A dapper Easter getup

Our day today started with rainy skies (bleh), a visit to the pediatrician for two-month shots (ow), and a mercury-vapor leak in our bathroom after my husband dopped a light bulb (d'oh!)

So needless to say, we needed some cute to clear out some of the gloom. Time to make the boys' Easter ties!

OK, first off, my church is very non-fussy. People wear whatever. Even on holidays like Easter. But I like to get a little bit more dressed up. Perhaps because that's how I grew up. And there are so few chances to get little ones looking truly dapper. I have to take advantage, right?

I've wanted to make a tie-applique onesie ever since I learned to sew. It was one of the first things that piqued my interest in sewing, actually. When Luke was a baby, we had four weddings to attend before he was six-months-old. FOUR. My hunt for something appropriate for a newborn to wear sent me to Etsy, where I noticed the tie onesies for the first time. So cute, I thought. And I could never make one myself!

Fast forward more than two years, and yeah, I can. It's actually very easy!

For the tie-onesie, I followed this tutorial from Crap I've Made (best blog title ever!). My issues: everything was going fine up until I had to sew around the applique. At that point, I realized my sewing machine had brown thread in the bobbin and I couldn't find my spare bobbin. So the lazy part of me and the part that didn't want to waste a bobbin full of brown thread decided to just go with brown. Wouldn't do it again! For an imperfect sewer like me, that dark of a contrasting color is not good. Shows every oops. My first oops was actually forgetting to not sew through both layers of onesie. A few minutes with my seam ripper later, and I was back on track. Another thing: you don't want to cut too close to the edge, like I did. Because the top-stitching actually started the edge of the applique to fray a bit. I think it turned out... OK. I might do another because they're so quick and easy. Might as well try again with the right color thread and make everything look a little neater.

Then it was time for the bowtie for Luke. I used the tute at Prudent Baby for that one. Very simple, very quick. My favorite kind of sewing! Also, I had no interfacing on hand, just iron-on backing. I used that and it worked just fine. Now just need to finish the strap and then figure out what kind of outfit a 2-year-old wears with a bowtie. Does he need a vest? Some sort of adorable hat? Will anyone notice with this cute bow tie to ogle?

Hopefully a visit to the Easter bunny will be coming soon and we can try these out then. What do your kids wear on Easter morning? Do you gussy them up or... nah?

Linked at the parties at Sugar and Dots and...