Little Girl Dresses from Hobby Lobby Fabric

Even though Hobby Lobby is about 20 mins from me, I rarely go to the store. Working in the middle of the Garment District in NYC and online pattern sales allow me to purchase what I need without going to the brick 'n mortar stores.   

Last weekend I was out with my Mom, Daughter and the grandbabies for some birthday/late Mother's Day shopping and we found ourselves on that side of town. So we made a trip to the store. Of course I made a beeline to the fabric section, while everyone else checked out the other merchandise. And of course I found fabric to buy...

I also found elasticized yardage that I thought would make excellent dresses for the girls in pink and blue cotton with embroidered edges. 

Because Saturday was "Picture Day" for all of my Sewcation makes, I sewed the dresses up so the girls could have their pictures taken too.

The Supply List ~
1. One yard of the elasticized cotton embroidered lawn
2. Floral Organza Trim appliques purchased from the notions stash by way of Pacific Trimmings
3. 1 - 1" gold snap from M&J Trims

Construction ~
A simple seam up the back finished the body of the dress. I pinned the fabric onto the girls with the wrong side out. Then stitched it closed. I had to go in again and take deeper seams on both girls to make sure it was tight in the bodice.

With the leftover fabric, I cut straps for both girls.  I had enough to make Samantha single straps that met near the center back. For her straps, I folded the edges over and stitched down, then stitched them to the dress front and back.

For Aleena I had to make a halter strap with a snap closure because the remaining fabric wasn't long enough to make straps for her.

To finish the strap on Aleena's dress, I didn't want to fold over the edges and lose length, so I stitched a piece of white organza ribbon onto the edge to finish and strengthen the fabric for the snap. The snap was then stitched onto the straps. The weight of the snap actually worked as a stabilizer and helped hold the dress onto Aleena better.

The organza floral ribbon applique was stitched to the center of each dress to give them a little something extra and each dress was done since I didn't need to hem them.

Pictures of the girls in the dresses ~

Aleena's Pink Dress ~

Samantha's Dress ~

...and the thrill was gone...

Conclusion ~
I bought 10 yards of fabric (5 pieces) from Hobby Lobby because most of the things I liked were 50% off. At least these 2 pieces are no longer on my cutting table but headed home with the girls. 

Hopefully you can see from the pics that they really liked their dresses! Since it will be hot this week (temps in the 80s), these dresses will get worn to school. They were happy. My daughter was happy and so was I!

p.s. ~ 
Both girls and their little brother were here, so of course he had to get in on the picture taking!

...as always more later!