Princess Dress

Here was a fun project I completed over the summer. A friend of mine was taking her daughter to Disney World for the first time and wanted a princess dress for her to wear. She wanted it to be a cotton sun dress so she wouldn't get too hot, but she wanted it to be a Cinderella dress too.

I drafted the pattern myself (yay me!) by glancing at a BWOF bodice and taking B's measurements into account. I made a muslin and the fit was pretty much dead on which was both surprising and pleasing. I guess it's a bit of a cheat to have ton of ease taken up by elastic in the back, but for a first attempt it wasn't bad!

The dress was made from quilting cottons. The white is sparkly and the blue is just a plain satiny cotton from Joann's.

Here's the front view:

From Grillo Originals

And the back:

From Grillo Originals

Actually, after looking at it, that's the inside back. The straps are folded into themselves before they were attached so they can easily be let out as she grows. And the back bodice was gathered to 30% of its length so that can be modified too in case she still wants to wear it when she gets a little bigger. It should fit for a long time. I used french seams to make the inside nice and self lined the front and back bodice.

Here's a closeup of the front:

From Grillo Originals

I hand couched that line of faux pearls on. When I showed DH my handiwork and told him "I did it by hand!" he gave me an unenthusiastic "I can tell..." Oh well. And he wonders why he doesn't get more clothing made for him! Ha!