The Birthday Dresses

Here are pics of the dresses.

After measuring my girls, I made a size 7 top, with the length of size 8, but the bodice was too big. When will I learn that New Look patterns seem to run big, especially for my skinny minnys? :).  The instructions for adding the bias tape at the armholes was clear as mud (and I still think they're drawing was wrong) but I did manage to figure it out.  If anyone is interested, I took pictures of the process in case I needed it later :)

The instructions for inserting the lapped zipper sucked, but I did find an excellent tutorial online.  In the future, I think I'll just stick to invisible zips.

10 years old!

I can't believe that my daughters just turned 10. Or that I decided to sew them birthday dresses two weeks before we left for Florida :).  I wanted the dresses to be a surprise, so that meant only sewing when they were with their dad... and completely cleaning up any evidence before they came back home.  But I did manage to finish them two days before we left. 
Unfortunately, the dresses were a little too big across the chest, but that was fixed with a couple of strategically placed safety pins...

Here's a pic of them at the California Grill restaurant in the Contemporary Resort at Disney World. The shrugs were necessary because of the air conditioning.

We were able to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the deck after dinner :).

I'll post a pic of just the dresses soon. Pattern is New Look 6042.

Halloween Again

Here you go Sylvie :)

I got off easy this year. My daughter Rachel wanted to be Stitch (from Lilo & Stitch).  We bought her the hat when we were in Disney World in May, and my boss happened to be going to Orlando in October, so he was tasked with picking up the gloves :).  I had intended to make the jumpsuit, but couldn't find the right colour fleece. Luckily I saw this suit at Value Village and it was perfect. It was a Men's size Large, so I did need to hem the sleeves and legs, but that was easy.

My other daughter wanted to be a pirate. As I was looking for a pattern, I was told that it wasn't just any pirate - it had to Elizabeth from Pirates of the Carribean.  I didn't see the movie so I went searching for a picture.  I picked up McCall's 5446, morphed the jacket and vest patterns, and made the shirt out of fleece for warmth.  I think see looks adorable, and she loved it.  She was very proud when a "teenager" told her that she liked her costume while we were out trick or treating :)

Next up ... the traditional Christmas Eve nightgowns.  Stay tuned...