The Conclusion of Easter Sewing

Well, the sad conclusion is that I do not yet have the skills needed to sew a nice looking wool coat.  I really wanted to make each girl a coat from lavender herringbone wool with a pink crepe-backed satin lining, but there were too many hiccups along the way and I don't have the knowledge base or skills to fix everything that wasn't quite working.  I got about 3/4 of the way done with one and had to stop in tears.  I went back the next day with resolve to go ahead with the lining and make it work, but the more I worked on it, the more little trouble areas I ran into and the more home-sewn it was starting to look.

I wanted to make them coats that would be beautiful and durable to last a couple of Falls and Springs, but it wasn't meant to be.
I haven't had a failure that has gotten me down quite this much in a while.

Enough of the pity party and on to some pretty pictures of what DID get finished and worn.

I like my girls to coordinate but not to be twinsies, so I used fabric from the same line (Glitz by Michael Miller) in two different prints.
I used the same basic pattern but altered it a little differently for each dress.

For my dress, I used Simplicity 2584, now out of print.  I bought barely enough Amy Butler rayon challis at Hawthorne Threads several months ago on sale.  I widened the bottom half into a bit of an a-line shape because I didn't want to feel restricted in a shift dress.  I wanted an easy-to-wear casual dress where the pretty print could be the star.  Unfortunately, since I didn't do the yoke in a solid color or add piping around the edges or something else to deliniate the edges, the pretty shape of it is lost in the print.

I used my embroidery machine to make lambs for my girls' Easter baskets and they carried them around that whole day and slept with them and have been playing with them ever since.  GREAT investment in a $10 pattern.

So, of course, we had a happy Easter, even without beautiful lavender coats with pink lining.