Easter Dresses: Simplicity 2888 & Butterick 5443

Happy Easter/ Resurrection day !!! Here are the Easter dresses I sewed for me and my daughter. Sewing them was a delightful experience and I loved the end results. I lost a couple of work days due to a nice little "bug" that my daughter passed on to me that had me out of work. So I had alot of catching up to do. But despite that and finally finishing sewing this morning I'm happy I was able to pull it off.

I went in a different direction with our colors this year. I strayed away from the normal floral print and decided to something in the opposite direction. I found the fabric for my dress at Jo-ann's several weeks ago, and as I mentioned in an earlier post I absolutely fell in love with it. So I matched my daughter's dress to it and of course my Hubby wore coordinating colors. So here's the reviews and pics for the dresses......

(worn with black shrug to church)

Simplicity 2888

Pattern Description:
Dresses with two lengths with bodice variations. I made view A.

Pattern Sizing:
Size 12 bodice tapered to 14 for waist and skirt.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes! Absolutely!

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Pretty much!

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I loved the style and flare of the skirt.

Fabric Used:
Polyester shantung with unique print in white, black, gold, light blue (I think that's all of the colors).

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
1. Dresses with midriffs make me a little nervous since I'm short waisted. But I did a muslin for the bodice and since the fit was good went with it. After completiong, I realized that the midriff was too wide for my taste and very obvious with my fabric. It was too late to reduce the lenght of the midriff after it was sewn, so instead I make a fabric belt to tie up and wear in front of the midriff to make it less noticeable. That worked well. I also paired the dress with a black shrug which balanced the look alot more.

(Dress w/o shrug and belt. I'm not a fan of the midriff)

(The Midriff  up close. Again, it was too wide for my taste and looked a tad bit awkward. And yes, I had to pin the front a bit, the neckline was a little low)

2. The other change I made was reduce the side seams beginning 8" down from top of the skirt. That ended up being 4" taken out of each side seam hem.

3. I left out the pockets since I ended up screwing them up due to rushing.

(Bronze Nine West Sandals)

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I probably won't sew it again but I definitely recommend it to others!

Conclusion:
Beautiful dress! At first I didn't think it was going to work due to the wide midriff but accessories helped.  I was well pleased with the end results!

(This child never met a camera she didn't like!!!LOL!)

 Butterick 5443

Pattern Description:
Lined, sleeveless dress with tier variation, back zipper closting and ribbon tie.

 Pattern Sizing:
Size 4

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, yes, yes!!!

 Were the instructions easy to follow?
Very much so!

 What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I loved the style and thought it would make a perfect Easter dress for my daughter. There wasn't anything to dislike---the dress was perfect!!!

Fabric Used:
A cotton gauze in a light blue shade. It was light and girly. The entire time I worked with this fabric I kept thinking about the mummy or wrapping a burn. LOL! It's just what I always associate gauze with! LOL! The lining was cotton broadcloth.

(A kiss for the camera man!)

 Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
None were needed!

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Not anytime soon---there's other dresses I'd like to sew for her. I'd like to make it maybe when she's several years older and probably in a chiffon fabric.

Conclusion:
Perfect dress for my daughter! She looked like a little Doll!


Again, Happy Easter/Resurrection Day!!! Have a GREAT one!!!!