New Dress for Leah, China Plate version

Sooo... I really like puffed sleeve, fitted waistband, gathered bust dresses on my sister. (e.g. Leah's red regency, Leah's Yellow Christmas).

And I like them even better with half circle skirts. (the other 2 had A line). Unfortunately, you can't really see that here... (Leah's purple Christmas dress)

So I did it again!! The "China Plate" version, with the blue-on-white design, bordered with navy blue. It's completely lined, and I tacked on a little bit of lace on the underlining skirt edge.

Leah's Christmas Dresses (Regency inspired, with a thick waistband)

 

So I had made my sister this red regency inspired dress a while ago....

 

 but I wanted to make something more modern this time. So I thickened the waistband to extend to her natural waist, and slipstitched on a sash. I left the puffed sleeves and the drawstring elastic neckline the same.

These are not the best pictures, as we were leaving in the morning, and I realized around 11 pm that I still hadn't got pictures of her in the dress, so I snapped some pictures in the low light with my little point and shoot camera. She looks even more beautiful in person.

The first one was a yellow calico with blue flowers on it. I cut the skirt a simple A-line. the finished length was 40" which was a tad too long. I think in the future I'll aim for a finished length of 37".

I don't know why the waistband is wrinkling. I think I have to take away a little fabric in the underbust seam under the arm maybe?

I think she was eating something. But she looks so cute I had to put it up.

Then there was the Purple and white one. I lined the dress completely with muslin, so to keep the white from being see-though. I cut the skirt out as a half-circle, and as it was from a 45-43" wide fabric, the skirts finished length was around 33". Leah like it, and the swishyness. I think I'll need to make her a petticoat to go along with it.
The sash is slip-stitched on.

 My greatest pride and joy with this is the sleeve bands. I had a brain wave to make them kind of "framing" of the print, by using purple that was in the print. They have a very nice framing effect. I danced for glee, and showed it off to everyone.

The last picture shows it truer to its real colors, as it is white, and not cream as the bad lighting makes it look.

I need to get nice sunlit pictures of her in in them. I will post them when I do.

Leah's Red Regency Dress, More Pictures

Refashioned Shirt

AFTER

BEFORE (forgive the wrinkled shirt)

I had a large shirt. I cut it apart, princess seamed it, which made the armholes smaller to fit me. I opted not to cut the sleeves down, but instead just made tighter cuffs, and gathered the sleeve at the shoulder and the wrist to make it puffed. My favorite part is how I changed the collar, it was so easy. It was a standing collar, but I like mandarin collars. So I ripped out the top pointy part of the collar so just the standing part of it was left, which looks like a mandarin collar.  I think it looks vaguely Romantic era. I am happy :)

Leah's Red Regency Dress

 

 I sewed Leah a dress yesterday. I am so proud of myself. I made the pattern myself. And it WORKS.  1. I had her try on my dress. 2. I roughly approximated things like, she could use a couple inches more in the shoulder, etc. 3. I redrew pattern pieces from my pattern pieces, and made a mockup (from an old sheet) and tried it on her. 4. Tweaked it a little more, and now was ready to make the dress.  Here are the initial pictures. We took these at midnight. I will have better pictures up and how we did it soon. Also I have the cutest little girl in the world. 

This gives a good view of the bodice. It is a drawstring neck with elastic inserted to keep it from gapping when she moves her arms. She moves her arms a lot. When I was a kid my mental image of 'industrious' was Leah.

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I am so proud of the skirt. Its an A line, with a hem and a tuck running along the bottom to make it stand out more. The back has pleats, the front is smooth but cut at a shallow u. I learned through trial and error that cutting the top waist part into a shallow u, makes the drape soo much prettier.

 The cat was trying to drink out of the water in the sink. I love how her braid hangs down her back. (Yes Leah was trying to do my dishes at midnight. She tried to convince me to clean the house instead of sew her a dress. She is my conscience.)

Did I mention I had the cutest baby in the world?