holiday dresses

3 girls. 3 dresses. These are for the holiday events were are going to in the next few weeks. They have already been out of the house and christened with chocolate stains and a button replacement. I made them from a pattern in this book. The cranberry red and yellow are in a mini corduroy and the slate blue is in a brushed sueded corduroy type fabric, all from fabric depot here in Portland.

Detail of back closure.

Miss Liddy gets hers in yellow and it stays on for about 5 minutes. Have I not heard of an iron?

So, while I was making these Sadie and I had a little talk-

Sadie: Are these our Christmas dresses?

Me: Yes, do you like them?

Sadie: Yes, but they need more ribbon. All over. (Motioning a lot) And they need to be more beautiful. With more ribbon. Like a fairy. Like a fairy Christmas dress. Actually, I want to be a Christmas fairy. (Actually is her favorite word)

Me: Um. . . okay. Well, maybe Santa can bring you a fairy dress and this can be a holiday dress, you know? It doesn't have to be both.

Sadie: Yes! And these holiday dresses need more beautiful beautiful ribbon. Like this ribbon (She pulls a woven ribbon out of my box and flips it to the wrong side with all the crazy threads showing) Like this ribbon, but I want this side out, the side that looks like a rainbow.

Me: Mmmmm.

Okay, so I didn't use that woven ribbon, I didn't have enough and I wasn't going to use the backside, regardless, but I had a lot of this lovely velvet ribbon on hand. I finished the dresses as they are now and then just had them lying around for a few days, trying to decide how to make them more beautiful and also hoping they were fine as they were. And they are. They girls love them and wear them all the time, like just about everyday. Delia has mentioned she wishes hers was bigger and more fancy (pantomiming a huge wide skirt) and just this morning she told me her baby doll needs a matching dress with easter eggs and flowers on it. For Christmas.

I do feel a little guilty pushing my minimal medieval/folksy design aesthetic on my girls who would prefer these to be much more flashy, but they seem happy with them and can always wear their fairy skirts over the dresses. To make them more beautiful.

Comments

[carolyn]

Beautiful! Simple is what Christmas should be.

[Gena]

Ah! So cute! Posts like this make me wish I had my own daughters to sew for!

[Kristin]

I once had a little girl (she's 18 now) who wanted fancy shiny, frilly dresses. I liked simple and folksy, too. I found a cotton dress for her at a yardsale that had a full skirt and 4 different patterned fabrics which she loved. It was a Mousefeathers dress which I later found out were pricey, boutique dresses. This dress satisfied her desire for a fancy dress and I ended up loving it too. Even though it was cotton I don't think I ever ironed it. They are available on ebay, they look a little different and the pictures don't do them justice.

[tricia]

Out of the mouths of babes:) Love that sweet little conversation! The dresses are lovely:)

[Siri]

I was thinking Amish more so than medieval/folksy. They're perfect just the way they are.

[Lauren]

yeah, kids are the absolute best. So fun

[Liz]

I personally think they're absolutely perfect. Simply beautiful. Gorgeous fabric choices, too.

[Nancy Cook]

I love them all but I think Delia's is my favorite.

[Bluebirdbaby]

I commented on your flickr photo before popping over here, but just wanted to say again that these are amazing!!!

[pen and paper]

Oh, these dresses are gorgeous - I really love the back closure on the grey one that you detailed - and to my eyes they feel understated but still lush and sumptuous; the perfect holiday juxtaposition of simplicity and decadence. Lovely.

[amyehodge]

These dresses are absolutely darling. I don't have any children, not even nieces or nephews, and everyone I know keeps having boys. It would be lovely to have girls to sew for. And I laughed out loud at your story. Wouldn't it be great if the world were more beautiful? ;)

[LuAnn Smith]

Too cute. Yep my 4 year old just loves the color pink. You wouldn't know it by looking at my work but it's not one of my favorite colors. I'm a blue jean t-shirt kind of gal and my daughter wants to wear a pink dress every day... Fairy skirts over the dresses is a great idea!

[molly]

these are awesome, amy. I was just drooling over them on flickr. we have an "actually" girl in our family, too. I don't know where she gets it, my husband tries to tell me that she gets it from me but, actually, I don't think I say it very much. :)

[Meg McElwee]

Those dresses are divine! And I must commend Sadie for her ribbon suggestion. ;)

[Veronica TM]

i think they are plenty beautiful and they may thank you when they see photos of themselves in the future.
you did a wonderful job, amy!

[Alice]

So funny. I was just reading "The Puzzling Mind of the 4-year-old" for my Psychology of Early Childhood course. Sounds like your girls are no longer puzzling - they know exactly what they want! Also reminds me of how I HAD to wear my Alice in Wonderland dress ever day. Even in winter or while riding my Big Wheel.

[Tanya Whelan]

The dresses are absolutely beautiful and passing on your minimal and elegant design aesthetic is a gift to your girls.

[Tanya Whelan]

Oh, and I love your very specific and analytical description of your style.

[Abby Jartos]

They are gorgeous! And don't feel bad for the aesthetics - just today I steered my own sparkle-fairy-ribbon-loving daughter right past a pink plastic glittering castle in the hopes that she in fact will prefer the unfinished wood, vaguely mid-century modern dollhouse that I prefer. One day they'll thank us - right???

[Abby Jartos]

Though -the occasional fairy dress is a must as well. ;)

[fiveflowers]

What sweeties, with such clear ideas about things! Yes, ribbons and rainbows- perfect!

[Amy]

These are truly so unbelievably gorgeous.

And all together? Stunning.

[Michelle]

I love them as is. Maybe another project could have the reverse ribbon -- sounds fashion forward to me. ;)

[Sara]

I love it, love it, love it! My two girls and your three girls would have an entire wardrobe of "beautifully beautiful"!

Thanks for a darling post.

[liz]

i think they are actually very very beautiful!!
lucky girls - i wish the clothes my mom made me when i was little were as cute as those are!

[amy]

Love the dresses! And they could wear those pull on glitter fairy skirts that they have at the dollar store UNDER the dress and be a secret fairy. Or maybe they wouldn't fall for that.:)

[Esther]

i adore these dresses, all three! pure loveliness really. i am currently in the mode of dressing my seven month old daughter exactly as i see fit, because i have little to nothing in common with the taste of my three year old daughter. pink. sparkle. twirly. really not so special. where do go to find cute accessories (tights, long sleeve tees, etc.) to go with your color pallets?

[samantha]

LOVE the dresses! i have this book, and one other japanese book, but i am so nervous about attempting these patterns! maybe seeing them will generate some nerve.

[Megan]

Beautiful!

[~ Junkyard Jennifer]

Amy ~ These dresses are gorgeous. I love the fabric you used - perfect for the holidays. And I really like the simplicity of the design. :)

[Kelly]

Oh man - those are really really cute.

And actually is one of Jane's favorite words too!

[Nicole]

I was sitting here drooling over those dresses, wishing i had the patter, when I clicked on the link and realized I DO!!!! Happy day!! Now to get over my fear of the pattern pages that look more like a street map of Tokyo than patterns to me! :)

(BTW I made Christmas dresses for my girls to, and am now wishing I had gone with something more versatile than the shantung I used....your dresses are beautiful and practical! AWESOME!)

[feathernester]

Oh my gosh, I am laughing so hard! Your girls are the best.

[Nicki]

I think they are perfect. I have a daughter who is all about the glitter and the (dare i say) garish! I'm hoping she will grow out of it!!!

[Céline]

so pretty !!

[Cherry]

I LOVE girly style wardrobe! I have made the square-necked long-sleeved shirt from it for my 3yo. Next is the pink-and-white striped short sleeved shirt.
These dresses are lovely.
Thanks to your restraint, your girls will be able to look back on their childhood outfits and not cringe!

[Cherry]

I LOVE girly style wardrobe! I have made the square-necked long-sleeved shirt from it for my 3yo. Next is the pink-and-white striped short sleeved shirt.
These dresses are lovely.
Thanks to your restraint, your girls will be able to look back on their childhood outfits and not cringe!

[Cara]

The dresses are fab, even without the beautification of acres of ribbon! You could always push the medieval princess vibe for the girls (I was all over that one when I was little - man did I want a big pointy hat with flowing bits coming out the end!).

[Helen]

They are just beautiful! I particularly like the colours of the middle one. I've had my eye on that book for a while and now I know I really need it!

[Sue]

lovey love those dresses....!
my 6 yr. old daughter is a fairy. all day, every day.
your daughter's vocabulary sounds sooo familiar....:)

[cecile]

They are beautiful !
I am waiting for this book, the patterns are so cute !
Cecile

[jeanetta]

i wish my girl would wear a cute little dress like that. but she is 7 and thinks those are for babies. maybe i could get her to wear one as a little babydoll top or something. they are jsut adorable.

[Courtney]

Beautiful. And hilarious conversation, I have the boy version almost daily at my house. So disappointing as parents, aren't we? If only we could all dress as fairies and superheroes every day.

[amy m]

the dresses are so beautiful!

[tony(a)]

Simply Beautiful!

[momo]

they are beautiful!! you're such a great mom!! =)

[jenna]

I was looking at that first photo thinking how absolutely perfect the dresses were, and almost laughed out loud reading about how your daughter didn't QUITE agree. :) Forget "less is more"...more is more when you're small!

[mims]

I'll trade your three girls for one 8 year old boy, wo thiks accessorizing means smearing blue paint on his hands and face. Honestly, you think he was a smurfl\ or lord krishna or something!

[Meredith]

These are so beautiful! I just learned the hard way how tough it is to work with sueded corduroy (for me, a beginner at least!). I used it to make a doll dress a couple of days ago and wrote about it on my blog.

You did such a beautiful job, it makes me want to give it another go!

[Pam]

I love their little ways, actually!