Beautiful Roses for Rosa Bonita

My cousin Juanita has been in our family since we were in high school. She was born in Guatemala in a tiny village in the mountains. Illness caused her to be blind and she was brought to the U.S. as a young girl. After many foster homes she ended up living with my aunt's family. So she is my cousin. She graduated from college with her teaching degree, married a great guy and now has 3 children. She is shorter than me which is totally cool because few adults are. Juanita has come to visit me with her family several times. I've seen her in Hawaii (where her husband's family is from) and here in Washington and she is so much fun.

Her oldest child is Rosa Feliz. She is such a sweet girl who turned 8 and was ready to be baptized. I just thought beautiful Rosa needed a beautiful dress. So I created this dress for her. As pretty as it was on the hanger, the pictures of Rosa in her dress were even lovelier.

I chose a natural white silk because, well, I love silk. I wanted to really enjoy making this dress so it had to be silk. I decided on machine embroidery and it had to be just right. I found these roses on Emblibrary under the holiday designs. Stitching it in a couple shades of white and cream looked very rich on the silk. What made this extra special is that I remembered from all those years ago that Juanita's favorite flower was a white rose. I'm glad to hear it still is. This embroidery was very heavy and dimensional and Juanita was able to feel it well so she could appreciate it. I wanted her to be able to see it as best she could, so I added those details.

The bodice was round but I sort of gave it a round square. The hem is all scallopped with white tulle peeking out. Rosa loves princess dresses so I had to make it poufy.

Juanita said that in church she kept touching Rosa's dress because it was so beautiful. I'm so glad she loved it. Rosa felt special and beautiful on her special day and Juanita was able to enjoy how she looked, too. I couldn't have been happier with a dress.

Hmmm...I thouht I had a sleeve picture here. Oh well, I'm too lazy to reupload it. The sleeves were really cute with a little shirred pick up on them. What a sweet dress for a sweet girl from such a sweet family.