Summer Dresses - Two Ways for Two Teens

Do you have teenagers who are too snobby to appreciate homemade clothes? I don't, yet. =D I have two lovely teenage nieces who came to visit from Florida recently and I used the opportunity to make a dress for each of them. A problem arose when I realized I didn't really know any trends that appealed to teenagers these days. Pinterest easily and quickly took care of that problem!

I have a very eclectic fashion sense- I love classic silhouettes but I can also appreciate the flowy Boho style as well. I also love vintage everything but adore modern details as well. I like to mix and match the styles along with my fabrics to create looks that are fun, unique and wearable! 

And that's how these dresses came together! First up, this adorable summer frock is for my younger niece who's very pretty, very sociable, and loves attention.

Living in Florida means lots of hot weather and this simple dress is lightweight and flowy so it should get plenty of wear, I hope! The skirt is a crinkled chiffon in a dove gray color and the top is made from  a woven cotton from Walmart, I believe it was called "Zoey Floral."

The neckline is adjustable by simply pulling the ties tighter. No zippers or buttons to worry about on this one! I love those kinds of dresses the best!

Dress number two is for my oldest niece who's an aspiring thespian who appreciates vintage and retro styling more so than her younger sister. She also loves collars- something I've noticed in her fashion choices on FB.

I love tulip skirts and peter pan collars! Oooh- and covered buttons! This dress is chockfull of details- no wonder it took 3Xs longer to sew than the first one! But it is so worth it, wouldn't you say?

Simply hanging on the hanger does it no justice whatsoever...so I may have a photo of me in it to show you how it looks when worn- but I'll need to do some major Photoshopping first, ok? Haha! It's a bit tight for me as I'm much bigger than my niece. I think it may be time to invest in a dress form at the rate of sewing that I'm going at these days!

The skirt and trim are made from a retro 1980's fabric I discovered while thrifting. I almost didn't buy it because it was much brighter than what I normally like but I went for it anyway because the floral print was irresistible! 

And the bodice was made from a light blue chambray that I had in my stash already. Have you noticed how I love the contrast of solids and florals? I wish I had had striped fabric on hand instead but that may have been too busy for my nieces. 

Luckily, both my beautiful nieces each loved their dresses. I created each one with their personalities in mind and whenever I look at the picture above, I can see them in each dress. So for now, I have pleased two teenagers with some homemades and I know for many sewists, this is quite a feat!

 Next up, I'm sewing for the boys again and I'm sew freaking excited about it because I've just discovered how much fun it can really be! The fun is in the challenge itself of creating colorful, modern clothes for boys to rival those of girls. Stay tuned and thanks so much for stopping by my little corner of the Internet! Happy sewing!