I just love white dresses on little girls . . .

My husband has always accused me of making "too many white dresses" for our daughters. Of all the dresses I've made for them over the years, white does seem to be the dominant color. There's just something about a crisp, clean white dress that I absolutely love!

In my last post, I think I referenced the dress I was working on at the time, a reproduction of a little dress from a French boutique. This sweet little dress features hand embroidery on the front yoke with a series of pintucks on either side of an embroidered insert. The little embroidered piece is inserted with entredeaux, and the neckline is finished with entredeaux and a tiny lace edging.

I always try to take pictures of my garments, but there is just something about seeing the finished garment on the child for whom it is intended. I hope you can see some of the detail in these photos.

Boy's Smocked Swimsuit

Well, summertime is officially here in Alabama. It is H-O-T!! I'm working on trying to get my three all into a good routine and still have somewhat of a routine for myself. I'm sure that by the time I get it all worked out, it will be "back to school" time again.

I'm working on a really cute little boy's diaper set (I can't wait to share this one!) and a reproduction of a dress from a French boutique. I hope to have them both finished really soon and I'll have the pictures up as soon as they're done.

In the meantime, I've decided to post a picture of a boys swimsuit with a smocked insert. This is so easy to do if you've just got a basic elastic waist shorts pattern. It also looks really cute to omit the smocked insert and add a 3 letter monogram to the leg instead.

All work and no play . . .

We all need a break every now and then. The last day of school for the girls was Friday, and we had to attend graduation on Sunday afternoon (Emily is in the choir, and they always perform the Hallelujah Chorus at the end of the ceremony). Immediately following graduation, my mom, sister and I (along with my three girls and my sister's two boys) left for a mini-vacation to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge.

While there, we took the kids to the new Titanic museum. They were all anxious to find out at the end if they survived (upon entering, you are given a "boarding pass" with the name of an actual passenger, and a brief bio of that person - age, why they were on board, etc.) It was interesting to see why these people were on board what "class" they were in. The museum itself was designed to make you feel like you were actually on the ship, beginning in the hull of the ship with the third class cabins and ending on a upper deck where you could feel the actual temperature of the water on the night the ship went down. It was very educational for me as it was for the kids. Sometimes we have the Hollywood image of things and don't really stop to think about the actual people who were involved. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend visiting the Titanic.

The "Blue Issue"

What a busy, busy month May has already been! I've recovered from Easter and am frantically trying to get summer things finished before the end of the month. I can't believe summer's almost here!

EXCITING NEWS!!

The May/June issue of Sew Beautiful Magazine includes my variation of a popular swimsuit that has been available in the past from trunk shows/home parties. The best part of all, is SB included a FREE pattern on the pull-out centerfold! I've been so pleased with the response we've received from this article. If you don't subscribe, PLEASE be sure to pick up a copy of this issue. There are just too many pretty things in this one to list. I've already made a daygown for a baby boy using one of the ideas in this magazine and can't wait to make a dress from the pattern featured on the cover.

Another Easter Picture

As promised, here is a picture of the Three Sisters on Easter. I'm sorry that they're not all sporting big happy smiles, but their cousins were running around playing and I just felt fortunate to get them together and still long enough for a photo. Sara's and Anna's bishops are made of a lightweight linen that I've had in my "stash" for a while. I smocked them with "Linda's Rosebud Collar", which I have just about decided is my all-time favorite plate - in spite of the gazillion bullion rosebuds! It's so pretty smocked on a collar, a plain bishop (like these) or even on a straight yoke. I love when something is so versatile!

Now to give Emily equal time, her outfit was very cute, although storebought (ya'll just don't know how much it is killing me that she has outgrown my little dresses!) Her skirt is brown with white polka dots and trimmed in a cute brown/white striped ribbon. I guess if I tried hard enough I could still make things for her, but there comes a point when you realize it just doesn't look right anymore. I'm just enjoying being able to still do things for Sara and Anna; they grow up so fast!

The Easter Parade . . .

I'll be honest with you: this Easter nearly wore me out!! I finally finished the last customer project on Saturday morning at about 9:00. I was really proud of myself though, because I had smocked Sara's and Anna's dresses back around Christmas, so I was a little ahead of the game and didn't have to stay up late Saturday night sewing, or so I thought. I went to bed Saturday evening and woke up in a panic at 2:30 a.m. (do you ever do that?) and realized that I had forgotten to hem their dresses! Well, I got up and hemmed them and then went back to bed. They were so pretty!

I'm running behind on uploading my pictures, so I'll have to show you Sara and Anna later. Here are just a few of the customer projects I completed this Easter.

Spring is just around the corner . . .

I just love springtime!! I guess I could make a list of all of the "springtime" things that I love, but it would probably get pretty lengthy - so I won't. I guess the biggest thing that I associate with this season is our celebration of Easter. I sometimes jokingly say that "well dressed children and a clean house make me happy" - isn't that appropriate? I mean, spring cleaning and children in beautiful Easter clothes - can't get much better than that!

A lot of people start planning baby dedications, baptisms and Christenings in the spring as well. For the past few weeks, I have not only been pre-occupied with Easter sewing, but have made several Christening/dedication gowns as well.

This first picture is my version of a Sarah Howard Stone gown. It's hard to fully appreciate this gown from the photo. The skirt on this gown is made of 12 teardrop shaped panels - six are plain to allow for hand embroidery and six are made of puffing, lace and entredeaux. The skirt will almost lie flat in a complete circle. I can't wait until I receive a photo of the precious child wearing this beautiful gown!