Sunday, April 24, 2011

Smocked Easter Chicks for Ahnalin


Happy Easter!
I pray the Lord blessed you, 
and revealed Himself to you today.
My beloved Hot Rockin' Hubby
introduced one of his original 
songs to our church today,
and it made me cry. 
I am so grateful for the gift that
Jesus willingly gave for me and you.


Today was a different kind of Easter for our family.
We celebrated without our India.
She had to work this afternoon,
so she was able to attend a church in Anaheim.

But I miss her so much.


And Ahnalin......
Well....

She requested a yellow Easter dress
with puffy sleeves,
a collar,
a full skirt,
a big bow,
and baby chicks smocked on the front.


I had not made her a smocked yoked dress 
for awhile and she really wanted one badly.

She found one in a Sew Beautiful magazine
and really begged. 

But I always have to do my own thing!

And I wanted to use things from my 
sewing stash, 
rather than head back into those
gardens of temptation, 
known as "fabric stores."


The pattern I used was 
Love and Stitches #151
Toddler Yoke Dresses I
by Debbie Glenn
in a size 5.

The fabric was a bright butter yellow
cotton/poly batiste from my stash.
It is VERY soft and VERY translucent!


The smock plate I used as a base
was Ellen McCarn's "Chicks"
but I made a lot of changes in 
the stitch design and really 
brightened up the color palate.


At 1:30 this morning,
I sewed the growth tuck hem.
Yes, I know that is a super easy, cheesy hem
treatment, but it is my favorite. 
And for wild and crazy girls,
it stays sewn nicely!

When I finally finished the dress,
I realized how see-through it really was.
So I quickly sewed up a simple half
slip and attached some gathered eyelet
from my stash.


Sorry for the blurry shot, but
"It twirls GOOD!" 


As soon as we got home from church
and brunch, she ripped off her socks
because she can't stand them!
And, she is rather vain about
the color of her legs contrasted
with the white shoes, 
regardless of the fact that her legs
and feet are constantly banged up with 
scratches and scars from her wild antics. 
She is SO PROUD of those shoes,
because they have a little heel!
And I didn't notice until just now,
but I got a lovely shot of the 
neighbor's gas meter, 
in the background.
Silly me. 


The dress was completed
at 2:00 AM.

The strawberry stain on the sleeve
appeared just 12 hours later at brunch. 

Oh well. 
She LOVES her dress.
And I LOVED making it for her.
I actually tried to talk her out of 
a smocked dress.
But she won when
she told me 
"Mama, I am 6 years old!
I may not want a smocked dress when I am 7!

Now, I am starting on her
dress for her piano recital!

I pray you all had a wonderful 
blessed Easter.
Even if your Easter was 
"different" this year, 
like ours, I pray you had
a time of reflection and joy.

Happy Sewing!



3 comments:

Tabitha o. said...

I love seeing her joy and antics....beautiful dress as usual!happy easter!

Stephanie said...

What a beautiful dress. I love the chick that still has the egg on his head.

Jan said...

Just look at that girl twirl! Love, love, love the dress. And she's right, she may not want a smocked dress when she's 7. I say smock for them for as long as you can get away with it.