Smocked Sister Easter Dresses

What a tender pose!

A few weeks ago as I worked feverishly on Laurel’s Tea Dress, I asked readers to share pictures of their Easter creations.  Jenny Jo, who lives on the prairies of Nebraska, graciously shared these photos.  I was enchanted. 

Her daughters look like Celtic lasses just returned from strolling in the highland heather and the dresses perpetuate the image.  As a matter of fact, I think I heard bagpipe music as I viewed the photos!

I’ve been reading a lot of Scottish historical novels and these little darlings, with their porcelain skin and tumbling auburn curls, look just like the well loved “bairns” (babies or children) described in these books. 

In my request to post these pictures I asked about the sweet matching headbands.  I also commented that they surely must have caught the attention of everyone who saw them. Jenny Jo’s fabric choices compliment each girl’s coloring and her color selection for the smocking is just perfect, in my humble opinion.

Jenny Jo’s message and description of the dresses have been copied and pasted below.  I was tickled pink to discover–WOW!!!— that the font size she used transferred and is applied to this post.  I’m happy to have found a way to increase the size of the font.  

I was also pleased to check out the rolled rose tutorial link Jenny Jo included.  She used this to make the blue rose on her 7 year-old’s headband.

So here is what Jenny Jo had to say about her Easter projects. I must disagree with her that these beautifully smocked frocks are not “heirloom quality.” Little girls have worn smocked dresses for hundreds of years and many of those frocks have been passed down the generations to the children and grandchildren of the original owner.  That makes them heirlooms!  The quality of Jenny Jo’s smocking and the love she put in each stitch make the dresses even more treasured. 

 Thank you, Jenny Jo, for sharing!

The dresses aren’t remotely heirloom quality; I just love the smocking.

The pattern is Prairie Rose by Annastasia Cruz at  www.mytreasuredheirlooms.com   I chose the pattern because it has all elastic and I’m intimidated by buttonholes and zippers!  I made a size 6 and a size 3 for a 7 year old and a 3 year old, respectively.  I think I should have made smaller sizes, especially with the size 6.

On both dresses I had gaping issues with the smocked section.  I tried various things to fix the gaping, including adding a bit of elastic behind the binding, which is obviously the cause of the rippling.

The smocking plate came with the pattern.  I smocked with Perle Cotton #8.  My dresses look a bit different becuase I pre-constructed the pink one and I didn’t consider that the ribon row had to be done BEFORE the construction.  So on the pink one, I just repeated elements of the lower half of the smocking plate in the place where the ribbon was supposed to be.  Both dresses are made with quilting weight cotton. 

Yes, those are yo-yo’s on the headband.  As you know, I’ve been trying to teach my 7 year old some sewing and we recently had a class in which we made yo-yo’s and pom-poms.  The blue headband has a rolled rose.  I followed this tutorial  http://portabellopixie.typepad.com/RolledRosesTutorial.pdf

I don’t know if we caught the attention of everyone we saw, but their grandmothers ooohed and aaaahed enough for dozens! I’m sure you know a thing or two about that!