Easter Blog Tour with Handmaiden's Cottage (Tattered Petals Dress)

Well, I blinked, and it is already March.  With Easter just on the horizon, I was already running through what kind of dress to make my daughter.  Every year, the kids get a special outfit to wear to our Resurrection Sunday service, and this year, I am so excited that Lo, from Seams Sew Lo, made it easy for me to get motivated with the Handmaiden’s Cottage Easter blog tour.  I love the Handmaiden's Cottage so I jumped on board right away, and my daughter started looking at patterns.  She decided on the Tattered Petals dress. 

I was a little surprised at her choice because she isn’t usually very girly, but she was head over heels about this dress so we went with it.  I would like to add a little disclaimer right now that I was provided the pattern for free as part of the tour, but the opinions expressed are 100% my own.

So, first things first, some pattern details to give you a good idea of what you are getting with this pattern:

• Size range is 2T – 8 so you can use this pattern for a good while if you’re daughter is still young!
• Tiered dress or overdress and pettiskirt set
• Tattered fabric flower tutorial
• Photographs for each step (which I love because I’m very visual)
• A general instructions section which shows different gathering and hem techniques
• Very clear, concise instructions that you will find standard in all Handmaiden’s Cottage patterns

Okay, so now that you know what you’re getting with this pattern, let’s talk a little about it!  We went with a white and silver fabric from Hobby Lobby and a white pettiskirt.  Usually, I lean toward something a little brighter for Easter, but this dress…it turned out gorgeous!!!

My daughter wanted the overdress and petti, and I love that the two pieces are separate because she can wear them separately after Easter, and we essentially have a stand alone skirt in addition to her beautiful dress!  After adding the petti, the dress needed over 5 yards of fabric for the dress, but that wasn’t surprising given the fullness of this beauty.  AND, it's completely worth it because this dreass is wondermous!

The neckline is created using a casing and elastic, and I can’t even tell you how easy it was to put the bodice together.  Everyone ooh’ed and aah’ed over the dress when we were doing photos, and one of my friends said it would have taken her a year to get through the bodice.  Not so, my friends!  It was super easy, and the instructions make it very simple to understand what you need to do!

Now, the skirt…personally, I would recommend you use a gathering foot or ruffler because there are a lot of gathered pieces.  It is definitely do-able to gather them by hand; it will just take a little longer.  I’m an impatient crafter/sewist so I opted for a ruffler foot to make the gathers.  The general  instructions offer three different ways to gather so can choose the one you like best!

My serger is in the shop because, um, I missed a pin and hit it so yeah…we went with the narrow hem option for this dress.  It’s pretty simple do, and it gives you another option for hemming if you don’t have access to a serger.  Hemming options are also part of the general instructions so you have three options to choose from for hemming.

The pattern calls for belt loops made of ribbon, and I did cut them, but when I finished my dress and proudly showed my daughter, she asked me where the belt loops are.  Well, child, they would be on the cutting table where I left them when I didn’t add them. :/!  Sooo, yes, there should be loops for the sash, but I forgot to sew them in.  We also didn’t use fabric for the sash because we had some a turquoise satin ribbon that my daughter wanted instead.  I originally had a pink one, and then she decided that’s too girly…even though the miles of ruffled dress aren’t.  Gotta love it…I did make her a tattered flower to put in her hair, and she had none of it, so we compromised and I clipped it to the back of the sash in place of a bow.  I kinda love it...

I’m super excited that my daughter was all about this dress, AND we have a gorgeous Easter dress that’s already done!  I highly recommend the Tattered Petals Dress...with so many options, there's no end to the different looks you can come up with.  Now, let’s take a look at how you can get your copy of the pattern!  There’s also a coupon code and giveaway!

So, Handmaiden’s Cottage has both a website and an Etsy store.  You can use coupon code EasterTour2018 for 30% off in both places.  This sale will run until midnight EST on March 12^th so don’t miss out on your chance to grab some of the beautiful patterns that they have while they are on sale!

As I said earlier, I'm only one stop on the blog tour.  We have several designers who hopped on board and created some pretty stunning pieces for their Easter celebration. You won't want to miss out on seeing their creations so please take a sec to head on over and visit with them.  Here's a copy of the full schedule so you can keep up on who's up each day:

1. March 1st: Seams Sew Lo
2. March 2nd: Miinoma Studio
3. March 3rd: Momma You Can Make It
4. March 4th: Kate Will Knit
5. March 5th: Kathy's Kwilts and More
6. March 6th: Granma Texas Sews
7. March 7th: Our Play Place
8. March 8th: Aurora Designs
9. March 9th: Frullemieke
10. March 10th: My Sewing Roots
11. March 11th: Manning the Machine
12. March 12th: Seams Sew Lo (Round Up)

Don't forget that there's also a giveaway going on right now that you can enter to win $50 in credit to Handmaiden's Cottage!  I'm addicted to patterns and fabric so this is a fantastical giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for following along, and I do have a to give a huge shout out to Seams Sew Lo and Handmaiden's Cottage for sponsoring this tour and providing me some motivation to get moving on my Easter sewing!  We hope you will stop by and see the other stops on the tour and maybe find yourself some inspiration for your Easter sewing!

Blessings and Happy Sewing,
Kim