pretty in pink

here's a little dress i made for molly kate (20 months) out of a 23" long, 50" wide remnant i got from jaf. it was even 75% off, so it cost $1.70. pretty good, huh? i paid more for the lining and (invisible) zipper than i did for the fabric.

i don't know how well you can see it in the pix, but it's a satiny polyester with sparkles melded on it. irl, it doesn't look quite as shiny/glossy as it does here. What you notice first is the sparkles catching the light and emitting rainbow colors. a girl can't do without that, can she? and the best part is you can sew right over the sparkles with no fear about your machine.

i used child's play to design the dress. i chose empire waist and a flair of 2". i did the "cross over" of the bodice on paper, cause i'm still a little intimidated by the pattern editor. i selected petal sleeves as i'd never used them before. you can see the close up of the bodice and sleeves above.

i'm having too much fun making little dresses for my sweet baby. on this one, i liked doing the invis. zip. i'm getting better at these and agree w/those who say they'd never use anything else. i also like the way the inside of this dress looks: it's fully lined, in pink "posh", also from jaf. i cut the bodice lining on the bias and also lined the petal sleeves. i used bias tape to cover the armhole seam, which i think looks better than serging. heck, i should have taken a picture of the inside, shouldn't i? next time. :-)

i'm not as pleased w/this style as i thought i'd be, but i learned a lot making it. all in all, this dress reminds me of a rather loose cheong sam, which was not exactly what i was going for. that's ok, though, cause my model would look stunning in a paper bag!