Twin Minnies (Twinnies?)

My sister and her husband's family headed to Disney World recently and she asked me to make some Minnie Mouse themed dresses for her girls with fabric she supplied.

I used the Fair & Square Dress pattern by Tie Dye Diva because I wanted the dresses to fit well and I needed a pattern for two fabrics. The red polka dot was some sort of synthetic blend and kind of yucky to work with, but I thought it looked pretty Minnie-esque. My sister also supplied some heat & bond and some yellow rick rack for embellishements.

I'm not normally a rick rack girl, but I think it definitely suited the look and was very much needed to spruce up the dress a bit. For the applique, I found a silhouette with just the right proportions (and learned about Hidden Mickeys) here.  I printed it out at the size I wanted, fused some Heat 'n' Bond to some plain black fabric, pinned the mouse head to the fabric, cut it out, ironed it to the dress and then zig-zagged around it with my sewing machine. This blog post on Sew Like My Mom does a great job of explaining how to do applique neatly.

I also added a little surprise in the package for the girls:

I ordered these bracelets from Kinsley River Designs (whom I discovered through a mutual friend). The necklace Danielle wore with her birthday dress was made by Alana as well and I've ordered several custom items that will show up on my blog with future outfits. She's super talented and is competitively priced and it is too easy to get addicted to what she makes!

Until my sister sends me pictures of the girls in their dress (hint, hint Shawna!), here's proof that I made two of these dresses (my twin body forms aren't nearly as cute as my nieces...)

Twin Chevrons

Shortly after I told my sister I wouldn't really be able to sew for her girls anymore (time management is very different now that I'm not staying home with my kids), I noticed she posted a picture on Facebook of a cute peasant dress with a big bow. It was made from a print I happened to recognize and I thought I would surprise her by making something similar.

Little did I know that my sister would start posting LOTS of pictures of boutique clothes. You know, the "share it to win it" photos?  Needless to say, I didn't sew dozens of garments to match the other photos she posted. I also didn't know how difficult it would be to try to line up chevrons, so my "quick and easy" project took longer than anticipated. I thought I matched them pretty good though.

Because the side of the dress is angled, the
chevrons can't all line up along the seam

I even found what I thought was the exact pattern that was used in the inspiration dress. And I paid way too much ($7, on sale) for what I think is the WORST pattern I have ever used. This pattern, from a well-known shop, consisted of a single pattern piece. Not only was it hand-drawn, it was POORLY drawn. I wish I could post a picture of it. The lines were seriously sketch-y looking--the designer didn't even bother to draw a smooth, final line for each size! I ended up using a peasant dress pattern I already owned, and only made the bow from the horrible pattern. The instructions say to safety pin it on the dress. Really? I ended up stitching the bows to a pin back, so that my sister could remove the bows to wash the dresses.

The instructions did make a pretty cute bow

Oh chevrons, you were such a challenge. I had to make the chevrons run in opposite color order on the dresses because the stripes ran along the length of the yardage, not from selvedge to selvedge like I anticipated when I order the fabric. This meant I had much less length to work with and I had to make short sleeves instead of longer, shirred sleeves like the inspiration. It all worked out though, and my sister thought they were really cute. Now she just needs to send a picture of my gorgeous nieces wearing them (hint hint Shawna).

Cupcake Dresses

I've been making a lot of little girl dresses lately. It started with the Ravens dress I made my daughter and recently included these two dresses I made for my twin nieces.

Obviously not modeled by my nieces

This is the Emma's Dress pattern from LilyBird Studios.  It's really girlie, the fit is good and I love that the sash wraps around twice.  It has a lined bodice that buttons up the back and the pleated waistline of the skirt is sewn overlapping the bodice.

Love the waistline on these dresses!

I didn't care for how the buttons were handled--there is not interfacing called for in the pattern, and one side of the back just kind of overlaps the other.  I did make one of these for Danielle first, and thought it was cute enough to make these two as well, despite the fact that I think the pattern could use a little refinement.

It's still cute

This really is a sweet dress for little girls (no pun intended, but I like that it happened!).  Next up is a set of Simplicity 2377 peasant dresses.