Smocking by Janet: 2014

Here is a sneak peek of the Flower Girl dresses. I will discuss the dresses in another post.

The term "Can you see it on a moving child?" applied here ...big time. I worked for months on the smocked dresses and slips and flower girl baskets making sure everything was perfect.

This two little girls discovered their "New Best Friend" at the rehearsal and had a blast. They twirled, danced and ran all over the church together. They were absolutely adorable.

The only time they were still long enough to get a photo.

When I make a special dress such as a Flower Girl dress or a First Holy Communion dress I always make a slip to go with the dress. The slip can be worn in the car to the event and can be worn between pictures and at the reception.

Each slip is unique and is made to go under the special dress. For this wedding, the Flower Girl dresses were sleeveless with a full smocked bodice. The fabric was Cotton Sateen from Kaufman fabrics.

The slightly heaver weight of the Flower Girl dress fabric allowed me to use a color fabric under the dresses without it showing (except when the girls were doing cartwheels........ and twirling and.......dancing.)

We looked at several colors and went with 60inch wide Imperial Batiste in "Sky Blue". The other color I was considering was "Neptune". The fabric is available at several places. I bought mine from Fabrics.com.

The reason I went with the Imperial Batiste from Spechler Vogel as opposed to a 100% cotton batiste is that Imperial is soft and does not wrinkle. It is also cheaper (I was absorbing the cost of both dresses and slips as my gift towards the wedding).

As I said before each slip is designed to go under the Special Dress. This means that the slip will not peek out at the neck and arm holes and the ruffles of the slip's skirt will enhance the Special Dress.

The easiest way to accomplish these goals is to make the slip from the dress pattern and make modifications. I used Children's Corner "Louise" in a size 3 for both Flower Girl dresses.

The following Tutorial is for modifying a dress bodice pattern to make a slip/sundress:

I am going to start with tracing the Front Dress pattern onto pattern tracing material (do not cut out the front bodice that you traced). I like to use Easy Pattern by Pellon from JoAnn's Fabric. I buy it by the bolt with my 40% off one item coupon.

With a pencil, transfer all markings (seam allowances, straight of grain line, notches) Fold pattern in half and mark the Center Front on the pattern. Also, add notations as to what pattern you are using and what size, ie.....CC Louise , size 3 for Flower Girl dress/slip.

I know this is a "DUH! I already know this" but I need to point this out in case you didn't realize or need a reminder. The neck and arm hole seam allowance lines (marked in red in the illustration) are the finished edge of the dress. What this means is the slip needs to be below these lines if I don't want it to show.

Below my seam allowance lines I am going to draw another line that is 1/2 inch below. These are my guidelines or boundaries. I don't want to go beyond these lines when I am modifying my bodice or my slip will show. I choose 1/2 inch below because I want to add piping to the slips for a clean finished edge.

If I was just going to make a slip that had shoulder seams I would be about done but I want some thing different. To create a Sundress style slip I need to mark a horizontal line that is parallel to the bottom edge. I drew my line so that it intersected with my 1/2" guide lines. I could have gone lower with this line but these slips are for 3 year olds to wear in church.

Now I am going to connect the arm hole line with the horizontal line with a dress maker's curve.

Mark seam allowances and notations then pat yourself on the back because you have created the front bodice of your slip. You will need to follow the same steps for the back bodice.

Okay, now lets talk about copyrights. I created my slip from the Children's Corner's Louise pattern. This makes it a derivative of that pattern and is still copyrighted by Children's Corner. Nuf said.

I decided to make the slips extra special and added an insert of joined lace to the front bodices. I am making two identical slips so instead of creating two separated joined lace inserts I am going to just make one strip which is long enough for both bodices.

The front bodice pattern measures 13 inches wide and 6 1/2 inches tall. To make two, I need to start with a piece of fabric that is twice as long as my bodice with some extra ease.

I cut a piece of fabric that is 15 inches wide and 15 inches tall(6 1/2inches x 2 + ease). Pull a thread to make sure all the sides are on the grain.

With a pencil I mark the "Top" of the fabric in an area that will be cut away later (you could also use a small safety pin). I want to make sure my fabric's straight of grain is going in the right direction(up and down) and stays that way during the construction process. Set the fabric aside for a few minute.

I choose lace with a rose motif from my stash. I started with the center piece then added the 2 pieces to the outsides. My center pieces was 15" long. I match the print design on the crosses(B) and turn one of the rose prints(A) upside down so that the patterns were mirror images. I estimate that I used a yard(36") each of the cross print lace and the outside rose print lace. Each piece was then cut in half to make 2 strips.

The lace was joined together with a narrow zigzag. I used Madeira No 80 thread and my Bernina #10 edge foot. I started with my center piece then added the cross print lace(B) then the rose print lace(A)

On my fabric I folded it in half to find my center and just finger pressed the top fold. Make a tiny cut on this fold line and pull a thread. This is a guide to make sure my lace inset is straight with the fabric.

Pin the lace insert to the right side of the fabric. Stitch the lace to the fabric with a straight stitch. Again, I used Madeira No 80 and my Bernina #10 foot.

Now the scary part comes next! I am going to cut my fabric that is behind the lace along that pulled thread line down the center. For extra security I like to insert a ruler in-between the lace and the fabric. With Appliqué scissors cut the fabric (not the lace) along the drawn thread line. Fold each side back and press.

Pin Stitch along the lace edge. This stitch on your sewing machine looks like a ladder with a rung missing. Trim the excess fabric down to 1/4 inch. Press again.

I made a copied of my slip pattern so I could lay both patterns on my fabric at the same time. Aline the center rose motif with the center line of the pattern. Make adjustments as needed. Pin in place and cut out your lace/fabric bodice.

And the front bodice is done. I made 1 inch shoulder straps that buttoned in the back and added piping to the top edge and bottom edge of the bodice.

I wish I could show you the expressions on the Flower Girls faces. This was their first look at the bride in her dress. They were totally mesmerized. They told her that they had pretty white dresses to put on also.

Today is my granddaughter's 3rd birthday. Wow, time has flown by!

She wore the birthday dress I made for her to school this morning.

I am proud to say the entire outfit was made from my stash. Being in the middle of an ice storm helped me stick to my de-stash pledge.

The dress pattern is Children's Corner Louise

The skirt is Michael Miller's "Children at play".

https://www.fabric.com/buy/en-289/michael-miller-children-at-play-on-parade-double-border-multi

The top is Moda Essential Dots in turquoise. The piping and sash are hot pink cotton that has been in my stash for years.

The buttons on the back are shell buttons from Lots of Buttons

I used 2 yards for the skirt. The fabric is a double border along the length of the selvage. This allowed me to have a full skirt and match the border print along the center back.

From the edge of the selvage(which has printed information on it) to the beginning of the border print is 3 inches.

I carefully cut off the selvage because the printed words would show through. I turned up the fabric 1/4 inch then turned up again 1 inch. the hem was then stitched by hand.

I decided to add a small hot pink cotton rick rack to the hem line. I know I could just straight stitch the rick rack down but I don't like the way rick rack looks after it has been washed and all the points are curling. Plus, I know my granddaughter likes a little bling!

Starting at the center back, I used tiny dots of basting glue and applied the rick rack where I wanted it. After everything was dry, I stitched seed beads to the points of the rick rack. I used short lengths of thread because this is a dress for a very active 3 year old.