7 Dresses

So I can't say that I have 27 bridesmaid dresses but I do have 7. I have many happy memories wearing those dresses. The first two I wore when I was pregnant with Emma. And I knew while wearing them that I would one day give them to Emma for her to play dress-up in. I thought about this because that's what my mom did. Growing up, my sis and I dressed up in all of my mom's old formal and bridesmaid dresses. We loved them to pieces, literally.

Of course I got to be the bride, but I am personally loving that green hat on Jenn.

Now that Emma is almost 5 (crazy!) I thought it would be fun to FINALLY pull them out (because it has been SO LONG since I wore them) and show them to her. She was thrilled...she tried each one on, but of course they were huge on her (and I didn't get any pictures)

Moving on...I was beyond excited when my college bud decided to host the Valentine's Day! Cabin! Fever! Creativity! Link-Up!+ Giveaway! It is my FIRST time to link up with another blog and I got inspired to alter the dresses

Let me just say that I do not really know how to sew. I was not interested in it when I was growing up, so I never asked my mom to teach me. Now I am interested but having a hard time finding the time and patience. Dan even got me a sewing machine for Christmas a few years ago and I still haven't figured it out.  Anyway, I am sharing this because I don't want you to judge my mad stitching skills.

Dress: "Ana"
(And I promise I am not showing her dress first so I can win that little giveaway...wink. wink)

I started with this one because it was knee-length on me and already had straps- meaning I didn't have to cut off any of the dress and all we needed to do was to tighten the straps.

So we just snipped the thread other strap from the back of the dresses and stitched them back on a little tighter. And voila:

It's still a little big, but that's what I want. The purpose is for fun imaginative play and she also needs room to grow in them.

"Jenn"

 

This dress already had straps but I had the idea to cut off the hook and eye that was at the top of the back of dress and move it to the other side to help make the dress a little tighter.

This way we can zip up the dress, and then with this added hook, it stays up better.  I also shortened the straps and cut off the bottom of the dress some. The pic below shows how I just brought in the strap a little.

    

 "Janell"

     

       

This dress required a lot of changes because I was 8 months pregnant with Emma when I wore it. I used some pinking shears to cut off the bottom. (I decided not to worry about hemming the dress bottoms because it is just for play.) Emma was a good little helper.

Once again, I also took off the hook and eye from the inside of the dress and stitched on the outside.

 "Emmie"

This dress didn't need to be cut at the bottom, but we needed to add straps. So my mom took the shawl and used that to add the straps.

And then there are dresses 5, 6, and 7:

"Sarah"

"Catherine"

And "Vickie"

       

I am afraid we will have to wait for another day to finish up these and maybe there will be a follow-up post.

But here are the first 4:

Joshua wanted to be in the pic too.

Emma was excited but she would not try them on for me for pictures. She was too busy sewing herself. A little homemaker in the making.

Now I really need to keep up and learn how to sew...

And sweet little Joshua was so proud of us that he learned how to clap!