Happy New Year

I haven't stopped sewing, just took a time out to regroup as life dished out some important, altering events. :)

I'll start with my more recent projects.  Let's take a look at Olivia's Birthday Dress for 2013.

 This is made using the S&S Girls' 1958 Party Dress Pattern.  I made changes to the pattern, mainly the neckline.  Due to Olivia's developing figure, I chose to make the neckline more of a 'jewel' style, making it more modest so she didn't have to worry about bending over in play.  I also 'pinched out' some of the extra fabric in the bodice front, to make it a bit more fitted.

The bodice was placed on the bias, but I interlined the bodice, mounting it on cotton batiste, giving the bodice stability.  As with her Christmas dress (yet to be blogged about) I used an invisible zipper.  Originally, I was going to 'bag line' the bodice, in addition to the interlining, but chose to skip the bag lining, due to the fashion fabric having a tight weave and decent weight to it.  The inside is finished using a serger/overlock machine, giving the inside a nice clean finish.

 Olivia loves her kitty, Maggie, they are good friends. :)

 Olivia having some twirling fun.  What young girl or lady doesn't like a little twirl to her dress? :)

For the sleeves, I have the seam line down the center of the shoulder and arm.  I finished the hem of the sleeve by first stitching a basting line of 5/8", pressing up that edge, then tucking in the edge into that fold, which worked beautifully!  This was a technique I learned by using some of the Oliver + S Patterns.  This is a quick and easy way to finish hems that you plan to stitch by machine.  As with most of my dress/skirt hems, this was finished off with hand stitching.

 We used one of Olivia's silk sashes for these pictures.  We will be making another one, in red, to go with her red scarf and her lovely new red, wool hat. :)

My usual change for Olivia's dresses, is to added 2" of length to the skirt, giving her a bit more time to wear the dress.  Olivia is wearing her petticoat underneath, but this is the one I made to go with her silk 1958 dress, in which I did not want lots of 'pouf' to it.  I think with this one, I may just make another petticoat with a bit more pouf to it.  Not wanting more bulk around the waist, for the petticoat, I used a cotton, tank undershirt, adjusted it for Olivia's body, then made a couple tiers of crinoline.  Next time I think I will double the amount of crinoline to the bottom layers.

As you can see, the neckline and sleeves were finished off with a bit of trim ( I have forgotten the name of the trim).

Thanks for stopping by, I will try to catch up in the coming days and weeks with a few projects.

Carol