Emily's Purple Holiday Gown

*accessorized with a black bolero and aviators. ;-)

Pattern: Butterick 4967
Supplies:  All scrap fabrics!  There is some chiffon, satin, knit, jersey, taffeta, some rayon stuff, and some cotton weave for the lining part.

Some of the fabrics are from projects I haven't blogged yet, like the Arabella, but others are from projects I made for other people or scraps picked up along the way.  The taffeta was from this masquerade gown a couple years ago, remember?  The piece that I couldn't quite squeeze out of my scraps was the dark purple knit in the middle.  That is from a length of cloth that I'll be making a dress out of in the somewhat near future. We'll see how busy school is. :-)

I love this style on, well, everybody, but especially little girls.  The problem is, Emily is 8 already.  She is very tall.  And this pattern I have is only sized to size 6... I really wanted to make it though and loved the idea of using scraps, so I did some math and lengthened each tier accordingly.  It was all very helter-skelter, but I'm so happy with the way it turned out.

The layers are as follows:

yoke: eggplant chiffon

bodice: taffeta

Layer #1: rayon jersey

Layer #2: taffeta

Layer #3: royal purple stable knit

Layer #4: taffeta

Layer #5: eggplant satin

Layer #6: unknown purple substance

She loves to spin and curtsey. :-)

See the pink piece that every tier is sewn to?  I think the hardest part was lining everything up correctly and making sure the tiers were even.  Oh, and hemming all the tiers.  All those circles, all those circles...

 Handpicked zipper and neat and tidy insides.

The sash is supposed to be tied in a neat bow behind her.  It is a shimmery gold fabric that we've had for years.  My mom made window valences for our living room with it years ago (and many decorations schemes ago) and I loved it so much I held on to it.  I'm so glad I did. :-)  

The flower is layers of satin burned along the edges with purples beads and pearls sewn in the middle.  It may be my favorite part.

I consulted her a little on the style in November and showed her the scraps I had (some pink and some purple) but after that I wouldn't let her see it.  It was a combined birthday/christmas present from me and most of these pictures are from Christmas day.  Of course she wanted to put it right on. :-)

It is her all-purpose holiday dress, but it was also made with the 'Premiere' in mind.  Surprisingly, the majority of the girls there also wore various shades of purple.  Emmy's loved by one and all. :-)

Emily's favorite part?  "It goes to the floor!  I love that it is so long."  Good to know Emm, good to know.  Even 8 year olds love feeling elegant. :-)