And They Are Off.......

I had to put some thought into the packaging of these dresses. I have no clue as to who will be carrying these packages in their suitcases to be delivered to special girls. I was in a struggle to think through best ways to ship these and taking into consideration the person who puts this in their suitcase, especially with restrictions on baggage. While I am sure these are not perfect, I prayed for direction to try and get this as best as I can.

Everything I added to the package, adds weight for the person carrying the gift. Even fully lining the dress worried me as to the weight of the dress, both for the person packing the dress in their suitcase, but also for the women who will be carrying their baskets of laundry to streams to be washed. They don't have wringers to wring out the wetness like we do with our lovely modern washing machines. I hope I get good feedback on whether or not this was too much and then where to scale back. With the second two dresses, I did take out fullness to the skirts and the lining....for fear of too much weight for shipping and washing.

Here are the dresses stacked on the table, being assembled to go in a box to be shipped north, before they are distributed to others who will be carrying them off to other lands.



Here is one of the dresses with the baggy of notions to go with it.



Here are the dresses is their new cotton gift bags.




Here are the dresses in a clear plastic bags, labeled with size.



Here is the box, ready to be shipped off......which was done on Wed. :)



Yes, I know the box is upside down, but that's what happens when you break down shipping boxes and reassemble them the wrong way. :) Oops!

On to the next projects. :)

Carol

Details for the dresses

Here are a few pictures of some of the details that I wanted to add to the dresses and packages.

Here is a picture of the extra button, sewn on the inside of the dress, between the skirt and lining. I just so happen to have the exact colour of cotton twill tape to attach the button to, for sewing it on. I was trying hard to use up stash with these projects.



People who know me, know I enjoy using cloth bags for giving gifts. I also use tea towels and that sort of thing to wrap up gifts. Because I wanted this to be special, I made up some cotton gift bags.



Because I do not know where these dresses will end up, ultimately, I decided to put a put a few necessary items in a plastic baggie to go with each of the dresses. I wound some thread, two colours, onto little plastic floss bobbins. For the dress I used ribbon on the sleeves, I added extra ribbon onto another bobbin. I also included a sewing needle to aid in the process of mending the dress, should they need to do that.



I am having fun with this project. :)

Carol

Destiny Dress #3 Finished

Back


With Sash



Without sash



Sleeve Detail



Inside Out

Here is my 3rd Destiny Dress completed. It's another cotton dress with a cotton lining. I lined the bodice with the fashion fabric and the skirt portion with white muslin.

I used a sea-foam green coloured silk blend sash to accessories the dress and to pull in any extra fullness needed to be pulled in, depending on the size of the girls who will wear this dress. You can see ribbon threaded through the cotton lace that was hand stitched on the sleeves, and then some cotton lace at the bottom of the dress. I was careful to make sure the lace at the bottom was up high enough to not disturb the hem of the dress, in the event the hem needs to be taken down. Once again, I used Carol Schafer's suggestion to first machine stitch the hem, then flip it up and hand stitch it. I really like this hem treatment for flexibility.

I used the same T & T pattern as I did in the first two dresses. I once again drafted out the bodice back side pieces. Brought the dropped shoulder up to true shoulder, lengthened the bodice by 1" and used 1/2" seam allowances to give more room. This dress would fit a size 6-8, depending on the size of the girl. This time I used the same fashion fabric to cover the buttons for the front opening.

Another joyful gift to go off to a welcoming little girl.

I am praying that one day, I will get the privilege of seeing a little girl wearing one of these dresses. :)

Carol

Dress #3 In The Works

Dress #3 is being worked on. Here are the fabrics I am working with to produce another dress, similar to the other two. A lovely printed cotton for the dress, cotton muslin for the skirt lining and another silk blend sash.



I will be using the Girls' Regency Dress Pattern again, but with similar changes that I made in the previous two dresses.

I'm looking forward to having another dress ready for another special girl somewhere in the world. :)

Carol

Destiny Dresses

Here are my first two dresses I have made to be donated to Destiny Dresses.

I contacted Carol Schaefer to find out exactly what they need and ask my multitude of questions regarding what would be best for the dresses. I needed to know things like:

1) What type of fasteners are best?
Buttons as zippers when broken ruin the dress.

2) Front opening or back opening best?
Front opening so the girl can dress herself.

3) Natural fabrics OK?
Absolutely

4) What types of textile patterns and colours should I avoid? I asked this because I was unaware of what culture these dresses will be shipped off to.
Pray for wisdom and guidance. Need to be careful of the prints with faces and those kinds of designs. Most colours are probably OK

5) What is the best hem treatment, hand stitched for ease to pull out and adjust length of dress or machine stitched for strength?
Carol gave me a good suggestion, I combined both methods I first machine stitched the dress, flipped up the hem and then hand stitched it.

6) Can I make the dresses out of the same pattern and same fabric or should they be made out of different fabric with different patterns?
It's perfectly fine to make the same dress out of the same fabric as they may end up being sent in different directions

6) Do they have to be from fancy dresses or could I make nice cotton dresses?
Dresses do not have to be made from bridal or prom gowns. They can be newly made dresses. The important part of the dress is to make it appear as if it has come from a high end shop

I think the 'high end' shop is a bit subjective as we all have different tastes of high end. The main point is that the dresses are modest, beautiful and well sewn together. I was going more for the 'classic' look of well made, not the modern look.

Using my T&T pattern I made changes to accompany the needed must haves for the dresses. I drafted out the bodice back side pieces, moved the dropped shoulder seam to the top of the shoulder, made the bodice open in the front instead of the back and added length and width. For the smaller sized dress, I used the long sleeve pattern and cut it off to where I needed it and added a pleat. I also added some length to the skirt as I always found I needed more length.

Olivia is modeling the larger size dress, which is a bit too big for her.

Because these are to be special dresses, I chose to alter a few of the details so the two dresses are not exactly alike.




I wanted to make these dresses a bit more flexible for wearing. Sometimes these children share their 'best' garments with other children in the villages, depending on where the garments end up. I put in a bit more ease in the bodice and bit more length. I made a silk sash to be worn with the dress to take in the fullness as needed. The larger sized dress has the pleats while the smaller size has the gathers. Both dresses are fully lined. I used the same silk fabric from the sashes to cover the buttons and add flat bias piping to the sleeves of the one dress.



I am delighted to be able to assist Carol with this ministry to produce garments that will be loved by girls that otherwise might not have a nice new dress.

Happy to be sewing......

Carol

On The Machine........

Here is the next dress I am working on. The cotton is a purple-blue and I am using some of the blue silk I used on Olivia's dresses. I am using my T&T pattern, making all kinds of changes to it, to meet the needs of the potential wearer.

I am delighted to be working on this dress, it's a privilege and blessings to have this opportunity.

Hopefully completed pictures in the next few days. :)

Carol