Japanese Easter dresses

I used this book to make some dresses for the big girls for Easter. I've had the book for awhile, but have never tried any of the patterns. I was a little intimidated by the lack of english instructions. The styles were all very straight forward and easy to figure out from the diagrams in the book. The diagrams tell you in what order to sew everything, which is about all you really need to know. In the book, this dress is shown as short sleeved, but it was as cold as the arctic here on Easter, so I made them long sleeved dresses. The book is very versatile because it had the pattern for the long sleeves included, so I can mix and match depending on what I want to make. I didn't realize how clever it the book is until I started using it. I got the book from here last summer.

The purple dress is made of a lightweight linen/cotton blend from Joanns. It is so soft and pretty, but a little sheer. Maria wore a long sleeved tee and tights underneath, so she wouldn't get frostbite. Betsy's dress is made from some floral quilting cotton I got from Equilter. I thought it sort of looked like a Liberty print, but not $30 a yard. I look at so many beautiful fabrics that I would love to make dresses out of, but at $15-$20 a yard, it just seems like too much to pay.

So when Easter morning came around and I had all the kids in decent clothes all at the same time, all awake, I had to take a photo. I took about 20 photos and I swear Patrick has the biggest smile in each one. He is such a good boy. Who's that kid standing in the middle that looks like a baby? That's Tess! To the best of my recollection she was just born about a month ago, but there she is not looking like a newborn at all. How did she do that? She's almost as tall as Betsy. What a lucky baby she is to have those big sisters and brother. They are so crazy about her.