Kids' Clothes - Part 1

As promised, I'm back with a post about the flower girl's dress (or dresses, as it turns out). You'll notice that this post is titled Part 1, implying there will be a Part 2. Right you are! That will come tomorrow.

Anyway, I've got two sundresses for the staring darling and I'm pretty happy with both. First, some explanation as to why there are two. Long before I settled on bridesmaid dresses or any other wedding day colors I found a bold crunchy taffeta home dec fabric that I just adored. I quickly snatched up enough to make a dress without a care in the world if it would ever get a place in the wedding; I just wanted to see the fabric come to life in some way. So, here's #1. It's brought to us by the out-of-print Simplicity 8610 pattern that I can't even find online (sorry!):

Nevermind the fuzzy photo - check out those matched seams!

The dress is fully lined in a carnation pink polyester china silk with invisible zipper.

Fast forward about 4 months when I finally, if somewhat hastily, settle on the color for the 'maids. As mentioned, it's a variation of teal and has the amazing ability to make dress viewers yawn when it's on the hanger but then suddenly wake up when it's being worn. In short, seeing is believing with this dress. Since everything else in the wedding is either gray or ivory I really thought for an instant that the flower girl could still wear the checked dress and all would be swell. Not so much.

This led to me looking around for both a color that would complement the teal and a fabric that would be appropriate for a mid- to late-summer wedding. Enter buttercup yellow with white stripes (and cue looks of disbelief from anyone who knows me and is aware of my typical aversion to yellow). I found a remnant at Vogue and thought I'd give it a try. Dress #2 is from Butterick 3762 with absolutely no extras on it (collar, sleeves, pleated waistband - nothing).

This dress is not yet hemmed because I'm waiting until we go to Virginia in a few weeks and the flower girl can try it on. Everything else is complete though. The sash loops were done with embroidery thread in white because I am assuming that the teal sash will be exchanged for a white or yellow one post wedding soiree. You can probably tell that dresses 1 and 2 are virtually the same style but 2 is longer. Again, depending on the "fitting" next weekend I will hem it just a little or several inches!

So what to do with #1? I'll be passing it over as an option for the rehearsal dinner. I'm certainly not one to dictate what the wedding party must wear for two days but I figure, hey, it's made and I sure can't get any use out of it!