Wednesday, July 25, 2012

For the love of Snow White

Months ago, I purchased this pattern to use in sewing princess dresses for the girls.

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That is the toddler version of the pattern with sizes of 1/2 to 4Toddler.  My girls are super skinny so they have the chest circumference of a baby but the length of a 3 - 4 year old.  I decided to use the size 4 because there really wasn't much difference between that and the size 3.

I also purchased a ton of "special occasion" fabric on sale.  I don't know what it is made of - it could be 100% polyester for all I remember but it was the nicer looking of that type of fabric.  (That didn't cost a lot of $.)

I only cut out and sewed together the bodice.  I didn't want to waste time if the dress wasn't going to fit.    Note that the sides are held together with pins in this picture.

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It was too big.  (I know - it doesn't look that big in the picture.)  If she moved, the shoulders slid right off and there was a high potential of nip exposure.  It would have taken too much work/time to alter to fit her as it should so I quickly made the decision to move on to Plan B.  What was Plan B?


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I used the Simply Sweet.  I learned my lesson after the first dress I made with this pattern and used someone's awesome suggestion at how to alter the top.  This does fit Allie (just fits her) but it's too snug on Anna so I've further adjusted it for her dresses.

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So let's talk about this fabric.  Not only is it extremely difficult to photograph (light shines off of it) but I wanted to rip my hair out sewing with it.  It is so slippery.  It either slides off of the ironing board or sticks to it with static cling.  It's even hard to cut out the pattern pieces.

Here's the back.  The dark blue of the bodice is closest to the true color in this photo.

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Funny story about these outdoor photos.  I only had a few minutes (and I've been too busy/lazy to take more.)  Em and Anna were in their un.der.wear and ran out into the yard with us.  They kept standing next to Allie to be in the picture, especially after I told them that I couldn't put semi-n.a.ked photos of them on dot-com.  (Dot-com is their name for the internet.)  Oh, they thought this was hysterical.

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14 comments:

Ali said...

ABSOLUTELY adorable! You are so fantastic at making such beautiful things for them!

Sarah said...

I am blown away with l that u make!! Amazing!!

Michelle said...

Such beautiful dresses.

Unknown said...

Totally adorable! The dresses you make are so beautiful.

Unknown said...

What lucky girls! Who wouldn't absolutely love a dress like that? Can't wait to see the rest!

Kayla said...

You win the best mom ever award. The dress is AMAZING! Why do girls like to run around in just underwear? My 4 y/o twins do it also. The 8 y/o would too if I let her. And it's one thing in the house, but why do they insist on running around outside? We live on a busy street and give shows at least twice a day. "Get inside, inappropriate" is our #1 saying lately.

Sarah G said...

SO SO SO CUTE! nice job!

Melissa said...

So cute! Looks like she LOVES it!

CJ said...

That's freaking awesome!! I wish I had girls!!!!!

Jennifer said...

Beautiful job with the dress!!!!!

Bree at Clarity Defined said...

Fantastic job (as always) on the dress! It's gorgeous and I bet Allie is thrilled. I can't wait to see the others!

Tinkerbellemommy said...

Super cute! The Simply Sweet is my go-to pattern for so many things. I bet you'll find now that you have a bodice piece that works you'll use it for a few years, just making the skirt longer as they grow. I traced mine onto pattern-eze when R was three, and I'm still using the same one and she's seven now!

alicia said...

You make the most beautiful dresses for your girls. Three of everyone does give you the mother of the year award. They will have such wondeful memories of those special dresses. I give you bonus points for sewing with the slick shiney fabric - I don't touch it.

Love the pictures of your girls. I am positive that you have the most gorgeous children I have ever seen. They are so pretty.

Misty said...

Oh, man that's adorable. I really hope that I get that sewing thing down soon. I'd love to make outfits and costumes for my daughter (3 months old). Looks great :)