A Summer Dress for Sarah

Yesterday I sewed.  All day and all night.  Literally.  For Sarah.  I had purchased a summer dress pattern and some nice, cool, summer seersucker fabric to make myself a summer dress, but when Sarah saw it, she said "Oh please Mom, will you make it for me instead?"  How could I resist that face, her smile, those pleading eyes?  I couldn't.  And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that it would look a whole lot better on Sarah than on me.

The fact that Sarah was going to be leaving me for a week and flying to Arkansas to see her sister - my daughter, Kimberly - and Kim's daughter - my grandbaby, Reagan - and Kim's hubby, Zak, well, that probably had something to do with it too.  I wanted Sarah to feel pretty and comfortable for her long trip to see her sister. 

Sarah has not seen her sister since this picture was taken in 2006. 

Now Sarah looks like this.  So grown up, and looking very pretty in this dress I made for her yesterday.

Big Bear and Matthew and Sarah's boyfriend, Walker, all drove her to the airport.  Sorry, I don't do well at airports, especially when the one getting on the plane is my baby.  I make an emotional mess of the entire experience.  So, I opted to stay home and write this post instead.

So, Sarah is on her way to Arkansas, for a week of girl-time and changing diapers and chasing after a very energetic almost 2 y/o niece - precious Reagan.  Oh, and they are going to have some quiet time together too, going for manicures, and pedicures and shopping and just having fun.

While I sit here at home and think about all the fun their having - the stinkers. Of course, this pic was taken in 2006 too.  Sarah and Kim sure have grown up since then!!

From this (Kim, Sarah on her visit, and Zak) ...

To this in 2011!  (Kim, Zak, and their baby girl Reagan) ... I have a feeling that Kimberly and Sarah are going to have so much fun that their cheeks and stomachs will hurt from smiling and laughing so much.

As for this dress I made Sarah yesterday, this pattern is Simplicity's pattern 2884.  The dress is fully lined with a nice slip beneath the full skirt as well.  I was impressed with the layout of the instructions.  The illustrations were numbered and on the left and the written instructions were numbered and on the right.  It made for reading and understanding a lot easier. 

I was surprised they said this dress was an "It's so easy."  I am a fairly advanced seamster, but I thought the hidden side seam zipper instructions were a bit complicated.  So much so, in fact, that I threw the instructions to the side and simply put the side zipper in - hidden - from my own experience.  It turned out perfect.  It could be that I was simply exhausted by the time I got to the point of installing the zipper.  It was 11pm and my eyes were blurring over by that point.