Saturday, March 28, 2009

Hippity Hoppity Easter's On Its Way!


As of nine o'clock this morning this is what Kellen's dress looked like on my sewing table.  By noon, the bodice was finished.  Notice that I decided to put a pearl at each intersection of the woven ribbon.  That took ALOT of time, but I think it was worth it.  Then I decided to make ribbon embroidered flowers on the collar.  I happened to have the solid lavender, lilac, or whatever color you would call this, in my stash.  I decided to make the sleeves with pleats rather than gathers.  Then I thought the green ribbon would finish the look of the sleeves.
I really like the look of the pleats on the bottom of the bodice as it shows on the pattern that I used (blue version).  But, with the woven ribbon and pearls that obviously wouldn't work so I made a pleated sash instead.  Just the front is pleated, of course.


Since Kellen doesn't like hair bows, I made her a head band instead.
For the skirt, First I measured how long the finished skirt needed to be, and then I went ahead and hemmed the floral fabric before attaching it to the bodice.  Then I hemmed the lining an inch and a half shorter.  I took Gwen's   advice and used my machine's decorative stitches to hem the lining.  I used dark green and made a row of a leaf design, then I went over it with the lavender with a flower design. I layered the skirt with the lining, a layer of netting with ribbon sewn along its edge, then the floral.  Once it was all together it didn't have the fullness I was after so I gathered a 6 inch wide strip of the netting that was three times the width of the skirt and sewed it to the netting on the outside between the netting and the floral fabric.  This gave it just a little more fullness.  It looks a little cockeyed in this photo, but it really isn't.
Here's the finished dress with front and back views.
Sister dresses.  I've got to get them in the mail so they'll have them in time for the Easter Bunny!

More dresses that I need to mail back to my DD so her girls can be wearing them.  These are previous years' Easter dresses that I borrowed.  Our Area Arts Council has a wearable art fashion show each fall and my things have been featured in it the past two years.  These are the dresses that some little models wore.  








16 comments:

gwensews said...

As always, an absolutely beautiful dress. I love the woven ribbon, and am thinking how I could incorporate that into a garment for myself. Also, have you seen much smocking on adult clothing? I saw smocked cuffs on a blouse that were very pretty. Just wondering how to get some of these techniques into big girl clothes.

window dressing said...

The woven detail on the lavender dress is simply stunning! What a labour of love. The amount of special detail like the decorative stitching and pearls that went into the dress is what makes it exceptional. When I see the collection of dresses together it looks like they should be showcased in a storefront window.

Meg said...

Absolutely beautiful, the details are so amazing and gorgeous. I adore the colour!

Zep said...

The detail you put into your sewing makes it so very special! You are a master at detail I have to say.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful dresses! I love the woven bodice! It is so special and all the wonderful details in that dress make it breathtaking! I am sure there will be one happy child on Easter morning!

Tanya said...

Outstanding, you can't tell but I'm giving you a standing ovation lol. Love, love, love the dresses, I need a grand-daughter to sew for, I really enjoyed sewing for my daughter when she was small. Your work is just stunning.

Anonymous said...

I love, love, love the purple dress. The bodice is amazing!

From A Creative Heart said...

What beautiful, beautiful dresses and such lucky little girls!!!
Wonderful job!!!
Hugs,
Debbie

Faye Lewis said...

You are right, baby clothes and quilts certainly do count! I just didn't want to get too close to them because 1)I'll start want an embroidery machine again, and 2) if I look at quilts to long I'll want to start another hobby. (lol) I'm only 14 miles from Macon.

Diana said...

What a treasure for alittle girl. You do beautiful work. All those little dresses are beautiful. I loved making dresses for my grandaughter when she was smaller but she's 12 now and doesn't wear dresses anymoe. However we have a 7 month old grandaughter who will be a pleasure to sew for in a couple of years.

Roseanne said...

This dress has amazing detail! I love the lining with the decorative stitching. Such a simple little touch, but looks amazing!

Angelia said...

wow!!!! as always amazing work!

Susan said...

Stunning. The detail is incredible.

Chicago Sarah said...

I love, love, love the dresses! If I start dresses now...and have babies in two years...I'll probably still not have the Easter dresses done in time for them to be 4 & 5! :) Total absolute gorgeousness.

I am Arizona; a person, not a place. said...

So beautiful!!

Marsha said...

What gorgeous dresses! I just discovered your blog and I plan to follow!

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