Bonnie and Tommy asked all of their under-10 cousins to be in the wedding! It could have been many more if they all had come, but in the end they had three flower girls and one ring bearer, two from our side and two from Tommy's. The girls were 7, 9, and 10 years old, so going into it, we knew the dresses couldn't be an adorable puffball like the toddlers wear.
Bonnie attended the Priscilla of Boston going out of business
sale, and saw a darling flower girl dress. It was perfect: cotton, "Bonnie Pink",
summery, and only $25. (Originally $250, holy cow) Sorry for the crummy iPhone photos!
She called me, “Mom, they have a size 6, should I get it?” I said, "Sure, it's bound to fit one of them!" She sent me a photo
and we knew I could copy it. Sure enough, the
dress fit Ashley, the youngest, perfectly!
I thought
the older flower girls should have a slightly different silhouette. I found a pattern that was sleeveless with round
neck line like the inspiration dress, but had princess seams under the bust instead of pleats. I cut a
bias band for the high waist (just like the store bought dress) and we did
the fittings on my visits to Virginia and Alabama.
I found a
Kona Cotton by Robert Kaufman in “Melon” and ordered a bolt - it was a perfect match!
I love to fully line the bodices, instead of cutting
facings. They are easier to sew and feel better inside.
When Bonnie first asked them to be flower girls, the blonde ones weren't excited. After asking more questions, we found out it was because they were dreading "scratchy dresses"! These were all-cotton with no fluff underneath, so we assured them the dresses would not be scratchy. Smiles all around.
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| Coral ruffled flower girl dresses (the handmade are the left two, and the storebought is on the right) |
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| Coral ruffled flower girl dresses (the handmade are the left two, and the storebought is on the right) |
To mimic the ruffled
trim, I cut miles of strips and narrow hemmed each side using the narrow hem
foot on my sewing machine. Usually that foot is a nuisance to use, but on a straight
line it works great. Once the dresses were hemmed, I drew a template on paper to
line up the swoops of ruffles. I marked straight on the dress with chalk and
gathered on the ruffles right on top of my chalk line.
I covered tiny buttons with matching fabric. I always use
the sort that you press into a rubber mold, they're way easier than the kind with
little teeth on the back.
We decided to
skip the bows on the older girl’s dresses to give them a slightly more mature look.
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| Priscilla inspiration dress |
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| handmade flower girl dress |
We asked the girls to get any white sandals they wanted to wear with the dress. That way, they were easy to find and wearable for other occasions.
Bonnie made personalized necklaces
for them. We used extra fabric for the basket liners and matching hair flowers.
They all looked darling as they tossed petals down the
aisle. Thank you girls! And thank you, Mom, for another amazing wedding project!!!
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