Princess Seams and Disney Dreams

 Well this post is wayyy off my usual creations! For a kick off it's not for me. Clearly...

This lady is my lovely friend Anya who is absolutely Disney obsessed. About 8 months ago she had shown me a whirly twirly pink dress that she would have liked to wear on her holiday.

8 months later - we made some magic come true!

Anya works for cancer charity Little Lifts who have helped me no end, so I wasn't doing this for just anyone! 

The bodice of the dress started as a Vintage pattern I borrowed from The Fabric Wrangler however we altered the design so many times during the toile process it bears little resemblance other than having princess seams. 

The sketch below is what we started with...

 

Criteria: square neck, v-back, twirly skirt, bow. Pink. 

I think we got there!

I made a toile in some lovely supima cotton which was nice and easy to fit and adjust where needed. I squared off the neckline, moved the shoulders outwards to get that 'princess' feel to it and cut a huge V into the back seam line. It took about 3 versions to get the fit right which to be honest, I thought it would be more so I was a little relived at that!

This is probably one of my biggest projects in terms of drafting, fitting another human, lining, using satin etc etc. 

The 'real' dress is made of a really luxurious duchess satin. The bodice is entirely lined with a light pink cotton voile, hand stitched to the circle skirt. The skirt is, just a circle skirt. But it does have pockets!

 

Unfortunately time was not on my side towards the holiday deadline and I did machine hem it rather than handstitch, which fortunately pressed flat in the end despite the photos. (The mannequin is a bit bigger than Anya so pulls a bit).

There was an additional bit of engineering to this as the bow needed to be removable. I therefore created a little ribbon belt, which also served to nip the waist in when needed. The belt slider could then be moved to the back, and pushed into the center bow loop to hide it. Not going to lie, I was pretty proud of this invention. 

A lovely project for a lovely person that spanned the course of this year so far - and so great to see it being worn where it was intended!!

 For all non-sewists out there:

No, I will not make you one.  

 😉

Wishing everyone well and thank you for stopping by - feel free to comment and come and say hello on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Bloglovin too xxx