Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from my family to yours!

Well, Happy Easter from most of my family. I promise he's not grumpy about wearing a pink and purple tie. He was upset about being told where to stand. :)
Last year I went a bit crazy and made a reversible A-line and JonJon set for my kids. I decided "never again" and tried to simplify this year! Annaliese's dress is reversible, but reversible pillowcase dresses are SO much easier! I got this fabric for something crazy like $1/yard when Walmart got rid of it's fabric department. I knew I would use it for a spring dress! I didn't exactly follow a pattern; I referred to this tutorial, but used Martha Pullen's method of construction.

 The applique Circle Monogram Alpha is from Planet Applique.

I picked that 3-letter monogram because I knew I had a small version of it that I could use on the American Girl sized dress as well as Dashiell's tie. (It was a freebie on Sew Forum several years ago, but is no longer available.) And no pattern for this dress, I just grabbed some rough measurements from a nightgown we have for the AG doll and made up my own thing. It worked out... should have made a template of that first. OOPS!

Dashiell's tie shirt uses one of my absolute favorite designs, the Neck Tie Applique from GG Designs. SO simple, but just the perfect proportions, and I love that the tackdown stitches for the knot are separate from the rest of the tie so you can rotate the stripe or plaid. (If you own an embroidery machine, you need this design. And while you are there, check out that pic of baby Dashiell! My how he's grown.)

Ok, hope you aren't tired of pictures, now on to side TWO! I've had this butterfly material in my stash for a long time. I got it for free, and can't remember who gave it to me. I've been trying to use this for two years now! I couldn't figure out what to applique on it, and told Annaliese I was considering leaving it blank since it was busy enough on it's own. She looked at me like I was absurd. So to humor her I searched my fabric stash to see if I had anything that matched. I found some scraps from a quilt that I've had for years that was PERFECT.

I quickly settled on Embroidery Boutique's Vintage Applique Alphabet when I discovered it had a small size as well as the regular 4x4 and 5x7 sizes. This has become my new go-to font for making matching items for girls and dolls!

No modeled pictures yet, I was pressing my luck this morning and have a feeling I'd be met with a grumpy face if I asked her to pose for me again. Check back later here or on facebook.