Easter Sewing Round-Up....

Oh Friends!!!  It is almost Easter!!!  And we know that Easter is an extra special time for people who enjoy sewing!!! :)  I have stitched a bunch of precious little Easter outfits over the years.  I thought I would show a few here and add a few links if you want to dig a bit deeper on this blog.

First though, Easter is late this year!  Do you know why?  Do you know how it's determined when Easter is every year?  I didn't know until about 15 years ago when I actually looked it up.  Easter is the first Sunday, after the first Full Moon, after the Spring Equinox.  Pretty cool!!!

Ok....so above is one of my absolute favorite little boy Easter outfits!!!  This was made with a Creations by Michie pattern #102.  Here is the link to the blog post about it.

And here is a close-up of the adorable little chick made with the mother of pearl buttons.  So cute!!!

This was a super fun dress to make.  And I really liked working with the rick rack to create the flower.  You can read all about it here and here.  And you can read the tutorial about creating the tucked hem here.  I love this technique!!!

This precious dress was not created for Easter but it would be perfect!!!  Here's the link for more information and more pictures.  This dress was fun to make because I pleated the collar fabric together with the dress fabric and left off the sleeves.  So fun!!!

Here's a sweet little bubble that stitches up super quick!  I made this as a baby gift for a family at our church at the time.  Here's the link.  This bubble is fully lined and stitches up fast!  And it could easily be made for a precious little boy or girl depending upon the colors you use.

Here's another adorable little boy outfit.  Little boys can be hard to sew for...but they don't have to be.  :)  I loved sewing for my two boys over the years!!!  You can read more about this outfit  here and here. 

Oh my heart!!!  Another one of my favorites!!  I have so many favorites!!!  :)  I loved this dress as it was great for a little girl who did not want a bishop dress that year.  It was so classic and beautiful!!! It was made from a Maja's Heirloom pattern called Larkin.  You can read about it here and see more pictures.

I have plenty more on the blog and I'll dig through some more if I can over the next week or so.  But I'll leave you with this dress for now because it is such a quick and fun sew.  This is made from the Children's Corner Lillian pattern.  I cannot tell you how many of these dresses I have made over the years.  I love this pattern!!!  It is fully lined and stitches up fast.  Plus it is really a blank slate and you can do SO much with it!!!  I love it!!  This one has some rick rack around it and a rick rack flower in the center.  You can read more about it here and here.  

I hope you enjoy this flashback of some of the Easter outfits I've stitched over the years.  There are plenty more.  I will try to highlight some more soon.  Until then......Happy Stitching Friends!!!

xoxo,

Cindy

Tatting.....

One of our smocking guild members was kind enough to offer a tatting demonstration at our last meeting. She is a brave soul. And a wonderful teacher. I do know how to tat...but the thought of teaching 10+ ladies to do so...all at the same time seems a bit daunting to me. :o) Anyway, we had a wonderful meeting!!! While she demonstrated the various techniques I continued to work on my little tatted edging. It only consists of rings and picots but that is plenty for me right now. The brave member also wrote out a pattern for me for the cute little butterfly. I came right home that night and made the butterfly you see in the above picture. I used a pink and white variegated thread so it is a bit hard to see. But I am thinking I'm going to make several of them and maybe stitch them onto something. Just not sure what yet. Do any of you tat? It seems to be a lost art these days!

I really am just about finished with the cute little bishop. And it's a good thing because I have another baby dress to make and I just remembered Easter is a bit early this year. I am thinking of making Ean a button-on shorts outfit this year. It may be the only year I can get away with it with his daddy! :o)

I hope you all are stitching your little hearts out!!! We have a Wee Care delivery this weekend and I'm doing a bit of Wee Care smocking here and there too. I'll post a picture of all the gowns after I get them ironed and ready.

Enjoy your day!!!!

Easter Frocks, Part 2....

I am back with Ean's sweet Easter romper. This outfit has quite a story....seems like that is a trend with me. I can't condense things well....I always want to give every last detail. That can be annoying for some. But anyway, that's just the way it is with me. I hope it doesn't bother you too much.

So here is the outfit Ean wore for Easter this year. I hope to get a picture of him wearing it for you soon. But by the time we got home on Easter afternoon all he wanted was lunch and a nap and neither involved his outfit or a camera. Next year I've decided I'm going to take pictures the day before Easter....when everyone is still nice and fresh and in a great mood! :o)

I built this entire outfit around this "Easter Train" smocking plate that I picked up at our local heirloom shop sometime last year. The plate only has 6 rows of smocking so I started looking for a romper pattern that would accommodate just 6 rows of smocking. I looked through every pattern I have and finally decided to just make my own. Of course, I used my favorite blue/white gingham and it is fully lined. That should be no surprise for those of you that know me.

I was so happy to have this sweet little romper finished early. Then just a few days before Easter I realized I did not have a shirt for him to wear under it. So I quickly made a little shirt. It looks fine on Ean but this mannequin is a bit big for this small garment, therefore the collar is sticking out and looking all sorts of wonky. But trust me, on Ean it was looking just fine. Adorable even! But I am a bit biased!

And for extra exciting news, I won a gift at church this past Sunday (Mother's Day). They gave out three gifts. One for the mom there that had the most children and grandchildren combined (none had to be present). The sweet lady that won had 25 all together! Amazing. I hope I am so blessed down the road. The second gift was for the mom with the youngest baby....which was one of our sweet friends and her precious baby boy! And then the last gift was for the mom with the most children, and they had to be present with her....my row was over half-filled with my four little ones, plus Wayne, of course! The gift was a book about Moms!! I was so surprised and feeling blessed! I hope your days have been blessed too.

Garden Delights.....

Look who I found in our blueberry bushes yesterday!

Elisabeth loves to be outside, so after church and lunch it was no surprise when she went out to explore. All the kids love to check the progress of our four blueberry bushes we planted last fall. They should yield fruit this summer and we are thrilled!

Elisabeth is wearing her Easter dress from last year. It still fits her perfectly and is wonderful for the hot weather we've been having already.

Back to Business.....

Yeah, it's time to start stitching Ean's Easter outfit. I've spent the last week editing our church cookbook and not only did it consume all my time....it made my eyes sore. I'm hoping I can smock tonight once I get all the house chores completed. After I post this I am going to start on a big pot of minestrone soup for tonight and some yummy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies too. Then I'm going to do a quick clean up around the house. Then, hopefully, I'll be able to smock a bit. I find that sewing or hand stitching is so therapeutic for me. Do you find the same? I know sewing frustrates some and therefore that can't be relaxing for them. But I do love it and it relaxes me.

Today is my Emily's favorite day of the year, I think. April Fool's Day. She spends her entire year thinking about various pranks to pull on us. This morning was funny though because she had one pulled over on her. She loves the Jumble in the daily newspaper...and she has gotten really good at them too. Well today it said they were going to discontinue the Jumble effective immediately. I heard her yelp across the house. It was funny when she realized it was an April's Fool joke. She is a funny girl.

Oh, and that funny girl has been busy. I can't wait to take a picture and show you what she has been working on. She has more tenacity than some adults I know. You just wait...you won't believe it either.

Ok, must get busy chopping veggies and making cookies!! My smocking is calling me!!!!

Emily's Easter Dress.....

Emily completely designed her Easter dress this year. She sketched it out and picked the fabric and I drafted it and sewed it for her. It has a square-neck and is sleeveless. And it also has her favorite skirt option.....a 3-tiered skirt. She also picked out a pink ribbon to tie around her waist. I think she did a nice job.

While I was sewing it I kept calling it "pink cotton candy" because that is what it reminded me of. The fabric is all the same color even though the photo above makes it look like it is variegated. It is a nice light pink and it was the only piece of fabric (imperial broadcloth) that she found that she liked for this particular dress. I tried to talk her into letting me hand embroider something on the bodice....but she wanted it without any embellishments. Who am I to argue?

We are thankful she is continuing to feel better. We had another check up today with her doctor and he is still pleased with her progress. Thanks again for all the continued prayers!!!

Elisabeth's Easter Dress....

Today we had our Easter do-over since Emily was sick and in the hospital last Sunday. We had our traditional yummy meal, the kids hunted for Easter eggs, they got to wear their outfits for the first time, etc. It was a delightful day.

As promised, here is Elisabeth in her dress. I think she looks so ready for Spring in it! And I, of course, have pictures of Emily too. I'll be back to share those next time.

Easter Outfits....Part 2.....

Since Emily is home from the hospital and is continuing to improve, I find we are slowly getting back into our normal groove. So I thought I would show you pictures of the girl's Easter dresses. Today I'll show you Elisabeth's dress.

I love the overall look of this dress. I drafted it to have a boat neck and be sleeveless. And it has a full skirt with ties in the back. I really like this floral fabric....to me it says "Easter!!!" For the bodice lining I used a purple and white gingham.

I thought the top may need a little something at the last minute, so I made this quick little rick rack flower and put a covered button in the center. I used this same idea when I made the flower pot pin cushions last year for one of our SAGA workshops. I attached it from the inside with a safety pin, so it can be removed or placed elsewhere on the dress.

I also added rick rack to the two tucks on the front. I normally would have used smaller (regular-sized) rick rack but Elisabeth really wanted purple rather than pink and this was all that I had in purple.

And it is kind of hard to tell.....but there is a tuck towards the bottom of the skirt. This tuck also incorporates the hem and it works up so fast and easy and clean!!! I love it. I would have added some more rick rack here.....but unfortunately, my local heirloom shop ran out. So I may order some (if I can determine what color of purple it is) and add it. I think it would balance the dress out...but until then, I am fine with it. Hopefully I can get a picture of Elisabeth wearing it soon. But today is rainy and windy....so I think we will stay inside....and eat brownies!!!!

Easter Progress Report......

I have Ean's and Elisabeth's Easter outfits completed. Two down and two to go.

This week I've been working on Emily's dress....and unfortunately, I've been using this little gadget quite a bit. I'm thankful the fabric is forgiving and hopefully won't show all the scars. No major errors....just silliness....like sewing an entire gathered tier to the wrong side of the dress. However, I will overcome, and Emily will have a dress to wear Sunday. Ethan, however, I haven't even started his outfit because I can't seem to commit to shorts and a button-down shirt or a jon-jon. Oh, how I love little boys in jon-jons.....and I know this will be the last Easter that his daddy will let me get away with putting him in one. But his legs are getting longer....and boys don't look so cute in jon-jons when their legs get too long for them. Decisions...decisions.....I must make one soon!

Ean's First Easter....

As promised, here are a few pictures of Ean in his sweet little outfit. He loves to patty-cake his hands.....so I could not resist sharing this picture.

His face is always full of so much expression that I find it hard to resist kissing his cheeks 24/7! I mean really.....look at those cheeks...and that precious little mouth!!!

And a beautiful smile that lights up his entire face....and the face of others around him. He is such a precious little blessing for our family!!! Happy First Easter Sweet Ean!!!

Easter Outfits....Part 1.....

It was tonight that I realized Easter is just over a week away. I think I panicked!!! Then I remembered that I just finished Ean's outfit. Somehow over the course of the past week with all the sick little ones I managed to squeeze in 5 minutes here and there. I knew I was crazy when I was attempting to embroider bullions with Ean sitting in my lap. However, I must confess that is the norm around here with four little ones. I am happy to fit in 5 to 10 minutes here and there throughout each day.

So I do have one sweet little outfit completed. This is a Creations by Michie' pattern #102. It is a cute one. I was inspired by Martha's sweet little bubble that you can see here. However, I knew I wanted this one to be more Easter-ish. So after I exhausted all my ideas for embroidery, I finally remembered I had these unique little buttons. I cannot give proper credit for the idea but I know it was in a past Creative Needle issue....that I don't have. Basically this cute little chick is made using these two mother of pearl buttons and some floss bullions. Very sweet!!!

I'll be back soon with pictures of Ean in his sweet little outfit. Too precious for words!!!

Thanks again for all the well wishes you sent this way. People are finally perking up a little. Today the sun was shining and they actually wanted to sit outside for a few minutes instead of laying around inside all day. I even opened the windows hoping to air the house out a bit. I am hopeful they continue to feel better and that tomorrow is even better than today!!!