Dress up a dress!

This time I just didn’t have time to make a full princess dress, who does when the kids are little? So last minute I used a plain tutu dress that actually has paint stains I couldn’t get out on it! Don’t worry, they get covered up!

Then I ordered a special mermaid appliqué with the number 5 for my daughters birthday off of Etsy. I also had some leftover sequin fabric I wanted to add to the dress.

I used the sequin fabric and sewed it all

Around the bottom inner layer of the dress. Then I added the patch and wow what a difference with that easy change! I was going to add some puff sleeves but the weather was warm so I ended up keeping it sleeveless.

Purchased an assortment of gem heart stickers and used fabric stitch glue to place them on the dress!

This can be done easily and quickly and you have a birthday dress! You can add sleeves, bows, a sash or belt!

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Princess Dress and Party!

My daughter has recently developed an interest in princesses and playing dress up. I decided to take on the challenge of sewing a princess dress. I’ve made many dresses, including the princess-like 1st birthday dress, but I wanted to make something different, so I did some research and then bought fabric I thought she would love, and designed a dress. I made several adjustments during the process and added embellishments.


Since I did this all during the process of making it, I decided to take pictures instead of video like I usually do.

 

There is no pattern for this since I designed the dress as I went. I used one of her regular party dress to eyeball the correct sizing for a 3t dress. (This is what you can do too!)

So below are pictures and some steps. If you want to design a similar one just use a dress to get an idea of the sizing. I don’t work with a lot of tulle sewing, so it didn’t turn out the best, but I’m proud of the end results, and she loves it too!

So I first made the front and two back pieces. You can copy these shapes from the picture and use a dress for sizing.

I ended up making another three pieces (another front and two back pieces) and using it as the inside of the dress.  So I took pattern facing pattern for the front piece and left a 3 inch space to pull it right side out.  Then I sewed this shut and ironed it all. I also used sparkly elastic and pinned it in between the pattern facing pattern (this is what I should have done but forgot and ended up just sewing it to the top).

I also added a tulle happy birthday and two pieces of silver design on the front. You can add or not add as many embellishments as you want.

Next, I used interfacing ironed on both back pieces and then used white hair ties cut in half.  I pinned the half hair ties facing inwards in between the pattern facing pattern pieces then sewed all the way around except a 3 inch area and pulled it right side out and sewed then ironed it.

Following that, I placed the two back pieces on the front pattern piece and sewed the sides and then folded them back to have the top finished.

I then measured the skirt by measuring from the top down to the right length for my daughter with a measuring tape.  I used the soft fabric of the top for the under-skirt and then cut happy birthday tulle and tulle for the skirt.  i made the white tulle width three times the width length since I will gather it to make the skirt more “poofy.” I then gathered the tulle using the easy method of dental floss, on top of the soft under skirt. With this method, you use a large zigzag over the floss and then at the end you pull the floss out and it is gathered!

Next I decided to use the happy birthday tulle and sewed it on as well.  Then, I put the layers together and I put pattern facing pattern and sewed it all together.

I ended up sewing on a bead embellishments on ribbon in between the top and bottom.

 

Happy Sewing!

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1st birthday dress!

I wanted that special 1st birthday dress, but not that especially high price that comes with most of them!  So once again, I searched pinterest, etsy, and other sites to find ideas.  I ended up combining ideas, as well as making up my own, to design with the dress I created. The theme was rubber duckies for her party.  Therefore, I wanted to incorporate duckies as well as other birthday fabrics.  I went to the store and examined numerous fabrics, buying  a yard of my favorites!  The extra fabric I ended up using to create the crowns!

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I purchased the iron on birthday 1 and ducky from etsy.  The number is even personalized with her name!  I also bought the duck buttons from the store.  I used white hair bands that I cut to make the loop holes for the buttons on the top of the shoulders.

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So how did I make this dress?  Well that’s a secret! But I can give you some hints.  If you are truly interested in a dress like this you can private message me or come back and look for my future etsy link!

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The skirt of course took the longest because of the detail.  I added yellow ribbon in between the rows as well.

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Then I added the cute duck to the back of the dress.  Personally, this dress could be used as a 2 in 1 dress because the back is also so cute!  However, the 1 in the front personalized this as a 1st birthday dress.

 

IMG_2457Well check out the other tutorials, as well as the 1st birthday party theme page for more ideas! Feel free to share pictures of your little one’s first birthday dress!

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