flower girl dresses: always adorable

It is so much easier to find a flower girl dress than a wedding dress. One, toddlers look adorable in pretty much everything. I mean, how could this girl NOT be cute?
And two, let's be honest, it's a lot easier to find a dress that fits a little stick like Keira than a big lumpy mess of curves like yours truly. Not that I'm complaining--but still, fittings are a lot less complicated when your measurements are the same from your shoulders to your knees.

And, as with most things, my pre-conceived notions about what I wanted her dress to be were wrong. This is why we try stuff on people. To learn that we are wrong.

Originally I wanted Keira to wear a tutu. I thought a huge orange and purple tutu with a little cardigan would be so cute and very Halloween-tastic. And I'm not wrong about girls in tutus being adorable. It's a well document fact.
From etsy seller Kennedy and Friends Co.

Of course, I just planned to make my own tutu because if you know how to sew they are ridiculously easy. I just needed to get my hands on our adorable flower girl, Greg's neice Keira, and get some measurements. Then I decided it might be a good idea before I make the thing to try a tutu on her to make sure I got the proportions right, because she is a leggy little kid for a two year old. So today when we needed to babysit for a few hours I just did my babysitting at the mall, and specifically in the toddler section of Von Maur and boy, did I learn a few things.

Keira does NOT like tutus.

I think it had something to do with it being hard to walk. She put it on and just refused to move. And with really young flower girls, it's pretty hard to get them to do the job anyway without adding complete disdain for their outfit. So I realized tutus would be out (it was cute though, wasn't it, while it lasted?)

So we started looking at more traditional flower girl dresses. They were cute (everything is cute! All tiny dresses are cute!) but nothing really popped. They were also much more expensive than their colored counterparts...probably because they could be used for weddings and are therefor marked up beyond reason. Huzzah for the wedding industry! That's okay though because I like the brown versions better anyway. They have the maximum re-wearable factor and will sweetly match her dad (who is a groomsman).
I really loved the shape of this one on her, and she loved the bow, but I'm hesitant to introduce pink into our color scheme.
POLKA DOTS YOU GUYS. I love polka dots, I really do. It also has a lot of white in it and with a little white cardigan I think it will be super wedding appropriate. (Piggie will hopefully not be present)

So...what happened to DIY project #357, making the flower girl dress? I had discovered the style and color that worked best for her, I could easily go buy a pattern and whip one up in no time. Well, taking the tiny one to a store to try on dresses taught me that children are fickle, and no matter how cute of an outfit I plan, there is a high possibility she will refuse to wear it. I'm willing to have her refuse a $20 dress. (Yeah, I know! Twenty bucks! Awesome) I am very unwilling to go through the hassle of making a garment and having it tossed away...I don't accept that from grown up actresses I costume and I won't be pleased with it on the most stressful day of my life. So I went the easy way out. I bought a dress. If she decides to wear her Halloween costume instead, meh, who cares, right?

I told Keira she looked pretty and she said "Yeah." I told her I liked the dress and she said " 'kay." I told her we were going to get it and she said "Nooooo! Too big!"

Of course she was right. Silly us. Thanks Keira.
She likes it, I swear. She told me so. That face is really damn adorable, though.

(BTW, People talk alot about how the sizing system for wedding dresses is bust, but have you seen the sizes on toddler wear? We had to decide between "24 months" and "2T"...what's the difference? That's the same amount of time! It's the white/ivory/creme debate all over again)

I may get a little fancy and make her a purple and orange petticoat to go under it, but at the moment I am fine with just letting this one go.