Time to Vote: The Party Dress Pattern Remix

It is the first voting day of Season 6 and we are so excited!  Remember that this week's challenge was a remix of Lindsay's Party Dress.  Please be sure to scroll down to see all of the designers' absolutely beautiful creations.  Remember the voting bar is in the left-hand sidebar and there is one vote per computer (or IP address).  The readers' votes will be added to our judges scores and the winner will be announced on Monday.  Thank you to our designers for all their hard work and to everyone---have a great weekend!!!

Max California--Tea Party Romper

This look was really exciting! I mean the Party Dress is a lovely dress, but it is also a fantastic blank slate with which you can really do anything you like! How far was I allowed to go? I'm certain I could have taken this a lot further, but the busy fabric helped me decide that less is more!

 

I had to size down the original pattern to fit my almost-6-month-old, and I kept the bodice exactly the same as The Party Dress. I added a peter pan collar to the bodice and lined it in the same green. The bottom part of the dress was turned into the lower section of the romper. The legs hit my babe just under the knee, and are finished with a cuff and a self-covered button like the ones on the bodice. The lower section is gathered with the same fullness as the skirt was, which allows lots of room for nappy butts! The look is completed with a green bandanna that I threaded elastic through to keep it on her head, and a pair of green mary jane crib shoes. They are lined with the same fabric as the romper. Head on over to MY BLOG to see more.
 

 

 

Nap Time Crafters--A Little Bit of Pixie Dust 

My little girl loves everything fairy, princess and make-believe so I created the Pixie Dust dress with her in mind. Whimsical and full of fun!

My favorite elements of the Party Dress were the covered buttons in the back and color blocking, so I used those as the building blocks of my design. I altered the bodice pieces to better fit my tall and slender girl and then created a fun faux-wrap design in front. A row of playful covered buttons cross the front on a diagonal adding visual interest and holding the wrap bodice in place. I added a double layer circle skirt with a fun handkerchief hem made just for twirling! I cut the length of the sash in half and tied it in front to complete the faux-wrap look. I love the way it coordinates with the pops of pink peeking out the skirt hem. Most importantly this design gets a big stamp of approval from my own fairy princess :)

Head over to Nap Time Crafters for more details on the Pixie Dust dress

   

 

The Crafty Cupboard--Prim and Preciousness

 

Inspired by my regular routine of watching Pride and Prejudice whilst getting projects done at night, I remixed the Party Dress pattern to elude a sense of Jane Austen’s time, which meant including sleeves, an empire-waist bodice with gathered overlay, a more petite sash with floral embellishments, and layers upon layers of chiffon skirts.  This dress is definitely Prim and Preciousness!



My favorite outfit of Pride and Prejudice (Kiera Knightley version) is the dress Jane wears to the ball at Netherfield, so I had to replicate it with my own gathered bodice and delicate, petite sleeves! The focal fabric flowers were made from leftover scraps and sparkly buttons- perfectly precious in every way.


Regardless of the time period, every little girl loves a surprise- especially when the surprise is a hot pink underskirt!  This dress features SEVEN layers of skirt: three of pink chiffon, two of hot pink chiffon, and two separate linings. That is a lot of narrow hems sewn!!  The crepe-backed satin sash ties neatly in the back over an invisible zipper, which I opted for instead of the original Party Dress buttons because of the delicate nature of the chiffon. Even the most prim of girls will want to kick her legs up with a book and show off a little hot pink sassiness underneath!

To see more detailed photos from the project (and to hear why she’s not reading Jane Austen in the pictures!) hop on over to my blog, The Crafty Cupboard!

Cath Grace--Beaded Owl Dress

 

 

For this first week's challenge I began by finding the most amazing owl print, rayon fabric; it has the most silky soft texture, and a beautiful drape! (Little did I know at the time the fabric is IMPOSSIBLE to photograph well.) In making my own version of Lindsay's Party Dress, I knew that there were several elements that I definitely wanted to keep, (such as the shape of the bodice, the band at the hem, and the button loops used to close the dress.) Because it's winter and has been below -4F where we live, I decided to add sleeves, (my daughter has been begging me for a yellow dress with puffed sleeves ever since she read Anne of Green Gables) and because it's for a bigger girl to wear casually, I decided against the sash. (Well, admittedly I decided against the sash when she wrinkled her nose at me when I held a piece of fabric up to her waist to see how it looked!)

 

 

I love to make things that look deceptively simple, but are in reality full of challenging details! The neck facing, wrist cuffs, and skirt band, are all held in place only with the decorative pewter beading, that was all hand done in seed beads (fitting the inner curve of the neck facing, while including seam allowances and a perfectly spaced gap took some head scratching and smoke coming out of my ears!) There are 31 charcoal pearl buttons and small button loops between the back and sleeves of this dress, all done in the opposite colored fabric to the section they are on, (blue on yellow, and yellow on blue.) The skirt has single welted side pockets, and the bodice and sleeves are fully lined too. I am so pleased with how this dress turned out, Miss Emmie calls it her Anne of Green Gables/Harry Potter dress (I guess it's the white owls?) and excitedly wore it to the first day of school after winter break along with her own handmade Harry Potter beaded necklace! (a gift from her best school friend from the US)  Please stop on by cathgrace for more details and photographs of this dress!

 

 

 

 

Winter W3--A Winter WEAR-Wolf 

When I saw that we would be doing the Party Dress from Lindsay at A Cottage Home, I was so excited.  In order to gather my scattered thoughts, I focused on asking myself the two questions that mean the most when I am making clothes for my kids.  1: What do I have in my stash to use or re-purpose and 2: What can they honestly get the most use out of in their wardrobe right now.
I was immediately drawn to this teal blue linen-ish fabric that I scored from my church's pile of old shepherd costumes that have not seen the light of day in over a decade (and made their way into my home as I made decor and games for this years Christmas Party).  I then searched through the piles until I found a gorgeous grey linen-ish wrap skirt.  I'm a little in love with grey at the moment.  The two together immediately turned my thoughts to the Arctic - and then to Arctic Wolves.

THE ELEMENTS:

-The knit pieces are serged and hemmed with a twin needle.
-All seams  of the dress are top stitched with silver thread for an extra pop.
-The Wolfie is appliqued on using each of the fabrics in the garment to bring it all together.
-There are pockets in the seams of the front panel of the skirt (Love pockets!!!)

There are too many details and pictures to cram in here, so head over to my blog to see so much more!!!  HERE

  

{LBG} Studio--The Birthday Girl 

I didn't exactly have a plan when I started this outfit other than I knew I wanted to remix the Party Dress pattern into something more casual - a fun, colorful, swingy top. The fabric choices and additional pieces evolved by my usual creative process: trial and error! I felt that getting the proportions of all three pieces right was important and really focused on that. I'm excited that everything came together as I'd hoped and decided that this had to be the outfit the kiddo wears for her 5th(!) birthday party next month. I love that this outfit is easy to wear and perfect for play but still has a 'dress up' quality.

To create the top, I shortened the bodice of the pattern quite a bit and added a functional button placket to the front. I used dark brown buttons which I sewed on with bright blue thread to add some visual contrast. I chose to pair the top with a sunny yellow knit cardigan and some cuffed linen-blend shorts. I wanted the cardigan to have a vintage feel so I added a peter pan collar with faux piping, 3 small pearl-look buttons, and cropped the sleeves and overall length. The shorts have several little details...flat front, elastic back, pockets, pleats, and a functioning fly. Luckily, we had a pair of tights (Target) on hand that coordinated with this outfit perfectly and help to pull everything together. Gotta keep those little legs warm :) For lots more photos, details, and info head over to my blog {lbg studio} Thanks!

 

 

La Inglesita--Anymore Pink

Let´s make the Party Dress a Party Dress. The dress she´ll always remember because it can´t be any more pink or any more twirly. But not in a princess way. What I wanted to sew for her was that special occasion dress with silk lining, sheer chiffon, sequins, underskirt and long hours of handmade button loops.

The outer fabric is a sheer chiffon with flowers sewn to it intertwined with sequins lines. That is what this fabric is about so I tweaked the original pattern a little to let it shine:

• I cut the the bodice front and back on the fold to center the flowers and added buttons to the shoulder seam instead of the back opening (I could do this because the waist is wide enough to pull the dress on). 
• To show the sheer texture of the fabric I added a bit of fullness to the front bodice gathering at the middle of the waist band. It´s unnoticeable on the pictures but it adds interest. 
• To add more volume to the skirt I made an underskirt with a bottom ruffle in the same pink fabric.
• To tone down the design I omitted the back bow and the skirt band, but I cut the skirt on the crossgrain, using the selvedge for the hem, making it slightly longer to echo the original Party Dress bottom band. 

My girl is now ready for a very special occasion: jumping day at grandmums!
 

 Only after you´ve seen all the amazing designs for this week, you can jump over to my blog La Inglesita and read a bit more about this dress (including not so pink shots!)

Thanks for reading me!!!

María

 

 

Little Kids Grow--Princess Dreams

 

When I think of party dresses, I think of cake, parties, and pretty packages. Did you notice I mentioned cake first? (Mmmm). For the party dress challenge, I focused on the last one: pretty packages, which for me meant gifts wrapped in bright, shiny fabric and big, fantastic bows. My biggest challenge this week was to take my idea for a "big glam party dress" and turn it into something practical that my girls would actually wear. Two girls in a house full of boys does not always equal *princess*, so a detachable over skirt and one-piece pant set underneath for comfort was the perfect compromise.

While this dress is meant to be practical and fun, I focused on the elements of color, contrast, and detail to make it a truly custom design. I drafted all pieces from scratch to adjust for size (10 slim) and development. This included bust and pant darts (8 darts. Yikes!). I chose a two toned taffeta in 4 colors (teal, avocado, orange, and yellow) for the base of my design with an embroidered organza overlay for the bodice. The under layer of the bodice had to be pieced together in three sections so that the darts could be added without affecting  horizontal symmetry. To offset the sheerness of the organza fabric, the top of the lined bodice includes two layers of organza. I used hairline seams at the shoulders to hide seam allowances and super thin taffeta bias strips for shoulder and neck finishing. I installed an invisible zipper using a standard zipper application to add a peekaboo color contrast to the back of the bodice. The pants were hemmed with side slits for comfort. I used 7 yards of tulle & netting underneath the detachable skirt for volume, completing the look with a large taffeta tie bow in the front .

Want to know more about my design process? Join me at LittleKidsGrow for more details, larger pics, and sewing tips on working with two very persnickety fabrics: organza and taffeta.  

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