Another Easter passed during the pandemic! Last year was a really bizarre one for everyone, us included, but after a year of self-quarantining, we learned how to make the best of things! I wanted to do something colorful but in a different way than I’d done in the past. Originally, the plan was holographic vinyl and neon elastic cording and white but I found it impossible to find colorful cording that wasn’t super skinny (and that was just not the look I was going for!). So I ended up having to quickly change up some of my plans!

Initially, we took pictures indoors, and, aside from Azriella, things were just not vibing well. Akira kept running off, and it felt like such an off day for Sephira for some reason. We took a few pictures on Easter and then I tried again with Sephira a week or so after Easter.

The Process

One night, I stayed up late and drafted a set of 12 or so bodice variations. Everyone was asleep and it felt like such a magical time to sit and really put thought to paper, without lots of interruptions. The next morning, I had them all pick out what they like best, aside from Akira who did not seem interested in the slightest 😂. I used the Blake Dress by Mingo + Grace (it’s my go-to fancy dress pattern since the sizing goes up so high) as a base pattern for Azriella and Akira’s dresses. I love that pattern because it has darts built-in and I am still struggling to understand darts in sewing (it’s just new to me so I’m taking it in baby steps as Azriella develops 😳). Sephira is still in that magical stage where she’s still not curvy enough for my ideas to need to be altered much. I bought three different colors of holographic vinyl from Amazon and 7 yards of white Kona cotton from Joann’s. Azriella’s was supposed to have more harness elements but after ordering the rivets, I realized (too late) that I neglected to add on all of the buckles/closures needed so I had to scratch my plan. Instead, I went geometric and also added in some hidden pockets and strips to her skirt. I also used my new Cricut Explore 2 for the very first time to make Azriella a holographic choker with moon and star cut-outs! I ended up making a second one for Sephira because I thought more contrast of color would be prettier with Azriella’s dress. Akira’s was supposed to have an elastic corded rainbow but when that fell through, I went with a “Diamond Sky” theme and some moons and clouds on the back and a band of vinyl right above the hem.

I wanted to do more contrast between the three Easter outfits but I realized that I had undertaken three projects to be completed and photographed in the span of one month (and it was a lot of outfits!) and I got a bit overwhelmed! Sephira is more trusting in my ideas, no matter how out there they might be, so I did things a little differently for her outfit. She wanted Taemin’s pants from this video (and, yes, I know, all things lead back to Taemin/SHINee but when you have a kid that states almost that she wants everything they wear and stakes claim to every new, awesome outfit which is a lot of them then you end up like us. We’re not sorry 😂). We used the Metro pants by Suco by Susana but altered them heavily. I don’t do much in the way of wide-legged pants and since his have a relaxed fit to them, I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to try it out! I sort of played around with the suspender leg look for the Pantone project but it was really just a practice run for these pants. To add a little more interest, I pin-tucked the fronts and redrafted the bottoms to have a deep, cuffed hem. For her top, I went to another favorite pattern of mine, the Laramie Shirt by Hey June Patterns which I’ve used so many times. I just love it. I decided to make it redraft it sleeveless since I didn’t want the poor child swimming in fabric. 😂I also wanted to play around with the hemline. I thought it added a bit of elegance and intrigue to make the back long and the front cropped. The holographic vest was loosely based off of a popular style of harness I see various idols wearing from time to time and I wanted to try it out in this particular type of material. The whole look has me screaming over how much I love it, as does lil shawol, I mean, Sephira! Even my picky teenager, Azriella let me know that if I want to make her something like this she’d totally be down for it. She’s so funny: she’s hella sus (as she would put it) about any look that is new to her but once she sees it on Sephira (who’ll let me do whatever I want, no questions asked) she starts changing her tune! I love that they are so different like that. I think it’s making Azriella come out of her shell a little bit and try things that she normally wouldn’t. That being said, she’s battling with this exact idea since they both majorly swooned over the outfit Taemin wears in his latest Music Video (to be released on the 18th of May!): ADVICE. It’s seriously so good and I can’t wait to start planning that one! But first, birthday Key outfit (you’ll see what I mean in July 😉).