this year. They turned out great, but I am not going to share pictures without first sharing some honesty.

I made the first dress very early. Then, I spent weeks trying to decide what to make for the remaining two girls who will let me sew for them. I finally made a game plan but then last week was CrAzY! I accepted defeat.

On Saturday it started raining and I decided that I felt like sewing. After all, the fabric had adorable little bunnies, so it wouldn’t be the same to finish them after Easter. Of course, then the rain stopped and I wasted an absolutely gorgeous afternoon sitting inside at my sewing machine.

I don’t want people to believe that whipping up a few dresses in one afternoon makes me Supermom. First, I was too indecisive. Then, I was struggling with other things so I didn’t/couldn’t start earlier. Finally, my last-minute sewing meant that I sacrificed a beautiful afternoon. I should have been working in my flowerbeds or drawing with sidewalk chalk with the girls. It was a choice, and sometimes I have chosen differently. We all make our choices and they are usually a mixture of both good and bad.

I spent Saturday evening on my porch swing- hand sewing while the light faded, listening to the spring peepers, and soaking in the scraps of the wonderful spring weather. It was just what I needed to reflect and refocus.

Easter Sunday was even more beautiful.

I am going to be even more transparent about these pictures: Sunlight is a struggle for my photography skills and my 5yo’s eyes. I took pictures twice and still am not happy with them. My kids were not cooperative and I finally had to bribe them with $1 each. For every picture decent enough to edit, there are 50 bad ones. There is a clump of horse hair stuck to one of the shoes and wet grass made someone in sandals cry. Another shoe literally fell apart as they were walking out the door. I forgot to cut bangs. The white flowers make a nice background, but are from a cherry tree that blew over last week. This morning, the turkeys were a few feet away gobbling at us and Bob the cat kept trying to get in the pictures.

Easter dresses made with Walmart bunny fabric

Enough rambling. Here are the details on these dresses:

I got the bunny fabric on clearance at Walmart and both girls wanted me to use it for their dress. I also knew that twirly skirts were important to them, so I decided to make the skirts out of the bunny fabric and vary the tops. I didn’t want identical dresses. We do a lot of hand me downs and the younger ones often get tired of wearing the same dress over and over again as they grow into the next size.

For the first dress I used the Penelope pattern from Violette Field Threads. I did the everyday version (although part of my indecisiveness was due to considering the tulle layer underneath!) I got some matching, light pink, Waverly cotton at Walmart for the bodice. I decided to do the pintucks and cap sleeves. I forgot to change my thread from white to pink when doing the pintucks, but I like the contrast anyway. This is also the best collar I have ever done. It lays nicely. Maybe I didn’t understitch before? Overall, I love how it turned out and I think it has a cute, vintage style.

Pintuck bodice style- Violette Field Threads Penelope Dress

During my indecisiveness, I planned on doing bodices with the same fabric as THIS dress, but couldn’t find it in my local Joann store. Instead I bought THIS floral fabric. I didn’t use it for the first dress because I wanted the pintucks to stand out more.

Sundress with pleated straps and a button front

I drafted my own pattern for this dress. It is a basic sundress with buttons in the front. Those buttons were a major source of conflict. (I warned you- there is always more to the story and plenty of behind the scenes drama!) I have promised to replace them if I ever find sparkly ones that size.

My biggest challenge with this dress was the straps. She wanted them to be wide enough on her shoulders to satisfy the school dress code. I made a box pleat where the straps attach to the dress so that it is narrower at the bottom and wider on the shoulders. It was just hard for me to get them the correct length. I think the full skirt pulled the bodice down even lower, so I had to shorten them for a third time on Easter morning.

I also added a sash to break up the two busy fabrics. It definitely needed that!