About 20 years ago, as all young Catholic children do, I had my first communion. For this occasion girls get to wear the prettiest, fanciest, white dresses and a white veil to go with it. Every spring, in the years leading up to my first communion, I admired the girls’ first communion dresses, all satin, lace, tulle, and poof, and dreamed of my own. Finally, when I was 8 years old it was my turn. My mom and I picked out a very pretty white eyelet dress for me to wear. White cotton eyelet. Like I said, it was very pretty. However, it wasn’t quite the satin and lace gowns I’d been admiring on the other girls, and I admit I felt a little disappointed by this. My one chance to wear a very fancy dress, and it was cotton eyelet.
Yet, I kept remembering my first communion dress. As much as I appreciate it now, appreciate the beauty and simplicity of it, appreciate the way I stood out by not having a fancy dress just like everyone else, and appreciate my mother’s taste and judgment in the matter, I still remember the flicker of disappointment I felt at not having a dress made from fancy fabric. This was my flower girls’ chance to wear a fancy, slightly over the top, dress, and I didn’t want to disappoint them. A compromise would have to be made between my current tastes, and what my tastes were when I was 8 years old.
Lace it was!
I've always loved lace, so after dismissing the initial idea of cotton eyelet, I decided the dresses would have to have to be lace. Our wedding colors were green and purple, forest green and lavender to be exact. The bridesmaids, ringbearer, and ushers would be in green, and the groomsmen would be in dark purple, so I came to the conclusion that the flower girls ought to wear lavender. Lavender dresses with white lace overlays. That would be just the thing!
I found a pretty lavender polyester at the Mennonite fabric store, and then went in search for the right lace. I liked the idea of a embroidered net lace, similar to what I was using for the overskirt on my dress. However, neither the Mennonite store, Joann's, nor Hobby Lobby had anything that quite fit that description. Not wanting to go through the hassle of ordering something online, I just picked the white "eyelash lace" from the Casa Collection at Joann's. Despite not being what I'd envisioned, it worked up beautifully, and I really do love how the flower girl dresses turned out.
Several years ago I picked up Simplicity 6190, a 1970's girls' pattern, in a size 10 at an antique mall. I loved the flutter sleeves, square neckline, and long skirt of view 4. When I picked it up the thought crossed my mind that it would make a very pretty flower girl dress one day.
Fast forward a couple years to about 3 weeks before my wedding and I had my flower girls over one morning to make their flower crowns and be measured for their dresses. (I intentionally waited until as close to the wedding as possible to do this because kids have a habit of growing very quickly) Upon measuring the girls I was delighted to discover that the oldest was just the right size for my copy of Simplicity 6190! A search through my pattern collection then revealed Simplicity 5540 in a size 7, just the size I needed for the younger girl. This pattern had very similar lines to the first, just a different neckline shape. I could change the neckline to a square and it would be perfect! How delightful to be able to use vintage patterns from my stash for this project!
Both patterns were in good shape with all the pieces accounted for. The patterns recommended zippers down the back, but I was afraid zippers would get caught on the lace so I opted for buttons instead.
On the wedding day, they arrived early with their parents to help set up and get ready.
Until it was time for everyone to put on their wedding clothes!
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Beautiful children! God bless!
ReplyDeleteThe dresses are just beautiful and it is a delight to see vintage designs look very au courant. I had a similar dress when I was about 6 or 7 (in the 1970s) that my mum made me for Christmas. It was long with a square neck, flutter sleeves and a ruffled hem. In a very 70s way, it was made of a quilted red cotton with small yellow flowers. I wore it over a yellow turtle neck. If you put it beside your flower girls' dresses, it would be hard to tell that they were essentially the same pattern! But the truth of a design is in the wearing and I loved that dress just as much as your girls' love theirs. Thank you for stirring the warm memories of my winter dress.
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