Lacy pink dress for Olivia and tie for my little man

So you know when dates kinda creep up on you until the event is a week away?  Well, my SIL's wedding is next week, and the dress I had 'planned' for Olivia to wear is still too small (yes, it's very weird having a teeny, tiny Dutch baby) so I had to come up with another solution.  I stopped in at the little one-horse-town sewing store here in hicksville (alright, it's not THAT bad...) and picked up some eyelet lace stuff 'cause I've been loving all these ruffly things around lately.  Since I couldn't find exactly what I wanted in the plethora of tutorials available, I whipped up my own 'pattern' for this beauty!

Since I wanted simple lines I didn't gather the lace, just sewed rows onto the top half of a rectangle (so the bottom isn't hemmed, just folded)

The pattern for the bodice is just 'traced' from one of Olivia's t-shirts.  There's a great tutorial for creating a pattern from a shirt on Craftiness is not Optional: http://theadventuresofroryandjess.blogspot.com/2011/02/charlotte-dress-part-1-making-your.html  Her little trick for puffed sleeves worked out great!  So I also added a little lace on the collar, and a little rose button (which I've been hoarding) and a bow on the front, snaps on the back for dressing ease, and pearl buttons over the snaps to dress it up.

  I think I'll have to pick up some flatter buttons though, since the little ball buttons might be a little uncomfortable in the car seat.  Here' some pics of my little model showing off her new dress (back lit and everything!)  Yes, my 5 month-old can stand when propped, and yes, I'm a little freaked out about her starting to run around!

I'm loving it!  Usually when I throw together something without a pattern I have to tweak quite a bit for it to turn out, but this one worked the first time!

When Ashton saw Olivia modeling her dress for Auntie's wedding he informed me that 'I want to be a handsome boy too!" So of course I had to whip something up for him!  Found a tutorial for a boy's tie at the Purl Bee: http://www.purlbee.com/little-boys-tie/  Although she suggests hand sewing the entire thing, I honestly don't have the patience, so I used my machine, then flipped the whole looong thing right side out.

I'm thinking it turned out fairly well considering it's not cut on the bias and sewn from broadcloth, although hubby informs me that it's a little too long for him (apparently a tie is supposed to hang untied around the neck with the ends hitting the waist.  It hits around his hips)

So both the kiddos will be all dressed up for the wedding, DH has a new snazzy shirt, and I bought something that looks slightly better than my usual attire (It reeeeeeally sucks shopping for a cute outfit when you have to keep nursing in mind - dresses are definitely out) I might end up trying to whip up a cute nursing top if I have time...