It’s always fun to buy holiday dresses for the little girls in the family but this year I hit the wall – I discovered a darling dress in a brown/black/hot pink plaid at Baby Gap but it only goes up to 5T plus they only had one in a size 3T. Julia is now in a 6 and since Ralph likes to dress the girls alike whenever possible I was stuck – especially since the size 6 clothing seems to be more suited to Junior Brittany Spears instead of a kindergartner. I checked Gymboree, Lands’ End, and Children’s Place but nothing really tripped my trigger – too frou-frou or just plain ugly.
I started to buy the one size 3T at Baby Gap for Bella but I didn’t – I had another idea – I’ll make dresses for the girls. Now anyone who knows me (other than my kids) is probably wondering why in the hell I would even consider sewing but trust me, at one time I made almost all the clothes my kids wore including the cutest matching Holly Hobbie dresses ever – straight out of the 70′s! I even made the dresses Ralph and I wore in a wedding in 1992 but other than some curtains for the back deck, I don’t think I’ve done much sewing in the last 15 years.
Once I got the idea in my head, I was pumped! I browsed a few fabric stores, made note of patterns I liked (NOT from the Lizzie McGuire or Hannah Montana collections either) and today took my Fashion Maven, Tammy, with me to pick out the pattern and fabric. Trust me, they will be darling! Photos will be posted of the girls modeling them at Thanksgiving.
After we left the fabric store, we picked up Tammy’s sewing machine that she had left for a tune-up. Naturally I started looking around at all they had to offer and came away with a brochure just in case Burl ever needs a gift idea. When I mentioned it to him, he asked me why I just didn’t go ahead and buy one – can’t believe he doesn’t know by now that any purchase I make over $50 requires research and comparison shopping.
Since Burl was playing handyman/electrician for Tammy and Steve today, we had lunch at their house and then I went for a long walk in their new neighborhood. I loved the change of scenery from my usual walking route plus I got plenty of hills too. Just sorry I didn’t have Mulligan with me.
The material I bought is in the washing machine so since I can’t cut it out this afternoon I’ll go finish up the sweater I’m knitting for Devin’s first birthday. I want to take it with us when we go to Phoenix in 11 days.
