
I used my new gathering foot for the tiers on this sundress (which, it turns out, may not even be necessary if you just use your regular foot with a long stitch length and crank up your tension- urgh. Thank you for that tip also, Megan). I also knuckled under and used a pattern, a departure from my original brave 'wing it' plan. I decided if I was going to gather 3 miles of material, it had better be wearable, so I sacrificed one tier from my original vision and used the pattern.

All went well, with the usual stop to take 2 inches out of the width of the bodice. Also, I ran out of brown fabric, so I cut all the tiers an inch less deep. Then I noticed the skirt was becoming really really FULL. The last tier seemed to go on forever, and I started to get a bit worried I'd messed up. The skirt seemed to have moved out of the realm of A-line tiers and into the realm of Mama Cass. I just can't believe the blond cutey pictured on the pattern cover (above) is actually wearing a dress made from the same pattern. Look how NOT full it is. I double checked my measurements, thinking I must have cut out twice what I was supposed to. Nope.


Oh, well. Thing One actually loves the voluminous skirt, and it does look pretty cute on her. She'll need to wear leggings or shorts under it because when she does twirl it pretty much flies up to her head.

I thought it needed a little sumpm sumpm, so I made a fabric flower pin for the bodice using my flower card template, enlarged 148%. I fused 6 charm squares together, back to back with Heat N Bond Lite, giving me 3 two-sided pieces of fabric. Then I cut the flower petals out of those and used the sewing machine to pinch each layer in the middle for some depth. Then I sewed the layers together with a fabric covered button in front, and a pin on the back so I can take it off to wash the dress.
When I make this again for Thing Two, I'll be taking some fullness out of the tiers and making the bodice a bit longer. LOVING the one-step gathering, gathering foot or no. It has opened up new realms of possibility for me. I sit here and think of all the patterns I love but have avoided until now because of the hand gathering...Yay!
I love that dress, and Wow, she does look cute. Your flowers really do finish it off, well done!
ReplyDeleteSuch a very pretty dress, Larissa! I will have a look if I might find something brown and turquoise in my fabric boxes - thank you so much for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteCame across your blog just recently and I love what you do! This dress is fantastic and I am loving the colour combo.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the dress I have made that same one and LOVE the fullness. I prefer hand ruffling, sounds crazy I know!
ReplyDeleteEverybody, thanks for your kind words!
ReplyDeleteTreasures of Joy, you are the better woman. Me, I'll take the shortcut. :-)
beautiful dress!!!! you did a great job!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love it! The fabric flower makes it so artsy! Your daughter is adorable in it.
ReplyDeleteIt turned out really cute, at the moment my daughter has so many dresses it is hard to justify making her one more, but I might have to make her one in a bigger size just becase it looks like so much fun.
ReplyDeleteIt turned out great! Love the color combination and the pin is the perfect finishing touch!
ReplyDeleteDarling! I love the colors and the flower pin
ReplyDeleteOh wowsa just love this one! I like the twirly fullness and think you did a bang up job!
ReplyDeleteTHAT IS SOOOOOOOOOOO FLIPPING CUTE!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm making one for my girl
I'll let ya know when it's done
The dress is so lovely! And the flower pin is a great touch!
ReplyDeleteSo pretty! I love the color combo and the flower is a great touch!
ReplyDeleteThe dress is absolutely gorgeous! You chose great color combinations!
ReplyDeleteIt looks fabulous! I love the colours you used!
ReplyDeletey'all, thanks for your sweet comments! V8grrl, definitely show me a picture of the dress you make.
ReplyDeleteIt looks great. If you experiment / compare the high tension with the ruffler foot I'm sure we'd all love to hear about it.
ReplyDeleteI went and looked up the pattern - love that it's a pullover - I wish I'd come across that pattern when I was choosing a pattern for flower girl dresses!
Little girls just love twirly dresses don't they? Lovely color choices!
ReplyDeleteIt's adorable! I love it with the leggings,too. ~Jessica
ReplyDeleteway cute! nice job there.
ReplyDeleteSo cute Larissa,
ReplyDeleteI love the colors and the fullness. I remember "twirly dresses" like that were magical at that age. The flower is a perfect touch!
Well done! It's a perfect dress for twirling! :)
ReplyDeleteI love love love this dress! Great job!
ReplyDeletePerfection is aqua and chocolate! Congrats Larissa! What a beautiful dress that is! The model is so pretty too!
ReplyDeletePerfection is aqua and chocolate! Congrats Larissa! What a beautiful dress that is! The model is so pretty too!
ReplyDeletethat dress is impressive!
ReplyDeletei can't sew clothing as well as i'm primarily an accessory designer. so i'm always so impressed with people who can make such nice wardrobes from scratch!
Everyone, thanks again for your comments. Someone on flickr commented on this photo and said 'congratulations on explore', and I had no clue what THAT was all about. It took me thirty minutes to figure out that it was featured somewhere in flickr's picks of the day, but I still haven't found where it is on there. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI have this pattern and made view A last year but omitted the pockets. Daughter loves it! I meant to make another this year in multi colored gingham that someone gave me, but haven't gotten around to sewing since Christmas :(
ReplyDeleteI love the fabric flower pin you added, so cute!
can you give me the hint/how to of using the regular foot and cranking up the tension. I'm making this outfit, because yours was so darn cute for first day of Kindergarten...
ReplyDeleteI don't want to spend 36 hours pulling thread to gather...
help!
v8
v8,
ReplyDeleteYou pretty much just crank up the tension and set your stitch length to long. there's a tute for a cute skirt that discusses this very thing on Made, http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-market-skirt.html
Like I said, I'm not sure the gathering foot is strictly necessary if you make those adjustments. It all depends on the fabric, the thinner the fabric the more it gathers. good luck! can I see the dress when it is done?
Dress is done. i couldn't figure out how to do that tension thing...seriously I was laughing so hard, because i bought the cheap material to see how it would look (then next one...better material)...
ReplyDeletethe "forcefield" of cheapness would not allow my pins to penetrate either!
The dress is cute...and Olive LOVES it...I will be making more of the "Mini Mamma Cass Dresses" for her.
go look
http://smartdame.blogspot.com/2009/08/spinny-dress.html