Ashlynn's Christmas Dress

I know, I know. It's May and I'm talking Christmas. However, after 36+ plus inches of snow this winter, it was very hard to convince Ashlynn to put her Christmas dress on and model for pictures outdoors. C'mon, it's the best lighting, who wants indoor shots?

So, with only a bit of delay, here is/was Ashlynn's Christmas dress.....

This is what I sketched after discussing with Ashlynn what she wanted:

The finished product.....loving her expression:

The back:

Some beautiful beads Mom, Paula and I found and put on the waistband:

A close-up of the sleeve:

The beads on the neckline:

And now for the rest of the story.

When making a dress completely from scratch, i.e. with no pattern, it can take a while. Especially when you do it when your parents are visiting and you're kind of in a time crunch. Mom and I worked through an entire day in attempt to get the dress done. We felt like we were on Project Runway racing against the clock, which was Ashlynn going to see the Nutcracker that evening.

We lost. In fact, I'm pretty sure we heard a faint "You're out" with a slight German accent in it.

But alas, I did finish the dress and just in time for Sunday service at church. It was fun creating something from ideas in Ashlynn's head and it was awesome having mom here to help!