{p,h,f,r} Pre-Birthday Preparations

We have back-to-back birthdays coming up next week (Sunshine and Bigboy) which is nothing compared to Auntie Leila's back-to-back weddings! Sunshine is turning 13 and has requested a Jane Austen themed birthday. Her entire birthday list included a Regency dress, a trip to Vera Bradley and some yarn from Sunshine Yarns. She's grown up so fast but oh how much do I adore sharing this love with my little Janeite! Wait until you see some of the other Jane Austen fun we will be indulging in! It's not all stuffy and proper. Fun and funky Jane Austen is on our to do list!
{pretty}

Using one of Marianne's dressesand one of Emma's hatsand this pattern, I made this dress complete with fichu scarf and hat. She picked out the fabric. It has some silver thread that sparkles woven in but it's hard to see here.

{happy}

Happy is a sister who requests a dress for her sister too! It meant double the sewing for me, but I was happy to oblige. Right after I took this picture, Shortcake said, "It's like playing dress up, but it's real!" I have pictures for a short tutorial on how I turned a cheap floppy brimmed straw hat into this Regency inspired bonnet. Yes, they want Cupcake to have a dress too but that means drafting my own pattern and there might not be time for that.

{funny}

My final challenge with these dresses... the buttonholes. I hate buttonholes. I hate them because they are so final. Once you cut them open, there is no going back. Here you have spent hours trying to create something beautiful and one slip of your scissors and it could go so wrong. When I posted my angst on Facebook, K.C. (aka the Tutu Mistress) came to my rescue and asked if I had a one step buttonholer? I have had my new machine for 5 years now and never once have I needed to make a buttonhole so I was unsure. I looked and sure enough, I did have a buttonhole thingy! And a lovely British woman on YouTube showed me how to use it even though our machines are slightly different. It worked... just don't pay any attention to my spacing.  Or my stitching.

{real}

It was a real labor of love to sew these dresses especially with a baby in the house. I am not that finished of a seamstress. I don't do things neatly. And a project like this has a tendency to take over the whole house. Husband took over baby duty all day on Sunday so that I could get most of the construction done. I don't just bend the rules when I sew... I twist them into pretzels. There are puckers where there shouldn't be and unfinished seams and a placket that just about drove me insane, but the girls are thrilled. There will be a tea party for the birthday girl and they will feel like they are living a scene from the pages of their favorite book. Sigh. Thirteen!

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
with the lovely ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter