Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Lace Flower Girl Dresses for Anne and Rose

 Wow, it's been almost a year since I started making these dresses! These were two of the first projects I started last year and although 2020 was difficult, having my sisters wedding to look forward to the first half of the year and to look back on the second half certainly made the year memorable for all the right reasons!



Anne and Rose asked/were asked (not sure what happened first 😂) to be flower girls when my sister and her then-fiance, John, came to visit us last Christmas. My sister was pretty open to the design of the dresses. She sent me some pictures of what she thought were cute and the styles seemed to all fit the same theme of fitted bodice, slight empire waist, full skirt and sleeveless. 


I had an old pattern (I think a Simplicity?) that I used for the bodices and the skirts and sleeves were my own design. I wasn't going to add sleeves at first but the dresses felt more complete with the sleeves so we added them. 


Sewing for 2 very different sized girls is interesting when you want the dresses to look just alike. I couldn't use the bodice patterns in their respective sizes as-is since the proportions also had to be right. I had to alter waistlines, necklines, skirt width and sleeve length and width all proportionally. It was just challenging enough to make it fun without it also being a headache. 


I actually found the ivory lace at Wal Mart and bought all that was left on the bolt. It is a stretch lace but I flatlined the bodice and skirt with ivory satin and lined the entire dress with plain weave cotton. Lace and satin can be really uncomfortable on the skin, as I remember the scratchy and suffocating feelings I had when wearing my beautiful (but uncomfortable!) Fancy Dresses at Christmas and Easter when I was a little girl. Those late 80's and early 90's dresses were something else! 😂

Pre-wedding selfies on the ride to the venue!

To make the skirts have nice fullness I added a built in petticoat of netting sewn to the skirts between the lining and the satin flatlining. This was cut to be a little shorter than the cotton lining so no scratchy hems! 

Selfie Queen :D


The girls picked out a pretty beaded trim I sewed along the sleeve hems and the necklines. I added ribbon sashes and a cluster of sewn on white roses to the center of each sash, attaching it to the waistline. 
At the hotel before the wedding!

I had no idea what to do for shoes so a few weeks before the wedding I got the girls matching sandals. The day of the wedding they went to the brides house to do hair and makeup, although later at the venue I redid Rosie's hair since her hair is straight and slippery and kept wriggling out of the initial hair style.

I actually wore make up too, but I haven't worn it or earrings since then 😂

The girls looked adorable and I was so happy to have had the opportunity to sew these dresses for them. We have them hanging neatly in their closet but they haven't worn them again since the wedding. Maybe they can wear them for Easter if they still fit by then. I kind of doubt it, though. Both girls have grown at least one size and it seems Anne actually skipped over a size entirely! 

Reception!






Much love,

Sarah


2 comments:

  1. I remember being the flower girl at my aunt's wedding when I was 6! I got to pick my own dress, it had a navy velvet bodice and a full ivory tulle skirt and I loved it! Leading up the the wedding I collected rose petals in the garden and practiced tossing them out of a basket so I could get them to fall gently and evenly. What a great memory, thank you for bringing it to mind again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What beautiful memories! The dress sounds so pretty and I love picturing you collecting rose petals to practice scattering them. Thank you so much for sharing such happy remembrances.

      Delete

Thank you for your lovely thoughts!