Easter Dresses

When I was growing up, my mom made dresses at both Easter and Christmas for all seven of us girls and a vest or some such for my only brother. I've always loved looking back at those photos but now that I've got the little-girl-dress-sewing bug, I'm also much more appreciative of the time and energy she put into sewing for us every year.
Naia got a new outfit too, just not a grandma-made one. 
 
I'd been thinking about making Easter dresses for Leia and Leanne (Addy will get one when we visit her next week) but when I walked into Roxanne's a week before Easter and spotted The Perfect Fabric, it went from 'maybe' to 'done deal.'
 
Leanne's dress was up first.

I made her's (almost) according to the pattern I used for Addy's dress (Fat Quarter Pillow Case Dress from Mother Huddle - great pattern.) 
 
And since she flat refuses to wear it (she's still sick and grumpy), all I have to show are on-the-hanger shots.

Leia, on the other hand, was more bribe-able amenable. For a small fee (3 "mints", aka Tic Tacs, her favorite treat), she was willing to model for the camera. 
(Please excuse the pajama bottoms in the photo; there was a limit to her cooperation.)
 
In fact, Leia liked her dress so much, she wore it Thursday for our modeling session, Friday while we ran errands, and Saturday while playing with friends and dyeing Easter eggs in Arrowhead.

While Leanne's dress was made almost according to pattern, I just winged Leia's. On both dresses, I wanted a wide center panel to showcase the fairy fabric, with multicolor sections on either side, and the magic wand panel as the bottom band. 
 
I was short on fabric for dress #2 - the pieces I had were either too short or too narrow - but I was determined to work with what I had since the fabric store is an hour's drive from here, each way. 
 
By making narrower panels on the back; increasing that part to 5 sections from Leanne's 4; and making a ruffle rather than a double-sided band for the bottom, it worked out just fine. 

And if you have a new dress, you have to have new shoes, right?
 
Leia picked out her own and helped me decide which ones to get for Leanne. 
The fabric flowers are super cute.

And while Leanne may not like the dress (yet; I live in hope) she **loves** the shoes. Leanne loves ALL shoes. A trait she inherited from my mother.