Monday, April 13, 2009

An Easter Dress in a Rush

Easter frocks are such sentimental things, at least to me. When I was little I would get a new dress each Easter. When I was very small I loved lacey, frilly, poufy dresses. Beads, ruffles, and delicate colors such as pink and white were very dear to my heart. It was my dream and earthly perseverance to one day be Cinderella and the utmost goal of all was to have a dress as lovely as the one she wore to the ball. As I grew older I decided I'd rather be Laura Ingalls, Anne of Green Gables and, at last, myself - in that order. My wardrobe went through changes reflecting these changes of thought.

I haven't had a new dress, just exactly on purpose for Easter, for a few years. I decided late Friday to try to make one. I wanted to get my late 1830's dress done but that wasn't going to happen since it requires so much handwork and there was no way I could get all that accomplished in one day. Instead, I pulled out the Elegant Ladies Closet pattern, again, and went with the short sleeve drawstring dress. Please forgive my extremely. . .um. . .odd expression.
Despite it being so easy to put together I still didn't get it done until nearly 11:00 p.m. on Saturday night. The finishing stitches were put in by God's help and grace, lots of coffee with cinnamon creamer and The Ten Commandments blasting on the screen of the t.v. I used a silky purple-pink fabric. I don't know the fiber content and it was a red tag deal at Jo Anns. It has a slightly crinkly texture and the stripes on it are one sheer stripe next to one satin stripe, throughout. It was originally intended to become a tiered skirt but I thought it would be ideal for a dress like this. Although the fabric itself certainly isn't authentic, it has many of the qualities fabric used back then would have had. Airy, sheer, light. I ended up lining the entire thing because it was so stretchy it would not hold its shape after I cut it out. The bodice is flat lined with white muslin and the skirt and skirt lining (white muslin) I made up seperately and then attached them together at the waist seam. This makes the skirt nice and flowy and doesn't weigh the outer fabric down. All in all, I was happy with how it came out. (Although those short sleeves certainly don't do much to make my arms appear slimmer!) :) It was so much fun to dress up for Easter again. I didn't feel like Cinderella, but I did feel quite regency heroine-ish and very much in the mood for Little Dorrit, pt. 3, which I watched with David last night! I *need* to get this movie for myself since there are four dresses in it so far that I want to copy! Amy's dresses look more mid-late 1820's (my favorite fashion period!!!) to me and Pet's dresses look even earlier, but there are other ladies wearing what look like early 1830's styles. Although this makes the fashion kind of confusing in the film, it is very inspirational for future projects. I do hope you all had a very blessed Easter! Every year it amazes me more and more how Jesus suffered for us and died for us. This year I was especially struck by the thought of all that God the Father had to go through as Jesus hung on the cross. I think of my own sons and try to imagine them going through great pain. If I had the ability, the power, to take away their pain how hard it would be for me to turn my face away from them! How hard it must have been for God to similiarly turn away from His Son! How can we possibly deserve this Great Gift? It is something I think I will never understand until I reach heaven, but oh, how thankful I am for the salvation that is mine! How thankful I am for love that I do not deserve and for the security of knowing there is a place in heaven for me!

Love,
Sarah

20 comments:

  1. Happy Easter, Sarah! You look just beautiful. The wreath of flowers in your hair is just the perfect touch!

    Love the picture of you and your husband... so sweet!

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  2. Oh!! The dress took my breath away! It is beautiful!!!!!! I love the colour too! And I agree with Clare - the flowers in your hair go so nicely with the dress! I am so glad you had such a good Easter ~

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  3. I love you dress. You are so beautiful m'dear. I also love your post on Christ. What a truly awesome and loving Jesus we serve.

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  4. You look quite pretty in that color, the wreath of flowers in your hair...quite lovely!

    I agree with you...That our Lord and Saviour chose to suffer on our behalf, knowing full well that He will be separated from the Father, takes my breath away.

    It is amazing His love for us.

    I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

    Lady M

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  5. Beautiful gown, Sarah. Thank you also for your lovely thoughts about the resurrection.

    Paris

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  6. Beautiful, beautiful dress! I love it :)

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  7. Very pretty dress! I am so impressed that you put it together so quickly!

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  8. Oh the dress turned out beautiful! I love the dusty pink color.
    Happy Easter!

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  9. What a wonderful post! :)
    I love that dress!!! It's very spring like too. :)

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  10. The dress is beautiful! Hope you had a great Easter!

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  11. You are so lovely, as is the dress! And yes, it's amazing how our perspective on God seems to change after we have wee ones of our own. It's mind boggling.

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  12. What a pretty color! Your dress is very lovely!

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  13. Beautiful dress! Don't fret about your arms they are very pretty! I love the picture of you and your husband...precious!

    Yes! He is risen! Hallelujah!!
    Leah

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  14. Your dress is gorgeous...and you look exactly as a lady should look in a dress like that! I've only been able to see the first intallment of Little Dorrit, but as to the fashion timeline, wouldn't Little Dorrit's dress be a bit out of fashion, as she is certainly on the lower end of the social spectrum? I would think any older women would have much more out of date clothing, with the younger, more priveledged women wearing the height of fashion. I think that the way of these movies is to have a range of 30 to 40 years, depending on the social status and ages of cast members.

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  15. Wow, I didn't realize it was so common to have a 30-40 year fashion range. That does explain some things! Now that I think about, it seems that Effy's clothing is even earlier than most other characters which makes sense since she is an eldery servant.

    Amy's dresses continually look mid-late 20's to me, though. . .even after she changes to a high social position she wears similar styles that seem rather plain (although certainly elegant) compared with some of the other characters. Perhaps this is just to reinforce the kind, modest, respectful, ladylike charactertistics she has? At any rate, I LOVE her dresses! And the bonnets! So pretty!

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  16. You look absolutely wonderful - what a pretty colour, and the flowers in your hair are stunning!

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  17. You look absolutely beautiful! I adore the picture of you and your Hubby!

    I hope you had a wonderful and blessed Easter.

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  18. Lovely, Sarah Jane. Your dress is beautiful!

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  19. You are awesome m'dear. Thanks for the post on the work blog. God Bless!

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  20. That's a great Easter dress! Our Easter is a week later, so I am still working on mine. I am going to try to hem it tonight. I decided to let my little one wear a store bought dress in order to finally make something for myself.

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Thank you for your lovely thoughts!