Dresses 2, 3, and 4 finished!

Here is Riley's dress. If you've been following this saga you will remember that hers is the first one I started. I did the embroidery first. Actually, I made all of the bodices first.
( This really isn't true. I made Little Man's suit first. I remember when I was really little and my mom would read the comics to me. I always wanted her to read "Nancy" first and she wouldn't, because......"you should always save the best till last." I say, "Do the most challenging first." You may remember that post.)
Back to the dress. I wish these were showing up better in the photographs, but the velvet and taffeta have a sheen to them and they just aren't looking the same in these pictures as they do in person. But, you can get the idea. This dress has a short little jacket. When you see the pattern at the end of this post you will see that I changed the shape of the front of the jacket. Heck, I wasn't going to do that embroidery and then cover it up, was I?

Here's the picture from the back. You won't believe the MAJOR boo-boo I made on this dress. When I was cutting the bottom buttonhole, I sliced through it and into the dress. I almost died right then and there. But, I regained my composure and hand stitched it so that it doesn't show too much. Luckily being the bottom buttonhole, the sash covers it, and the jacket does,too, so that you can't see it anyway. I really don't think it would be too noticeable unless I point it out anyway.

As you can see, her dress is mostly velvet with a taffeta border around the hem, a taffeta bodice and sash. The dress itself is sleeveless. But, Riley lives in the cold north so she had to have the jacket.


The next two photos are of Emory's dress. You may remember the smocked bodice. I used one of the antique collars on hers. I ended up not using the other one or the lace. I guess I'll use them on something else sometime. These sleeves are a little different. The cuff is open on the outside part of the sleeve. It has long ends that tie. They look a little lopsided in these photos. Emory lives in the West where it is hot all year so her sleeves are short and most of her dress is taffeta with velvet trim so it won't be too hot.

Here's the finished dress for Jenna. This is the one that has the puckered bodice with pearls sewn round about. Her dress has a bubble skirt. All of the dresses are lined with brown satin that is a garment weight rather than a lining weight because it cost the same and this just had such a good feel to it. You can see from the inside out photo that I finished the dresses so the silky satin side of the lining is toward the girls' bodies. On Jenna's I had it all put together and decided that the skirt needed more fluff. So, I took apart the lining at the waist and added a 4 layer ruffle of tulle on the inside. That's what that seam on the lining is.

I finally got the length measurement for Little Man's pants. I put a cuff on them so that as he grows they can be let down.


Just a reminder of Kellen's dress with the pin tucked bodice and hem border. Gwen said she had never thought of making pin tucks on velvet. Me neither. I just think of really weird things to do, usually in the middle of the night. I figure if they don't work I can just do something else.

These are the patterns I used. The upper left one is the one I used for Jenna's. It is Simplicity Project Runway number 2767. Little Man's is in the middle of the top row. Obviously, since his is the only one that's not a dress. His is Butterick 6894. Kellen's is the big girl pattern on the top right. It is Simplicity 5234. Riley's is the one on the bottom left. It is a New Look 6448. And, Emory's is the one on the bottom right. Hers is Simplicity Project Runway pattern number 2989. As you can tell I took lots of liberties with all of these patterns and made them my own. I just hope my little ones like them.

I want to thank all of you who said prayers for my mom and wished her well. She is better today. I don't dare say that out loud or she will be sicker tomorrow. Today was really good, though. She actually let them put her in her wheelchair so she could get her hair done, and she ate lunch in the dining room.