Make It Or Buy It - Le Pink Princess Pink Rose Girls Dress

Make It or Buy It is a new weekly post I am planning. The idea is to weigh the options of making a particular outfit or article of clothing vs. buying it.

First Up is the Le Pink Princess Pink Rose Girls Dress

Option 1 - Buy It

Store: La Bella Flora Children's Boutique
Price: $88.00
Thoughts: The price point is fairly high for a children's dress, but if it is for a special occasion sometimes the splurge is worth it. From what I was able to discover online, the designers are based out of California, but I can't find where the actual dress is manufactured which makes me a little nervous.  Not that I completely avoid buying anything made in any particular country, but when it is not specifically stated I feel like something is being hidden for a reason. The only other concern I have about buying this dress is that doesn't state what percent polyester it is. Again nothing against polyester, but at that price point the polyester content should be relatively low compared to the cotton.

The positive is that the boutique that actually sells the dress donates a portion of the profits to children's group homes, which is a very worthy cause.

Option 2 - Make It
(fabric price estimated based on one yard unless stated otherwise)

Pattern
Clara Twirl Dress $7.95

Fabrics
54" Wide Tulle Silk White (2 yards for layering) $2.00
Michael Miller Cotton Couture Broadcloth Soft White $7.48
Michael Miller Cotton Couture Broadcloth Pink $7.48
Bliss Lace Ivory $7.98

Other
1 1/2" White Lace Satin Center Ribbon White(3 yards) $6.00
Pink Satin Rhinestone Flower Appliques $6.99
Gutermann Elastic Thread White $1.59
Fabric scraps for large flowers on bodice

Total : $47.47

Skill Level: Advanced Beginner
While the pattern itself is a beginner pattern you will have to apply a few techniques to it that may be tricky for someone who has never sewn before. The back of the original bodice has shirring (which is really much easier than it seems). The ribbon will have to be sewn to the seams on the skirt and the large fabric flowers need to be handmade. There are countless number of tutorials available on all of these techniques just a Google search away.

The Verdict - Make It

This dress can be made for half the price and you will still have fabric left over, plus a great pattern that can be used again and again.

If the original had been handmade or 100% cotton the verdict may have gone the other way  but without the missing information I am not comfortable paying that much even for a special occasion dress.

If you make this dress please let me know so I can link to it!

The Lots of Layers Garden Party Dress Tutorial (Kind Of)

I'm sorry I took so long to get this tutorial to you, but I wanted to be sure that it was perfect.

I want to start by saying that this dress requires a little bit more work than most dresses, but that little bit of extra effort is so worth it for the amazing results you will get in return. Of all of the dresses I have ever made, this is by far the one that I am the most proud of.

Materials:

• One Shoulder bodice Pattern - I used the Peek a Boo Pattern Shop Jasmine Dress
• Woven Lining Fabric - (not shear) I used about a yard for the equivalent of a size 6 ready to wear.
• Main Fabric - My fabric was purchased from www.fashionfabricclub.com but be warned it took 3 weeks to arrive.  I used every inch of a yard and a half for a size 6.
• elastic 1/2 inch elastic
• matching thread
• basic sewing supplies - tape measure, needles, cutting tools, iron

Step 1: Preparing the lining

• Cut the bodice and skirt out of the lining fabric as instructed by the pattern. If you are using the  Jasmine Pattern add one inch extra to the sleeve top. Do not cut out the petal tie. 
• Hem sleeve edges. 
• Sew elastic casing along the neckline. 
• Sew one of the side seams. Do not sew the seam on the side where the neckline is lower. 
• Sew the waistline elastic casing as instructed.
• Do not insert the elastic into the casings yet.
• Hem the bottom of the dress. 

At this point the dress should look like this.

Step 2: Determine the size and ruffle of your main fabric.

• Cut a few test strips of fabric.
• Measure the fabric before ruffling
• Sew a line of basting stitches and then pull your basting thread until you reach the desired level of ruffle
• Measure the strip of fabric afterwords. 
• Finished Ruffled Measurement / Starting Ruffle * 100 = ruffle
• My ruffle was 70% of the original fabric length for a barely ruffled look.
• Decide how wide each ruffle will be. You will need a few wider strips to fill in blank spots.
• My ruffles were 4 inches wide and 5 inches wide.

Step 3: Prepare your First Ruffle

• If you are using the same amount of ruffle as me cut your first ruffle length using the following formula. 
• Hem length * 1.3 + 2 inches
• Narrow Hem the ruffle.
• Sew a row of gathering stitches.
• Distribute the fabric evenly as you gather the ruffle to fit the hem of the dress.
• One inch on each end should remain unruffled and hang over the edge of the dress.
• Once the gathers are distributed turn under the gathered edge at the ruffle stitch and zigzag stitch it under so that it won't be exposed once the ruffle is attached.

This tutorial is meant to get you started on making your ruffle dress. At this point in the process of creating the tutorial my computer crashed and had to be reset to factory settings. I lost all of my pictures (and learned an important lesson about backing up my computer) so I will try my best to explain the rest of the process without photos.

• The rest of the ruffles were prepared and placed one at a time in an slightly asymmetrical pattern. 
• Do not sew over the elastic casing when attaching ruffles. 
• Once all of the ruffles are attached insert elastic into waistline and neckline casing and sew ends in placed.
• Before sewing up the side seam baste the 1 inch over hang of each ruffles out of the way. 
• After the side seam is sewn hem the ends of the overhang ruffles, then overlap with the other end of the same ruffle and hand sew in place to the dress.
• Sew the shoulder seam together.  
• Create a tube of fabric and insert a piece of elastic into it for the shoulder strap. 
• Try the dress on for fitting and pin the shoulder strap in place.
• Sew to dress after fitting
• Hand sew any disobedient ruffles down.

That's it. I really wish I had the pictures to finish this tutorial correctly, but hopefully you can use the information to take this dress and make one with your own unique spin on it!

Let me know if you have any questions and I will answer them as best I can.

Lots of Layers Garden Party Dress

It's Thursday evening and I finally finished my entry for the Project Run and Play Spring formal week. Talk about cutting it close!

This was the most labor intensive children's dress I have ever made. Each of those layers have a narrow hem, individually pressed and sewn without a narrow hem foot. One of these days I am going to invest in some attachments for my machine.

Each ruffle is calculated to be exactly 30% smaller than the original strip of fabric (which by the way are either 4 or 5 in width depending on where they are placed) to create a more fluttery than ruffly look. 

I also fitted this dress on a very squirmy 6 year old a total of 3 times before I got it just right.

At least I managed to get the photos taken before it started to rain. 

I plan to share a step by step tutorial sometime this week, with lots of pictures, but for now I am going to take a nap!

Update: The tutorial is finished. You can see it here!

Last Years Easter Dress Finished Just In Time for This Year

Happy Easter!

I started this dress just over a year ago, when I was less confident with my sewing than I am now. You can see a little bit of puckering where the bodice and skirt meet. At that time I didn't even think about fitting beyond reading the measurement chart, before I started sewing. 

Right before last Easter I had her try on the almost finished dress for hemming, only to discover that she was swimming in it. Very frustrated I ended up tossing aside the dress and begrudgingly learning my lesson about fitting. The dress ended up being shuffled from location to location every time it got in my way. 

Then, the night before this Easter I was digging through my crafting supplies looking for fabric paint, and found it crumpled in the bottom of the bin. I decided that it was more appropriate for Easter that the South Western Pottery Dress, so I had Bella try it on. What do you know, it fit beautifully.

I spent the night hand basting, hemming, ironing and fighting a loosing battle to make the hem lay flat. I think it spent to much time crumpled. The dress also needed buttons, and of course I couldn't find the perfectly matching blue buttons that I had originally bought so I used yellow buttons that matched the overlay instead. Luckily I am not nearly as terrified of sewing buttons holes as I used to be.

When I first started planning this dress for last Easter, I fell in love with the overlay fabric while browsing a local fabric shop and purchased the duchess satin from  Fabric.com to go with it. The Simplicity pattern was already in my stash and the contrasting buttons (not shown) were from my stash as well.

I hope your family had a great Easter. We sure had fun visiting my mother (back, left) along with my niece and nephew (who's mother is still in the hospital, but doing better.)

Southwestern Pottery Inspired Dress

Update: Since I have received so many comments about this fabric I thought I would let you know that I purchased it from Fabric.com . They still have 74 yards left as of today and I am planning to purchase some more myself.

I finally did it! I made my self cut into one of my favorite pieces of fabric. Do you ever do that? Love a fabric so much that your afraid to use it. Luckily an event so big came along that I was able to face my fears and go ahead and cut. This week is the first week of the Project Run and Play sew along linky.

I searched through a bazillion (btw, bazillion is not actually a real number) photo's of famous paintings and loved so many of them, but I got zero (zero is a number in math but in philosophy it is the opposite of infinity and not a number) idea's for a wearable item.

So then I played with the idea of statues. A few things started to take shape in my mind, but I needed some color. Finally I looked at pottery, and there it was my inspiration. The pottery of the Southwest.

Here are a few of my favorite inspiration pieces. 

The fabric is a lightweight cotton sateen with just a tiny bit of stretch to it. I used my ugly vintage pattern as a starting point for the bodice and then lengthened it a few inches and made the neckline just a tiny bit lower. The skirt is self drafted. I left an inch of seam allowance on the top of the skirt and the bottom of the bodice.

To create the elastic casing I began by sewing the skirt and bodice with wrong sides together like you would with a french seam and then I flipped the fabric so that right sides were together and sewed about 3/4 of an inch away from the first seam. Before inserting the elastic I sewed the casing down so it laid flat against the inside of the dress.

My Bella was the lucky recipient of the dress. She can't wait for the snow to go away and the sun to come out so she can wear it some more. I really love the way this dress came out. I am thinking about making another one with pockets. They will make great summer dresses. So are you sewing along this season?

Some Sketching and Waiting

Almost all of my sewing time has been going to one big project. At least it's big for me. I would love to tell you what it is, but that would ruin the surprise. There are a few other non top secret projects that I am excited about as well, but unfortunately I am still waiting on fabric.

I've tried and tried to organize my huge fabric stash but those stupid laws of physics always get in the way. You can't fit something with a large volume (no matter how you fold it) into a tiny space. 

The most obvious solution would be to sew only from my stash until I cut it down. Yea, I'm not doing that, but I am only buying fabric when I have a plan for it. That means I am doing a lot of planning and then going crazy while I wait for the fabric to get here.

Fabric.com was having a great sale for 20% off any order over $40.00, so I sketched out my plans, picked my favorite and ordered a lot of fabric. All together the total came to $35.00 (after the sale) and I got 7 yards of fabric and a few notions. My planning also includes using up 2 yards of fabric from my stash. 

The raglan shirt below is going to for be for my daughter Ashley. Her style leans slightly in the direction of tomboy. She hates dresses and ruffles and lace, but she does love the color pink.

Update: See the finished mixed fabric raglan t shirt and a tutorial here.

Next up is a project for my son and husband that I am very excited about. We watched Rise of the Guardians as a family and I studied Jack Frost's sweatshirt most of the time. For a cartoon it shows incredible details. You can even see the seam lines. 

Add caption

And finally my ugly vintage pattern remixes. I am planning to get two spring dresses out of this pattern. It is the first on the list to be completed and I will give you all of the details when it's done but here is a peek at what's to come. 

Update : The first dress is done. See it Here

Thanks so much for looking. Feel free to share your sewing to do list in the comments.

A Scoop Back With A Button Up Bow

This blog has been so great for getting me involved. First I got to participate in the Envelope Clutch Sew Along over at See Kate Sew, and now a sewing challenge. I made this dress for the Pattern Remix Challenge that is going on at Project Run and Play.

The original pattern is for the Spring Fever Dress from Melly Sews. It was such a great pattern to begin with so I only made a few changes. I wanted a scoop back with a bow to make the dress extra special for my niece but I needed some way to open and close it. That's how it became a buttoned bow. The biggest challenge on this dress was the fabric. I have heard plenty of stories about embroidered Chinese brocade, but until now I have never attempted to sew with it. It practically falls apart when you cut it, and then it changes shape as you sew. This fabric was a nightmare, but I am determined to master it, so look for more projects with this type of fabric in the future.

I made this dress in size 5 for my niece so that she would have something special to wear when she went to visit her mother, who she misses terribly, in the hospital. It is modeled on my daughter, who actually wears a size 6, because I didn't want to bother my sister while she is sick, to ask if it was okay to post pictures of her daughter.

Please Excuse the less than stellar photo quality. I am still learning

How to make the scoop back buttoned bow version of the Spring Fever Dress

First visit this post on Melly Sews and print the pattern. Follow her tutorial (available on the same page) for sewing the skirt. Set the skirt aside and then follow the next few steps to make the buttoned bow.

These directions are for a making a bow that fits into the scoop on the size 5 Spring Fever Dress by Melly Sews. It would probably work on a size 4 as well if you just hid a little more of the ends in the seam allowance. 

Fist cut 2 strips of Fabric 5 in. x 3.5in. and 2 strips 10 in x 3.5 in

Fold each of your smaller pieces in half long ways with right sides together and sew along the edge. Then turn your tube of fabric right sides together and press so that the seam is in the center back. Do this for both of the smaller pieces.

Now fold each tube in half with right sides together, the other way and sew the ends together. Again, turn the  it right side out and press with the seam in the center of the back.

Choose which piece you want to show when the dress is being worn and make a button hole on that side. This is not the type of garment that you would usually use a bound button hole on. I just did it because I wanted to practice the technique. Turns out it doesn't work so well through multiple layers of nightmare fabric. Feel free to use your machines button hole feature. On the other piece, sew your button. You may want to mark your fabric first so that your centers match better than mine. Can you tell that is the step I always forget?

Now take your larger strips of fabric and fold them in half with right sides together and sew the ends as shown in the picture below. Do this for both large strips of fabric.

Turn the fabric right side out and press so the seam goes down the center of the back on both pieces.

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Fold and position the raw edges of the bow the way that you want them and then slip them into the edge of the fabric with button. Top stitch in place. Do the same for the other bow side in the fabric with the button hole.

Now you have a finished button up bow. If you are planning to add it to a scoop back dress sew the back of the dress main fabric to lining with right sides together leaving an opening on each side of the scoop for the bow edges. Press your seam allowance under. Then slide the unfinished edges of the bow into the opening and top stitch around the entire scoop back. If you are planning to use this bow for a different project, you may need to press under the seam allowance and slip stitch the raw edges of the bow closed.

You could also change up the size a bit and make this into a belt or use it to close a handbag. The possibilities are endless. Have fun and don't forget to check out all of the other creations at Project Run and Play.