Create A View Designs: Peacocks and Paisleys

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Peacocks and Paisleys - Naney's Birthday dress

My niece Naney turned three recently and I made her a birthday dress!!

I made a test run in the spring- the Puppies And Kitties Dress. I made a couple of changes to the fit: lowered the armscye, took in an inch at the neck so it didn't gape and made it longer. And it is perfect!

I used the Olivia's Best Dress as a base for this dress. I used the little ruffle sleeves from another toddler dress and the band at the bottom of the bodice idea from the Bebe dress. I call this Franken-sewing; mixing and matching pieces from different patterns.

The Olivia dress calls for using 7 fat quarters. I couldn't find enough co-ordinating fat quarters so I had to get a couple of the fabrics in half yards. That worked out better as I had more freedom in choosing what fabric went where.

On vacation this summer I asked Naney what her favorite color is. I wanted to make the dress in her favorite color. Well, it was green one day and then purple the next. On the last day at the beach she leaned over to me and whispered that her favorite color was red! So with these fabrics, no matter what her favorite color is that day, it is on her dress! :)

These fabrics can also be worn at any time during the year. With the lower armscye, Naney can wear her dress over t-shirts or even turtle necks in the winter. And these colors will be so cute in the spring!

My favorite fabrics on the dress were the peacock fabric and the paisley.

I put a label in the dress so she knows when it was made just for her. On vacation this year, she accidentally called me Uncle Stacye, and it stuck. I think it is adorable! I will happily be Uncle Stacye! :) :)

So I put that in the label too! How fun when she is bigger to have her little funny sayings inside her clothes.

The neckline is topstitched in a fun swirly stitch. This helps to keep the lining in place.

The bottom hem is also topstitched in a decorative stitch. It is hidden in some of the busier fabrics but you can see it pretty well here on the stripe.

Here is the inside. I stitched the strips together with a small seam allowance, trimmed it and then zigzagged over them together. This should help the dress not need to be ironed as much- no seams to press open.

The little sleeves are so easy to create on little dresses and top. Draw a large oval. Press it in half lengthwise. Run a gathering stich along the raw edge- gather and insert!

I had a couple of people ask me how long it took to make this dress. It looks like it is a time consuming dress but it really isn't. I have made a bunch of this style dresses and so I have the order of construction down pat. Putting the skirt together is all straight stitches and zig zags, and it went by pretty past.

I would say this dress took about 4 hours. it took longer to choose what fabrics to use!

Here is the birthday girl modeling her dress!!!