Princess Pink

I didn’t manage to post my g33k-out entry and have yet to post (or make, but fabrics in the wash) anything for the ‘Denim Never Dies’ so I feel a bit cheeky sneaking in on the ‘Pink’ extra category.  But since this is very pink.  Very, very pink……

I completed most of this in December but this month have had to do a few reinforcements to make it more worthy of the active life of a 4 year old.

Backstory: My husband was away for work and came across a princess dress in a shop that he just knew our daughter would love.  He sent me a photo captioned ‘It’s over $100 though so you could probably make it’  We decided against it because of time restraints but then ‘Fabric-a-brac’ happened and there was a lady there selling bags of lycra remnants for $1 and the next thing I knew my sewing room was a vision in pink and glitter.

I didn’t use a pattern.  Yikes! This is not my usual method of working, I’m an instruction addict.  For the top part, I took a rub-off of one of my daughters form fitting t’shirts, changing the neckline and adding in the seams for the colour blocked sections.  I made it much longer than I needed to as I hadn’t quite figured out how I was going to attach the skirt layers.  I used a facing, overstitched down to finish off the neckline edge of the lycra and made elastic straps encased in a lycra tube.  I created a larger, organza tube for the front detail, this is gathered and secured in the side seams.  I used wash-away knit stabiliser on all the seams.  I love that stuff and am so thankful to TMS contributors for suggesting it to me for a past project.

I was a bit stuck on how to create the skirt layers and how they would then be attached to the lycra top.  So, I rushed off to my sewing mentor who suggested:

~ For the petals, cut right angle triangles of tulle.  Narrowly overlock the longest edge and the gather up along the other two edges (going over the right angle) I made six of these and just adjusted the gathers to suit the under layers of organza

~ For the two organza layers gather them up to a length (I sewed the side seams and overlocked the hem first) that is a bit wider than the waist seam of the lycra.  I gathered it to a length that the lycra would comfortably stretch to.  This was so the stretchiness would be maintained and my daughter would still be able to fit it over her head.

~Cut through the top where the waist would be (allowing for seam allowances) and then sandwich the tulle and organza layers between the two lycra layers and overlock the seam stretching the lycra to match.  This was to make sure there were no scratchy seams or edges.

~ Attach the skirt lining (satin) approx. 2cm below the organza layers, again overlocking it onto the lycra and stretching the lycra to match.

I then vertically gathered up the top layer of organza skirt in places by using a running stitch and attached a flower detail.

So the total cost of this princess dress turned out to be:

Lycra – $1

Organza and tulle – $20

Satin and Roses – gift from my mentors stash

Notions – from my stash

TOTAL – $21 = One Happy Princess