Shabby Chic for Super Cheap

We fell in love with the adorable dresses from Shabby Apple! They are sweet, simple and just super cute. They range in price from $30- $38 though, which is typically 3 times more than I like to spend on my girls dresses. ;-) While we were in UT a few months ago, my sister in law Meghan showed me an adorable dress that she had made for her daughter Reese... similar to the one above. She and my mother in law had made it from a similar pattern they had just switched up a bit and the dress looked just like it. Meg had gotten the most adorable fabric from a store in Colonial Square in Bountiful. So I totally had to copy her and do the same thing! My mom and I took Sydney and Mia to Quilters Haven and let them pick out whatever material they wanted for their dresses. (Ok, so I actually help "guide" them in their choices...) But they both liked the same two fabrics- but Syd liked the green more and Mia liked the flowers more... So ta-da! It worked out perfect!

So... $20 later the fabric was ours... and hours after my mother in law helped make larger patterns and cut them out... and hours after my mom cut out the fabric and sew the dresses... Sydney and Mia are Shabby Chic for super cheap! They love them and were so excited to get them in the mail from Grandma. Really I wished I could have done it all myself, but since I only know how to sew scrapbook pages together ;-) I don't think they would have turned out very well. (Especially considering how Ger's mom and my mom had to make up the key-hole back, improvise the short puffed sleeves and line it with that pylon stuff, decide how thick and long the sash should be, etc...) Pretty impressive but she said it is super easy now that we have done it once! Thanks Meg, Mom Dover and Mom!

Note: If you want super cute fabric but don't have a fabric store around check out Heather Bailey's line at http://www.heatherbaileystore.com/. She has created an amazing line of fabrics/patterns/scrapbooking supplies etc.