abrupt beginnings, too.

the pictures i’m about to share hardly do the dresses justice.

but then again, that’s kind of become my motto. either “oh boy i haven’t blogged in FOR.EH.VER because reasons” or “sorry these pics are lousy but the kids were cranky and reasons.”

whatever. i’m over it. this is my life and i’ll never be THAT blogger. i’m me—the blogger that sews things and doesn’t take pictures because she can’t be bothered, and sometimes takes really super cute pics of her kids to share but mostly they’re just…not. consider it my way of keeping us bloggers, as a whole, approachable. you’re welcome.

so, where was i? ah yes, the dresses. first i tried the window shot:

nope. blown out pic and oh heyyyy untrimmed door! how you doin’?

(good thing i watermarked that bad boy…people be stealin’ that pic like whoa)

so i moved on to the hanging-from-our-dresser shots.

i swear to you—those handprints on the drawers? NOT there when i took the picture. at least…i didn’t see them.

but this is it: two little dresses. the paper boat fabric had me at hello when i found it in joann’s. 1 yard, which i managed to miscut. truly these dresses were like a comedy of errors with the poor photography as it’s climactic ending. it began when i cut the first front bodice piece of elliot’s dress in half accidentally. i had to recut it, and so i ran short on fabric for gigi’s bodice and had to make it more empire waisted. worked out though—i like the shorter bodice better.

but it didn’t end there: i somehow made the top of elliot’s dress way too small. no way would she fit. i sent it to the corner for a time out and to think about what it had done. eventually it came back sheepishly, apologized, and offered up the idea of a contrasting back placket with buttons to add in a design element and extra bodice width. (i sound so like i know what i’m talking about, right? totally made up that ‘back placket’ thingy.)

i like big bows. and i can not lie.
elliot’s bow actually ties, and only the left three buttons are functional. the right three are just for looks. gigi’s dress has an invisible zipper and her bow attaches with snaps nope. at midnight before they were to wear these dresses i sat down in bed to sew on the snaps and sewed the first one on backwards and said that’s the end of that. i’m pinning it. like with a literal safety pin, not like on my imaginary online pinboard. so yes, gigi’s bow is safety pinned inside. (approachable, remember?)

i also pretty much love the little cap sleeves on gigi’s dress. and if i had thought to take some closer photos you would surely be astounded by the pattern matching happening through those aforementioned sleeves. which was totally on purpose. (shifty eyes).

and so all my foolishness with door/dresser pics in the morning left me no time to get pics of the girls in their just-dressed, just-coiffed, happy happy morning looks. instead you get afternoon just-before-naptime photos. and as…well, virtually anyone will tell you: that is simply a Bad Idea.

gigi was actually trying. bless her little heart--even with messy hair and a grumpy sister she was attempting to give me a smile and be cute.

elliot, on the other hand…well, i think her face says it all. i took. away. the noodle.

there is five yards of navy tulle between these two dresses. FIVE.
tulle, i don’t know how to quit you.

it’s like trying to sew two live cats together and every stinkin’ time i’m like oooh a tulle skirt would be sooo purdy yes five yards please and then later i’m all RAZZAFRAZZA PPPFFFLLLLTHHH HATE TULLE stomping around like that red headed looney tunes character (figures. us gingers have such a bad rap. totally undeserved i might add.)

please—for my own sanity and the welfare of my family, should i ever again be lured in by the siren song of tulle you have my permission to smack me on the head with a bolt of fabric.

not only did i do three layers of tulle on each skirt, i hit up my favorite trashy fabric store and bought the world’s largest roll of navy piping for ONE DOLLAR (adding to my collection of black and brown). so, obviously, PIPE ALL THE THINGS. or each layer of tulle. individually.

i see you lookin’ at that stripe matching across the zipper. yeah.

it’s fine though. the bazillion yards of tulle and piping and miscut striped fabric turned into two fluffy dresses. the piping simultaneously weighed down the tulle skirts and puffed them out. how? i don’t know. can we get some scientists on that? but i like the way it looks.
mmmm…tulle….
you know what else the piping did? provided a convenient hook for elliot’s skirt to catch on daddy’s shoe and rip clean off one whole tulle layer. the second time she wore it.

not cool. not cool at all. :(

so now i’m tired and cranky and can’t think of a smooth segue way to ending this bad boy. thus, abrupt ending.