A Princess Do-Over

I posted here and here about the princess dresses I was making for my granddaughter, Abby.  The Elsa dress appears to be a big hit - enough so that taking it off to be washed has become something of an issue.

So I bought some more fabric and some lace and some ribbon and made a Rapunzel dress.

And I just wasn't happy with it.  The ribbon puckered all down the front and when I pressed the ribbon, the design came off. 

It took me awhile to make myself take the dress apart, but I took off the first ribbon and replaced it with some wider grosgrain ribbon.  I think this will hold up better than the embossed satin ribbon I bought at first.

And the skirt is no longer puckered where the ribbon is attached.

Yes, that's much better.

While I was at it, I made a Cinderella dress, just for good measure.  Again I went with a dancewear knit for the main body of the dress so that she can put it on and take it off by herself.  I jazzed it up with some glitter chiffon (after my experience with the glitter tulle, this seemed like a better choice.)  It isn't as glitzy as the tulle, but I don't think it will wash out either.

Here's hoping she likes her new princess dresses.

All Tangled Up

I guess I haven't been getting too much quilting done (although I do have a new finish that needs pictures) but I have been having fun playing dress up...  or more specifically making dresses for Abby to play dress up in.

Once again I started with a picture and went from there.

I used the same pattern as I did for the Elsa dress and it didn't need as many adjustments.  I took a lot of the fullness out of the skirt, but the bodice and sleeves were perfect.  The photo (above) looks like there is an under-sleeve, but I decided that on a 4 year old it would only be in the way, so I left it off.

I used dance/swim fabric for the skirt and bodice back of the dress, but while Joann's had a lovely dark purple, they didn't have any lavender and the only pink was way too orange and looked horrible with the purple.  Consequently, I settled on a satin for the bodice front.  I made faux corset ties with ribbon across the front, and added a bit of lace at the neckline.  I was about three inches short of having enough lace to add to the hem, and then decided that with a 5-inch hem, the idea is to let out the hem as she grows, and the lace would cause trouble.

Instead of a lot of detail (which looks like embroidery in some of the images) I found a sparkly ribbon and added it to the front of the skirt before I joined the skirt and bodice together.  I didn't use a zipper - hopefully the dance/swim fabric is stretchy enough that she can get it on and off by herself.  It works great on the Elsa dress.

And lest you think that the girl is not into dress up, apparently she seldom wears anything else!!  (Sorry for the blurry pic, but it's from a video of her opening a present from a very special friend, but I couldn't help noticing her attire.)

So now the dress is finished, but before I pop it in the mail, I'm thinking I should go figure out how to make super hero capes for her brother...