Under the Sea

A's birthday party theme this year was "Under the Sea". As it turned out, the theme was only VERY loosely followed - usually I make a thematic cake, but this year she wanted the kids to decorate their own cupcakes. So the decorations were about it, really. However, I did have to make the girls their own under the sea dresses (which I figured could do double-duty as Seaworld outfits this summer). I had found a cute, comfy knit dress pattern in one of my Burda magazines a while back, but I hadn't been able to decide what fabric to use with it. Eventually, I came up with a plan: use one color for the dress, another for the ruffles and ribbing, and to do a sea related applique. It turned out a lot more 80s than I'd really planned - good thing that's kind of in style at the moment! ;)

I ended up going with the girls favorite colors - blue for A and yellow for M, and I just did them opposing so that they could coordinate. My original plan was actually slightly different colors (and maybe would've been a wee bit less 80s, although I think the ribbing is the problem! Next time I'll just be using the coverstitch machine, I think....) However, there was some confusion about the price of the knits at Hancocks, which was maybe just as well, since I ended up with the girls' favorites.

I'm pleased with the appliques - these were more complicated than anything I've done before, and they worked out pretty well:

An orca for M, who loves whales:
And a dolphin for A - her favorite sea animal:

I'm all into the idea of applique at the moment - I wouldn't be surprised if more shows up on these pages, lol!

Oh, and I showed the girls their Goofy outfits from a few posts back, and the very first thing A said was "Those look like jammies." And darn it if she isn't right! Now I can't even look at them without thinking that! So... I had the girls use the shorts for under these dresses, as they're the same blue, and I'll be finding something else to wear on the bottom of the Goofy outfit. The tops are just t-shirts, so I figure that's fine - it's really the combination with the shorts that looks so much like pajamas. I thought it was pretty funny, though - my first reaction was more or less"Hmmph!", and then I thought gosh, she's so right. Hee-hee.

Anyway, it was good day - everyone had fun at the party, and the girls like their dresses. And now I'm off to collapse! :)