..:wedding attire:..

Last week, my brother-in-law tied the knot with his beautiful bride

at their lovely wedding in Phoenix. As the youngest of five, he has

the good fortune of being the "cool" uncle to 11.5 adoring

nieces and nephews.

I am not quite sure why I volunteered to take on the

daunting project of outfitting these wonderful

children. I think it had to do something with

the fact that black/white/periwinkle are nearly extinct hues

for youngsters during the winter months. Also, it

is quite difficult to find coordinating dress-wear

for the age range of 9 months up to 10 years old.

And, maybe I kind of wanted to take on the challenge.

I blame it on my independent, oldest child, Idahoan

nature that makes me do such things to myself.

Here is the whole motley crew, in what can only

be called a miracle shot, being that they are all

together and happy. Even if they are all looking

at different cameras.......

My niece, Abigail, was happy to strike a pose. She is

a natural in front of the camera, I found.

Here are the girls (minus one very hungry baby).

Please disregard my daughter's navy flower, I have some

color issues. Also, I thought it would be fun to mix

things up with two in skirts and the others in

dresses but after seeing them all together,

I think all dresses would have been the way to go.

I used a simple vintage A-line dress pattern, added a slight

mock-neck collar and some puffy sleeves, and some bias trim

for a contrasting hem.

And, the boys. I made their ties using this tutorial. It was my first time with ties

so they weren't perfect but I found the instructions easy

to follow and I will definitely try it again. My little

guy got a bow tie which was surprisingly easy, a good thing

since it was a 1 a.m.-night-before-leaving-project.

Now, I think I am going to send my beloved Bernina on a little

vacation. At least for a few months because I really

thought she was ready to blow at some point in

mid-December.....