Portabellopixie Gracie Dress

I've completed my first dress from the Portabellopixie Gracie pattern - view B Tiered Dress. The pattern booklet is a bit more pricey than most, but since it comes with 4 different things to make (3 of which are quite different), you're basically paying for 3-4 patterns at once which makes it worth it (and I intend on making the other patterns down the road as well). Also, by buying it on Etsy with the fabric for the three dresses I plan to make, I got a nice discount.

First off, I was pleasantly suprised at how quickly and easily this dress came together. I would guess that I spent about 6 hours on it in total (although I'm not new to sewing). I spent a couple hours the first evening going over the instructions and cutting it all out. The next evening I hemmed the bottom, and did all the gathering and pinning of the layers; and the third evening I sewed it all up.

I did make one change to the pattern - I added an extra tier. Before I attached the bodice to the tiers, I realized that I wasn't happy with the finished length. I wanted the dress to fall below the knee, not above it (after all, it's a pretty twirly dress and you wouldn't want panties showing). And that was also one of the faults I found with the pattern, no finished measurements of the dress (at least that I could find). Had I known this before this point, I would have changed the width of the top tier to make more of a gathered look between the top one and the one I added (or changed the length of all the tiers before I started cutting).

Another thing I wanted to point out is the bias binding on the top edge of the collar. When I first read this in the instructions, I was slightly confused and had to read it over a couple times to understand the reasoning or concept of this. But once I actually did it, I found it easy and not very time consuming, and it gave a very nice finished look.

Overall, I found the pattern easy to follow. There were some minor missed instructions and pattern pieces that were stamped with wrong amounts to cut, but it was easy to figure out if you've sewn a couple dresses before. I will definitely be making this pattern again and look forward to trying the other ones out as well.

Happy Easter!!

We're having a wonderful Easter weekend this year! On Friday we had an Easter service in the morning, swimming with my extended family in the afternoon, and a big dinner at my parents in the evening. The girls were so worn out from the busy day that they were more than willing to head to bed on time and so we got some socializing kids-free as well. Then on Saturday the girls and I headed to a local church-sponsored Easter party where they decorated eggs, played games, made chocolates, and went on an Easter treat hunt. Tomorrow we were hoping to visit the Zoo but it doesn't look like the weather is going to co-operate; but I'm sure we'll find something else to do as a family before we get back to normal around here.

some beautiful weather . . .

It's the first week of April but today felt like June. It was beautiful, warm and sunny! The girls wore capris and sandals and spent lots of time outdoors. Here's a pic of them in the backyard playhouse after dinner tonight. I hope we get more of this before the April showers begin.

first baby pic . . .

So this morning was the 18 week ultrasound of our little one. Everything looked good but my doctor will go over it with me at my next visit. Heartrate was 140 bpm and we didn't find out the gender. If you have a hard time figuring out what's what - the baby is laying on its' back looking upward. The pic is just of the head and stomach.

a busy week . . .

We've had a busy past week - there was a death in the family which resulted in my husband's family all joining us for the week. Some stayed with us, and the rest nearby. The kids loved the attention from their uncles and grandparents and seeing their cousins. And we also got the wonderful news this week that Brad's only sister became engaged - this will be an exciting year for his family with two weddings and a baby due. Here's some pics of the girls goofing around with one of their uncles.

More birthday girl fun . . .

So yesterday was Elayna's actual birthdate so she got to pick where we went for dinner - and she chose BP's with Opa & Oma. She didn't want to order the kids meals, she wanted us all to share some pizzas. It was cute and the kids were great. When we got home, she got to open gifts from us - she got a Littlest Pet Shop house (to keep all those little guys together) and a doll sticker book. She's easy to please and loved them.

Today she's out on her first annual birthday lunch and shopping trip with her Oma and cousin Kristina (her birthday is 4 days after Elayna). She gets to pick where to lunch this year since it's her first time, and she chose a tea shop that puts on a whole tea party with little party sandwiches. She was super excited and is hoping to get some sparkly purple shoes that caught her eye a couple days ago. We'll see what she comes home with :)

I promised Chantel that we'd do something fun while Elayna was gone and Alyssa's napping, so we went down to the sewing room and she picked out some fabric for a dolly blanket, matching pillowcase and a little pillow. They turned out cute and have been entertaining her ever since.

Birthday money and a haircut . . .

Elayna got two special cards with birthday money from her great-grandparents for her birthday and since it was Brad's day off today, we went to go spend it. The biggest craze for little girls lately seems to be little toys with little accessories, little clothes, etc. So she picked out three little sets to add to her collection. They're cute but I'm sure glad that the two oldest girls will be moving to the downstairs bedroom along with all these little toys before the new baby is big enough to start finding them.

And since my hair was due for a haircut (it was getting way too thick again), I took the older girls along with me this time to get theirs done too. Elayna only wanted a trim but Chantel got quite a few curls chopped off. It looks cute and she loves it.