So, today is Mother’s Day so it feels perfectly appropriate to be posting these cutie pie mama / mini matching outfits… From her 3rd Birthday. Back in October… We’re only a little behind on this one! 🙂
We have a bit of a tradition now – for all three birthdays that my little girl has celebrated, we’ve had matching mama-made outfits! This year, she also requested her own self-designed little matching knit set, which you can find here, but we celebrated her birthday with family in our matching dresses, as always! This year, we decided that our dresses would work double time for both her birthday and the Rehearsal Dinner for the wedding of her Tio and Tia!
Thus far, I have taken the liberty of choosing the fabric for our matching dresses… I’ve loved getting to pick out something that feels fun and light enough to be worn by the little one, but still pretty and classic enough to work in my closet. We’re three for three with drapey florals at this point! This year, I chose this floral viscose challis – Lady McElroy has never done me wrong! I have started to wonder how much longer I’ll be given the reins on matching birthday dress fabric choice… It turns out three year olds have a lot of opinions, and I don’t see that minimizing in her lifetime!!
I LOVE the colors of this fabric! Knowing that I planned to wear this to the Rehearsal Dinner, I had a very panicked moment in the middle of the night while waiting for it to arrive that perhaps it was going to be too white to be appropriate, but as soon as I opened it I was relieved of this worry. The background is a warm, creamy natural ivory color and the florals are truly the star of the show. The design is so warm and vivid that you hardly even notice or care what background it is on!
For myself, I chose the McCall’s M8035 pattern. My little boy was about 6 weeks old at the Rehearsal Dinner, and 8 weeks old at the time of her birthday, so I had a couple of important stipulations… Mainly boob access. I prefer to wear dresses all the time, but I’ve found that when nursing I am pretty limited on the types of dresses, or more specifically the types of necklines, that make much sense for me. Wrap (or in this case, faux wrap) necklines with a deep opening are my favorites, and let me feed the baby without much obvious undressing.
I had purchased this pattern in a big haul of McCall’s patterns, and was excited to try it out. A couple other things that drew me to this pattern for this particular dress were the sleeves and the waistband. October in Texas is unpredictable – you could have full blown summer heat, or biting windchills. The sleeves are long enough that I felt they could provide a little cover, should temperatures drop, but they wouldn’t be so long or heavy that I’d be uncomfortable if it stayed warm. The waistband was key for my comfort at this point – as a still very recent postpartum mama, things felt very out of sorts and all over the place. The elastic waist gave me a little shape without leaving me feeling squished, weird, or uncomfortable. Wins all around!
For the birthday girl, we went with the Adelyn Dress. While she loved the fabric I’d picked out, she likes to have something “cozy” included, so we pulled out a couple of solid DBPs from the fabric shelf for her to choose from. She chose this pretty lavender color, which I love on her, and I dressed up the back of the bodice with a bow made from the remainder of our fabric! For the skirt, I wanted something longer so that it would feel a tad bit fancier for the wedding-related events, but not so long that she couldn’t wear it any time! We simply held the fabric up to her, measured out a good length and width, and sewed a gathered rectangle to the bodice. Easy peasy. If I made it this length again, though, I’d add a little slit in the skirt for ease – this girl like to run and needs room to spread her little legs out!
I love our outfits! We felt very cute, and we coordinated well with the pieces that baby man and Papa chose for both events. These were some of our very first purposeful photos as a family of four that didn’t involve me looking flustered and unshowered on the couch, and I will treasure these always!!
I’ll be spending the day with my three favorite people and two favorite dogs today. I’ve requested that my husband take on the early morning wake-up calls from the baby, and that we take a morning bike ride downtown for coffee, followed by sushi lunch and some sewing time in the afternoon. If you are in the US, I hope you have a splendid day – no matter where you are (or are not!) in the motherhood journey. Love on a mama today!
Dress: handmade by me
Pattern: McCall’s – M8035
Fabric: Minerva – Lady McElroy (Viscose Challis) – Bloom Explosion
Tiny Dress: handmade by me
Pattern: Simple Life Pattern Co. – Adelyn’s Scoop Back Dress
Fabric: Knit Pop – Solid Lavender DBP // Minerva – Lady McElroy (Viscose Challis) – Bloom Explosion
Key Ingredients:
Brother XR9500PRW Sewing Machine
Brother 1034D Overlocker
Schmetz Universal 70/30 Needles
Dahle 36×48 Self-healing Cutting Mat
Thanks for reading my thoughts on these patterns! The patterns used for these projects were both purchased by me. The fabric is absolutely lovely, and was gifted to me by Minerva in exchange for a blog post of a finished garment to be published on their website. All words and opinions expressed throughout this post are my own, as always. Links provided throughout this post may be affiliate links – if you choose to purchase any products through these links, I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you. This simply helps me justify the costs of my sewing habit and the time it takes to share it with you!! Happy Sewing!
- XX Elizabeth
