A little princess dress

I finished the dress for my niece, who will be turning six in two weeks. I used simplicity pattern # 4764 the only alterations I made to the pattern were because of the scalloped edge on the fabric I didn’t want to turn under the hem, I went ahead and added three growth pleats to the skirt. that way it can be lengthened when she grows if it is something she wishes to have done. plus it looks cute. also I wanted the scalloped edge on the sleeve. I wish now that I had made the sleeve just a bit longer then it is, I didn’t take into account that on the pattern they added a band to the sleeve, which would have made it an inch or so longer. instead of the band I made a casing on the inside for elastic. I’m sure it will be fine, that’s just me being ticky. the other thing to note is I used less crinoline then called for . last years I made her a princess dress as well and its so fluffy its hard for her to navigate, this year I decided to not go quite as big. which in a way is selfish on my part, I don’t care for making the crinoline, its scratchy, yeah I’m a wuss when it comes to that type of thing. the dress though went together really nicely. I did have to add an extra layer of lining to the skirt , but that had to do with the fact the fabric has eyelets and the crinoline would have shown if I didn’t. I’m making a matching dress for her 18 inch doll so they can be all matchy, matchy, when I finish that I will post it too. my niece chose the fabric from my stash, yes I told her to pick whatever she wanted, she of course chose the fanciest thing then went on to tell me exactly what she wanted. “a dress that goes all the way to the floor with puffed sleeves.” so I think this qualifies.

a few detail shots



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making a gift.

Eep! what am I making? its a surprise. I am working on this and another little thing, for holiday gifts plus a dress for a little girl who is turning six next month. With the holidays around I have been busy doing things other then sewing, but I need to keep up with my sewing. Sometime in January, maybe February I am going to start on another decade project dress. I think my goal right now will be to focus on the twentieth century first, then move on to earlier dates. I do have a few patterns picked out. Now I just need the fabric. because of course what I have in my stash just wont work.....well...I could make it work, but.... I want to go fabric shopping!

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new machine

I purchased a new sewing machine on a black Friday sale for $50, nothing fancy, its a very basic brother. nearly identical to the one I already had, only newer. ( all my old parts will fit. yea!) my other one is ten years old and I have put it through the ringer, sewing things that really it should not have been able to sew. anything from chiffon to six layers of dense fur and everything in between. so now your asking if it could do all that why did you get a new one? because the answer is it couldn't really handle the abuse I put it through. recently I am finding myself having to help it along more then I did before. when the control pedal went out on it a year and a half ago (in the middle of making my sisters wedding dress! now that was a freak out the wedding was only three weeks away!) I almost bought a new machine, instead though I just got a new pedal. but recently its been getting more and more obvious I needed a new one. so here is what I decided I wanted another basic machine with no frills, no computerization or anything. I will use it for basic sewing but I’m not entirely retiring my old one. it still works so I’m going to use it till it dies on the more heavy duty sewing, in hopes that I wont do the same to the new one as I have to the old. so far all I have done on the new machine is set the tension, it was a bit off, but then that is normal on a new machine and I gave it a drop of oil since its been sitting for who knows how long after leaving the factory in china. I hoping this machine will serve me well. if it can last ten years it was well worth the $50.

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red from the pile skirt.

yep I’m just going to call this red from the pile skirt. its basically made from scraps I pieced together by pinning it till I liked the shape. then did some draping to pull up the bustles. or something like that. I have no idea what technical terms are for sewing so I just make them up. besides this skirt has no rules, the only thing on the skirt has a consistent grain line is the bias strip on the hem. I’m not done with it yet, though this is the final shape, I am going to try my hand at some beading. which I have done a tiny, and might I stress tiny bit of in the past. I’m not going to do anything outrages just a few beads on each tuck to help it look more finished. this is meant to be an over skirt, I have started the plans for the underskirt in my head, but nothing definite yet. I’m kind of going for a steam punk look. so I will see how this turns out. since really I have no idea what I’m doing. and have yet to figure out a top. first things first though, the skirts.

front


back

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Giselle costume

here is my Giselle costume. I wore it at the Halloween festival in our town has every year, what fun! I needed better elastic as what I used folded in half. I hate when that happens. I just went with it though as getting non roll elastic last minute was going to be too difficult. other then that I was pleased with how the costume turned out.




Happy Halloween!

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finished on time!

I finished my Giselle outfit, but I keep forgetting to take pictures till its dark outside. my camera is not that great nor is the lighting in my house. so it needs to be light outside to get a good picture. but pictures will be taken tomorrow of me wearing it. and I will post some of them.

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Giselle costume

I opted to be Giselle for Halloween. I chose to be her for a few reasons. one it was the first costume I said I was going to be. I saw the ballet earlier this year and fell in love with both the story and the costumes. two it was going to be easier to make. I don’t have a huge amount of time to make this costume. only till the twenty seventh. I had the design for charmander in my head but it was going to be more complicated. since I would be once again frankenpattering and drafting out my own patterns. I’ve never taken any classes or been taught anything for this so its slow going with many mistakes. Giselle is pretty straight forward, I had a pattern for the shirt, the skirt is a skirt, I have made so many of those its easy, (at least I’m hoping it will be.) I am going to make my own pattern for the vest. I thought up the pattern already and I’m thinking it should be easy enough. though I do still have to draft that out. I have finished the shirt already. and am currently working on the skirt. yea to progress!

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