Saturday, January 22, 2011

Sweet Dress Submissions

Once again, these ladies amazed me! I wasn't sure if I would really be wowed by this week, since they all used the same pattern, but I was soo wrong. They each have so much of their own personality come out in the designs and it's so inspiring! Don't forget to vote in the sidebar before Monday at midnight CST for your favorite.

For those of you who asked- you can purchase the Sweet Dress pattern at Leila and Ben's etsy shop. They have several great patterns; the Sweet Dress pattern is the one that these talented ladies used and reinvented. 

1- Kirstin and Jordan's Ribbon Candy Bubble Dress
Perhaps the best feature of the Sweet, Simple Dress Pattern is its versatility. Just by adding a few details, you can perfectly tailor the dress to its wearer.
Allow me to introduce you to our 'wearer' (who is, incidentally, our best friends' daughter and our god-daughter). Joanie Peace is vibrant, precocious and graceful. She has an iron-trap memory, calls Adam 'Nana' and dances from place to place instead of running or walking like other kindergarteners. If she were a character in a book, she'd be the ever-hilarious Lilly from Kevin Henkes' "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse."
We loved customizing this Leila and Ben pattern to suit Joanie. We started with fabulous marigold fabric (vibrant like Joanie and a little retro like her mama), adorned the dress with graceful details like an epitome-of-sweetness ribbon candy collar and preppy bows on each sleeve, and added a bubble hem and grosgrain belt for maximum swirling and twirling
The end result? Sweet, vibrant, graceful spunk (both the girl and the dress!).

2- Lindsay's Sweet Ruffle Play Coat
 The Sweet Ruffle Play Coat is the perfect addition to every little girls wardrobe!  It is still mighty cold here in Chicagoland (think, below zero), so the idea of a coat sounded just perfect for this weeks challenge.  I added some drama to the sweet dress pattern with the addition of a large collar around the neckline and gathering it with a purple and pink grosgrain ribbon that ties in the center front.  I also cut the pattern down the front, reduced the length, added long sleeves and a little pocket.  The attention to detail is what makes this coat truly special.  It is made from beautiful thick, pink, purple and white woven fabric, has fabric piping throughout the collar and is trimmed with pink buttons and coordinating ribbon on the sleeves and the front pocket.  Every sweet little girl will feel like a princess in this whimsical play coat!
 
 

3- Shauna's Doe A Deer
This weeks peasant dress pattern had me think of a Hanzel and Gretel lost children wandering the woods. That vision danced in my head for a while and born was the design. I made the sweet dress pattern a tunic top perfect not to slow children down while running through the woods. I added a sweet doe, hand stitched with a little yellow flower. The top has a bib front opening, and elastic creating an empire waist. To go with the tunic I made a pair of slim leg button trousers for the hip and today Gretel. The hair piece and the sandals complete the look, inspired by something Gretel could make while wondering the woods, they both have sweet little rosettes feathers and wild berries. The hair piece also clips on to the pants to make a faux belt, and change up the look.


4- Katy's Edgy with a Side of Cranes
I know I have succeeded with a sewing project when my girls want to wear it to bed.  Azure wanted to wear her dress to bed ;)  I played with the edges for this project, giving them some body and...edge.  I changed the shape of the sleeves and added a little visual interest just inside the hem.  I made some fabric Japanese Cranes for an unexpected hair accessory.


5- Kelly's Couture Cutie- **Winner**
I was excited and nervous when we were assigned The Sweet Little Dress pattern because ironically enough it is one of the first patterns I ever downloaded. This actually made it kind of hard though because after making it so many times I really wanted to do something totally new and fresh, without changing the pattern drastically. I originally made an entirely different dress BUT I felt it was a pretty run of the mill, anyone could make it type dress and this time I wanted to be more edgy, more rough around the edges, more couture....but still cute. Well my love of bustles collided with my desire for edgy and I came up with this:
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I was describing it to a friend and I said "well the front will have a tiered cravat, with unfinished messy edges and the rest of the front is very plain, but the back is all crazy fun. She looked at me and said "ah, like a mullet" HA! So, I lovingly joke that this is my mullet dress. Oh how I love my mullet dress.
There are 6 tiers of ruffles in the back made from tulle, Amy Butler fabric and raw silk. The hand made pleats are from a cotton that I dyed with local organic dye, which I am not going to lie I am a tinsy bit nervous about ha!
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The cravat is topped with 3 covered buttons with the edges left raw... and actually a little picked at to fray.Who doesn't love a little junk in the trunk on a toddler?
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To see more pics hop on over to Sewing In No Mans Land


6- Ashley's Li'l Boho

I love the simple, basic lines of the Sweet Dress pattern....it's always been one of my favorites. Using some vintage trim and a braided leather headband as my inspiration, I decided to make a bohemian peasant dress: The Li'l Boho


The Li'l Boho dress is a two-layer dress with the bottom layer peeking out from underneath. The color palette is muted using 2 tones of ecofriendly, organic cotton. I altered and recut the sleeves to be a delicate double flutter.


I added a slightly frayed, embroidered vintage trim to the front that double wraps to tie in the back, creating an empire waist. Our desert setting was a perfect location for a carefree, barefoot photo shoot. The Li'l Boho dress represents a free, independent, and spiritual little girl:



7- Susan's Sweet Lumberjack
I love the lumberjack trend + felt like the liela + Ben pattern was perfect to make into a lumberjack inspired dress I modified the pattern to add a zipper in the back + a peter pan collar.
  

Great job ladies! You rock!

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39 comments :

  1. Wow. I am in love with so many of them I have no clue which one to vote for.

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  2. Gosh, I want to vote several times, they are all awesome! I can't wait to try some of these myself.

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  3. They are all so lovely! Voting will not be an easy task:)

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  4. Such lovely dresses, all of them! This looks like a great versatile pattern, it was really hard to pick a favorite!

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  5. Such fabulous dresses! Really fun to see the range of ideas. Hard to pick just one!

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  6. Wow! Ladies, seriously, Wow! I am SO impressed! :)

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  7. Wow these are all amazing! I LOVE the ruffles on the back of the Couture Cutie dress. It makes me want a little girl so I can dress her like that!

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  8. Oh, they are all adorable! Where can I get the basic pattern (I know that may make me seem clueless to ask).

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  9. I cannot decide. These are all amazing!!!

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  10. Would there be a reason why the Couture Cutie pictures are blocked for me to see? Everyone else's pictures come through.

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  11. I like the ones that remain quite true to the pattern. It gives more inspiration to someone like myself who is not in the same talent league as these ladies to see what wonderful dresses can come from a simple pattern that I could do too. Although they are still lovely, in a couple it is hard to see where the original pattern is, they could be from any pattern. Or am I missing someting?

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  12. I am voting for number one...it is dreamy. I really want to make one now!!!

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  13. It's very impresive what these ladies can do!!

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  14. All the variations are wonderfully creative!

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  15. love Love LOVE #5!! The ruffles on the back are just TOO CUTE!!

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  16. I was confused by the poll asking me which one I thought was the sweetest. Because the one I thought to be the sweetest (as in that is so precious) and the one I thought to be the best were different. Did that happen to anyone else. SO I was confused momentarily but ended up voting for the one I believe to be the best.

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  17. The poll was just a play on words- the dress pattern is called the sweet dress; therefore I asked which is the "sweetest." Sorry for the confusion. :)

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  18. i like them all. i really enjoy seeing all the creative ways of using this sweet little dress pattern. fabulous idea for this competition !

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  19. Love the lindsey coat...that little purple bow is precious...the collar makes the coat...

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  20. such such such cute designs--everyone is so talented and inspiring. Thanks for hosting this great project!!

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  21. love the lumberjack. Buffalo check has always been a favorite of mine.

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  22. I vote for no. 7! LOVE that little lumberjack! <3

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  23. Voting for Susan's lumberjack dress!

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  24. Love love love #7, Susan's lumberjack dress!

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  25. damn awesome!!! i love ur work!!!!

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  26. I vote for, "4- Ashley's Papilionidae"

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