Belle - A Princess dress for Emily

Pattern: Butterick 4320

Fabric:  All stuff from my stash!  

-Yellow flowered leno shirting from fabric.com

-Yellow lace table cloth from Sharestuff (a thrift store) used for this dress too.

-Yellow criss-cross stitched cotton for bow left over from this dress years ago.

-miscellaneous yellow fabrics that I only had enough for one bow out of each.

-yellow lining or different kinds leftover from all sorts of things

-bodice lining from an old yellow tee shirt :-)

Emily says her favorite part is the shawl looking collar attachment.  I made this in 2 days on and off because Emily was actually very sick at the time and I was watching her and the house at the same time.  We were going to go to a friend's disney princess birthday party 5 days hence so I dug in my stash of fabric and scraps and whipped this up.  As it turned out she was still ill and could not go. :-(  But she got Belle dress out of it so she is pretty happy about that.  It is a little big on her now because of the weight she lost, but it'll fit right soon enough.

So it isn't exactly like Belle's from the movie but it is close enough. :-)

The bows are of different fabrics because of my scraps pile, but I kinda like it.

All of the bows are handsewn to the overskirt.  I did notice that they have you gather the back-most seam but don't have you make a bow for it.  I just un-gathered it because I didn't have any more scraps to make another bow out of. :-)

It is very full and she loves to spin. :-)

The Back

This dress was so simple to put together.  I would categorize it as easy.  The only hard part for me was putting in the invisible zipper and making sure everything was lined up right.  I don't know if the pattern even called for an invisible zipper though, I just like the way it looks...or doesn't look.

In this picture I still have to add a hook and eye.  The bodice is fitted with darts in the front and back which means you don't need to cut three pieces for the front and 4 for the back.  Which is nice.  Sewing for little people is so stress free. :-)  Except that they grow out of things...

With a couple petticoats under this it would get quite full. :-)

While Emily doesn't need another Belle costume for quite some time, if ever, I will definitely use the pattern again and modify it to make some more dresses in the future.

Curtsy!

Her new favorite necklace. :-)

Emily's Renaissance Outfit

Cute and she knows it. :-)

Fabric

Shirt: leftover kona muslin form my renn. top

Vest: leftover fabric from a skirt I made a while ago

Skirt: Brown sheet type stuff that was given to us

Grommets we had, elastic we had, and lacing we already had.

All in all, a pretty inexpensive adventure. :-)

Pattern

I made up the skirt, drafted the shirt form a drawing, and made the vest by shrink the ladies vest from Simplicity 3809.

I don't remember the fine detail of the vest shrink, but I measured Emily and then redrew the pattern on paper.  Then I modified some lines and made a mock-up.  It fit well, so I basically followed the pattern's directions for lining the vest and it was done!  I did not put any boning in it, but I did put a double layer of cord in the very front to add stability to the grommets.

For the skirt I sewed 6 rectangle that were each around 17 inches wide together, hemmed it, and made a casing for elastic at the waist.  Simple.

For the shirt I looked at the diagram drawing of the off-the-shoulder blouse in the same pattern (Simplicity 3809).  Basically the front and back pieces are rectangles with the upper corners cut off and rounded.  The sleeves were a full sleeve looking pattern with the tops cut off in a straight line.   I then sewed a casing on the inside and sewed the elastic into it when I sewed the ends together.  So the sleeves were sewn the the "rectangles" and the top edges of everything were turned under to make a drawstring casing. :-)  Clear as mud?  Yeah, I thought so.  Oh for a computer drawing program.  Soon. :-)  Very soon.

I LOVE the way it looks from the back.

Here she is wearing another skirt underneath it and it got bunched up in the back.  I think it actually makes it look nice. :-)

Gathering and arms=not so even

Oh, and don't forget to hem your sleeves and the bottom of your shirt. :-)

Lacing.

Ta Da!

Fantasy Princess in Red Velvet ~ January 2010

I made this about a year and a half ago and Emily has worn it many times since, but I never posted about it (that I can remember) so here it is (maybe again).

I used leftover red crushed paine velvet from a costume of mine I never posted about and some ivory/cream crinkle chiffon stuff my mom bought before I was even sewing. :-)  As this was done awhile ago, please excuse the terrible red facing that is always showing above her cowl neck and the not so nicely matched back side. :-)

Simplicity 5520, the view in the lower righthand corner.

Ah!  She is so cute!  She has gotten tall enough now that she doesn't trip on it. :-)

 In Progress

 The Back

(Gotta love the Pooh Bear hairband.)

 Could almost work for LoTR no?

 More recently Emily wore this dress again for her part in a film we were making with some friends.

 Here are some of the "Behind the Scenes" shots of her and Nathanael, who played the prince in this skit.

Masquerade Gown Part 3 *Finished*

The only pictures I have right now are the ones from the banquet, but I will probably get others after school is over. (Two more days!!!)

I used Simplicity 4092 and Simplicity 3637

Just about everything is from 4092, but since the sleeve pattern was wacky I used the sleeve pattern from 3637.  I read the directions a couple times before I started cutting my fabric because I knew I would be doing this project over the course of about 2 months.  In this way I was able do plan out what sort of embellishment I wanted to do and when to do it.

Fabric: 

Eggplant Elegance Taffeta from Fabric.com

Fuchsia Taffeta from Fabric.com

All-over nylon scalloped white lace from Fabric.com (though when I washed it with the taffeta it took on the slightest hint of pink. :-)

Beads from my collection

Pink Broadcloth from Fabric.com

Pink bottom weight tablecloth from Thrift store for lining

LOTS of thread :-)

 The back

 The side (Yes, it is that long!)

 Even though you aren't supposed to see the pink broadcloth, I think this shot is really cool.  It looks more like a dress from the 18th century because of the way it poofs out. :-)

 Hudson and I

I added 1 1/2 inches to the neckline, but it is still on the verge of being a little too low. :-/  Maybe I'll wear a fichu next time.  To fill the gap a little I threw together a charm and wore it with some black cord.

The underskirt

The ribbon waistband does clash, but it fits perfectly and is so easy to get on and off with the two hook-and-eyes.

The pink invisible zipper I got from our stash downstairs.  Perhaps it was not the best idea.  It had been recycled from something else and was pretty old.  It was metal, which was nice, but I had to work it a dozen or so times before it decided to cooperate most of the time.  My brothers had to zip it up on me a couple times. :-)

Pleats in the front and gathers in the back.  It is a little odd, I admit, but that is what the pattern said, so that is what I did.

The Sleeves

Here you can see that hint of pink when it is stacked. :-)  By the way,  3/4 sleeves with lace have always been cool and a dream of mine.  They are amazing.  Seriously.  Go make yourself a dress with sleeves like this!  To die for. :-)

The necklace

The Mask

I made a black mask with the leftovers from the leftovers from Hudson's lapels, overlaid it with the lace and glued fuchsia glitter on it.  Not the coolest (no feathers :-) but it worked, and it matched.

Masquade Gown Part 2

Progress on the bodice!  More to come...

Masquade Gown Part 1

Our Spring Banquet at Hallstrom this year has a masquerade theme!  I was so excited when that theme won.  How often do you get to go to a masquerade ball?  I mean really!  So of course I'm making my gown.  I didn't want to go in a formal and just wear a mask.  That doesn't fill the masquerade bill for me. It you are wearing a modern dress it has to be couture quality. :-)  Lots of folds and feathers.  Otherwise, you need to wear something historical, like a Marie Antoinette gown. :-)

I was inspired by Celine's Maire dress.

I am using Simplicity 4092

 Fabric:

from fabric.com- Eggplant taffeta, fuchsia taffeta, and lace (I can't remember what it is called).

Lined and underlined with a sturdy pink tablecloth I got second hand for $5

I am overlaying the bodice with lace and beading it randomly with purple shell rocks, white freshwater pearls, and purple glass beads.

Stay tuned for further progress!

I'm currently having a lot of trouble with the sleeves... :-(