Mommy and Me Outfit

Sometimes I get these wild ideas. And I think they’re really great but lots of the times they are just straight up crazy. This particular wild idea was probably the perfect mix of good idea and insanity (if it’s not a little crazy, where’s the challenge?).

The week before Easter I was doing some internet browsing when I landed on Merrick’s Art blog. I’d been on her site before quite awhile ago and had been impressed with her work, but I’d never done more than just browse. This time I read one of her posts that mentioned she always makes a dress for herself for Easter.

And that’s when the idea came. I hadn’t been planning anything for Easter…but why not make myself a dress? And why not make a matching something for sweet baby Wendy too? And, gosh, if there was leftover fabric, what could I make for Ben?

Mind you, this all happened like the Tuesday before Easter. Ha! So basically I had my work cut out for me!

But I headed to Joann Fabric (people in Flagstaff are not very crafty, so that is our only option 😒 But it has an okay selection and you can always get a coupon) and bought the only fabric that caught my eye.

Of course by the end of the project, the fabric seemed way too bold to be matching all of us but I think that’s just one of the results of staring at the same pattern for hours.

Lots of the times, I feel like I end up spending lots more on sewing my own thing than I would’ve spent just buying something similar from the mall. But in this case, I felt like I got a good deal. I spent about $30 on fabric and other than buying a zipper (about $2) I had everything on hand. So three pieces with about a yard of fabric left over isn’t bad in my opinion.

Anyhow, I figured I’d share where I got my ideas today and then next week I’ll share how I made Wendy’s skirt.

Making myself a dress really was what got me excited about the project. And after doing a little searching, I finally decided on this dress from Merrick’s Art. I did change a couple things-like the fabric, the neckline, and the sleeves.

Now, that particular blog has some insanely cute ideas BUT you really kind of have to know what you’re doing if you want to make something you see on there. Merrick doesn’t offer patterns and rarely has tutorials, so you’ve gotta at least kind of know your way around a sewing machine. This was my first project like this and so I ended up watching a TON of YouTube videos to kind of help me on my way. I had to look up how to make patterns (this was my favorite video on that), how to make darts (this video seems a little outdated but it’s very thorough), how to sew a neckline and how to sew an invisible zipper (FYI, you don’t need an invisible zipper a foot! A regular zipper foot works just fine!). Ha! Basically, I had no idea what I was doing but I just plowed ahead anyway!

I really like how my dress turned out but I don’t love how it turned out. I think I was afraid that it would end up being too tight (my fabric was slightly stretchy, but not as stretchy as knit would have been). So I got a great fit most everywhere, but I wish the waist had been more form fitting-when all was said and done, it was loose. But you live and you learn and hopefully I’ll get better at fitting garments exactly to me.

I ended up making a tie for Ben and oh my gosh, you guys it was THE EASIEST THING EVER! Seriously, it hardly took any time at all, turned out great and had Ben asking me to make him some more! I used this tutorial and signed up for Craftsy emails to get the free pattern. This way to make a men’s tie requires NO hand stitching which is a win for me! The only thing I changed, is that on the longer portion of the tie I split it into two pieces (because I’m cheap and didn’t want to waste all that extra fabric). I used some scrap cotton for the lining.

I went with a skirt for Wendy, which ended up being the right choice for sure because it was Saturday by then and the skirt only took me about an hour to whip out.

Aaaaaaand I only felt a teeny bit ridiculous when we all went to church wearing our matching outfits. But mostly I loved it. It made me think that this might be the start to a new tradition…

Easter might be over for this year, but Mother’s Day is right around the corner and if there’s any day you can sucker your family into matching outfits, that is the one!