New fabric = new dresses

 

Some donated fabric to the sewing lab prompted some new sewing for student samples.  After using this fabric for that, I took some of the leftovers and made a doll dress.  I used one fabric for the skirt and made some false straps to make it look like a jumper over a blouse.

I remembered I had some 'feather trim' that had the same coloring and added it at the hem and across the straps and waist.  

The finished back.

There were some fat quarters donated too.  I took two of them to make this dress.  Since the dress is less gathered at the waist due to the smaller width of a fat quarter, I added the lower ruffle.  

Here's the dress back.  Very girly, no?

Smocked dresses

I have always wanted to learn how to smock.  A few years ago I used the pleating machine at BYU-Idaho to pleat some scrap fabric to practice on.  It was really fun.  I decided to pleat some fabric long enough to use as the front of a doll's dress.  I pleated 5 colors-- and completed 2 pretty quickly.  I'm still working on the other three-- I want to try different designs.  Here are the two I finished.

Here are the first few rows of smocking done on the lower edge.  I really wanted to try to have a 'V' design on the bottom row.

The rest of the design is taking shape.  I used a piece of felt basted to the back to keep the pleats in the correct size to fit the doll.

I added beads in the empty spaces.

I sewed the front into a dress!  I used piping in the seam between the top of the smocking and the upper bodice 

The second one I did was lavender colored.  This one was pleated off grain since I only had a skinny piece.  Notice how the pleats puff out.  The weft grain looks better pleated than the warp grain.  The warp grain, as you see here, is too stiff and strong to submit happily to pleating.  I'll never make this mistake again!

Meanwhile, I became a grandmother again!  My daughter saw these doll dresses and asked me to make one for her new baby's blessing dress.  Here's the dress in progress and completed. 

I made the same basic pattern of smocking on this, including the beads.  I had to modify a baby dress pattern to include the smocking in the bodice front.  This photo shows my progress as I was hand stitching of smaller beads onto the collar and sleeve ends.  I didn't use elastic on the sleeve hems-- instead I gathered the hems and stitched fabric strips over the gathers.  Unlike the doll dresses, I fully lined this dress.

Close up of the smocking and collar beading.

Close up of the sleeve and hem beading.

Here's the back view.  I can't wait to see this dress on my beautiful granddaughter.  

Aproned and Ruffled Dresses

 Is 'Aproned' a word?  I mean that I added aprons onto some of my dresses.  So they are now 'aproned.'  Okay, it may not be a word.  But it looks great!  Here are some dresses to which I added ruffles or aprons or both. 

This dress was inspired by a retro dress I found in a catalog.  The apron is simply sewn into the waistband.  I added a skinny waistband which looks like a tie in the back.  The button holds the upper apron on.  This one was chosen by one of my granddaughters as her favorite.  Big smiles!

I used this wide embroidered lace around an apron, and also in the princess lines of the bodice pattern.  I used the Molly's Party Pinafore pattern for the princess seams and then just added the lace into it.  I centered the plaid down the front, then centered the lace at the lower end of the bodice.  Then I just had to sew the components together.  

When I found these matching scraps of fabric in the sewing lab at BYU-Idaho, I knew it needed to be a combination dress with an overlay apron.  I used the same Party pinafore pattern and added a waistband, then made the apron to overlay.  I just made a wide rounded rectangle for the apron.  Because the bodice is made of the apron fabric, it looks like a full front apron over top a dress.  Very pleasing to make!

This is the Party Pinafore dress using the actual pattern with just the middle ruffle in the princess seam.  And I added the sleeves of course.  

This was really fun and I am still scheming more dresses to make with these ruffles.  

 

Crazy Eyelet Lace

 I had some really fun lace that I wanted to use.  With some ideas from 1940's dresses, I got started designing.  Some of these turned out rather 80's, but I still love them.

This one was fun.  I wanted to use the wide pink lace in the bodice.  So I put it across the top of the front and back bodices.  I sewed with it as normal and used the same color solid fabric for the neckband.  When I inserted the sleeves, I gathered a segment of it to put into the armscye first, then I inserted the sleeve.  I added a row of the gathered lace on the top of the hem.  

I added this lace to the waistband area of the lengthened bodice.  Nice look.  

This really wide lace is inserted in at the waist and again as strips in the armscye.  I had to secure the upper edge of the bodice application.  

This really interesting lace had me digging for the perfect fabric.  I sewed the dress very plainly, then hand stitched the lace over the top at the waistband and the hem seam.  I centered the design.  

Button bands down the front

Once I got going with these combinations, I started looking for matching buttons.  It was so fun to find buttons that would complement the fabric choices.  Here are some of the combinations I came up with.  

I made this dress with the blouse with an elongated skirt.  I added a waistband and straps to make it look like it's a jumper over a blouse, but it's all one dress.  I love how this turned out.  To get here, I went through the following tries first.  

I thought I'd make 3/4 sleeves with this elongated bodice dress.  Look at the cute lace I found!  I used it at the button band and sleeves.  I didn't have very much of it.  I used matching yellow buttons down the button band.  I love how it turned out.

I made a blouse like with the jumpers and added a contrasting skirt to make it look like separates.  This has long sleeves and lace at the button band, sleeves and collar.  A wider lace embellishes the hem.  I thought it looked funny without a waistband on the skirt.  

I made this one next, adding a waistband.  This one has short sleeves, but the same formula as above.  Although I didn't need to add lace at the hem to make it longer.  

Ribbons for the win

 I love using ribbon in these designs.  Sometimes I want to use a really wide ribbon.  How do you do that on a miniature dress for a doll?  I had to try some things to find ways to do it.  Did I get away with it?

This is a pretty big bow on the front of this dress, but then again, the flowers are pretty big too.  I added some lavendar lace into the sleeve hems and dress hem.  

Again, a really wide ribbon that's balanced by really big flowers.  

This little bow adds a pop of color at the center front waist.

I love this 'stitched' ribbon I put into a bow at center front.

I had fun making this basic dress with lengthened bodice and skirt.  I added those triangle buttons in the bodice to add interest and reflect the yellow in the bow.  

Here's another lengthened bodice and skirt dress with a huge purple bow at center front.  I added the matching button for extra interest.  

Here I added a collar and sleeves with a coordinating color to make it look like a jumper.  The ribbons are sewn down the center front as if they were buttons.  I was tempted to cover their centers with buttons, but decided against it.  I like this look a lot!  

These dresses make me really happy.  

Fun with Rickrack

I had so much fun pairing my scraps of rickrack with cute small fabric designs.  Here are some of the dresses I made using rickrack to trim the sleeves, waist or bodice using my basic dress pattern.  

I couldn't resist this cute bear fashionista fabric I found in the scrap bin at BYU-Idaho.  Paired with my brown rickrack, it came out darling.

Another scrap fabric that screamed to be 'dolled up.'  I made the sleeves and neckband out of white to imply that the cupcake dress is a jumper with a blouse under it.  

This busy floral was fun to make.  I used rickrack on the waist, sleeves and hem.

Can you see how I sewed the buttons on with a 'flower' stitch?  I used green for the stem and leaves, and white floss for the flower made out of a French knot.  

I used two different yellow rickrack for this, pairing them both on the hem.  The sleeves got the wide and the waistband got the narrow.  

With this tan and red floral dress I used a narrow rickrack on the sleeves and above the hem.  It covers the hem stitch.  A big bow at the waist gives the dress a focal point.  I added about an inch to the skirt length on this dress.

For this dress I added an inch to the bodice length.  I used rickrack on the sleeves and hems to give the scalloped look.  

I also added a narrow button band down the front with rickrack in the seam on both sides.  I love this look, although the busy fabric obscures the effect.  I added a bow at the center front waist.

I thought I'd try lengthening the sleeves for this dress, as it has a Christmas look to it.  I added rickrack above where I would put the elastic in.  I like the look of the rickrack there instead of in the sleeve hem.  Note that I parallel that look in the dress hem.

I also added a button band on a lengthened bodice.  There is rickrack in each side of the button band, but it is hard to see with the busy fabric.  I also mirrored the vertical lines with rickrack on each side of the button band.  

So many options with just one pattern!!!  I having a blast and using up my little bits of rickrack and ribbons.  

American Girl Doll Jumpers!

I had to try the jumpers!  In the Molly clothing pattern set there was a plaid jumper with a long sleeve blouse.  That was fun to do!

Front and back views of the ensemble.

The collar was a fun addition.  I tried putting the lace into the seam but found that it was hard to keep even on such a small scale.  It turned out easier to hand stitch the lace onto the back of the collar, then topstitch it into place.  I could control the gathering to conform with the curved shape that way.  I only stitched the lace onto the curved edge of the collar, not the back side.  

The sleeves were very fiddly with the small wrist placket.  Not fun.  I cut out a white and a cream colored shirt and really didn't enjoy those plackets.  

I lined the bodice of the jumper-- this made it easy to finish the raw edges.  I slipstitched it down and topstitched it at the waist.  

I finished this brown plaid jumper with the cream shirt.  I widened the waistband to see how it would look.  I think it is too wide, so I narrowed it down some for my next try.

The waistband on this blue floral jumper is still too wide for my taste.  I should have stuck with the original Molly pattern.

For this blouse, I added lace onto the button band and eliminated one button.  Both buttons barely show when the jumper is worn over it.

I also simplified the sleeve hems into simple elastic gathers.  To do this, I lengthened the sleeve and eliminated the plackets.  I hemmed the sleeves with lace and then gathered about one inch above the hem using zigzag stitch across stretched 1/4" elastic.  

This experimentation opened up some new ideas for dresses.  I'm having a blast!!!