Pages

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Princess Dress Hangers

I've been participating in the Project Run and Play sew-along. This weeks challenge was to make a formal or special occasion dress.  I thought long and hard about this and had made up my mind to sew a special princess dress for my granddaughters to use in their "Dress Up" area.  They love to dress up and put on special dance  performances for their Mom, Papa (Grandpa) , and Grandmother (me).


Yet, I have to admit that I was reluctant to begin... as visions of the mess they also create with their dresses danced in my head.
 I've tried "Boxes or trunks"..  yuck.
I purchased a cabinet to hang up the dresses in.... and they don't use the Velcro to button up the dress and it falls off the hanger onto the bottom of the cabinet.

So instead of sewing another dress, I put my creative thoughts into solving this problem and created...
Princess Dress Hangers.






It doesn't matter if the Velcro closure is shut

 or Open!
 Here is how you make them. Use a wire hanger that you receive from your dry cleaners.
 In the area where it starts to curve downward, grab a hold of the top and bottom layers. With the other hand grasp the end of the hanger.
 Pull the end upward, and bend the hanger so it looks like this.
 Now, bend the other side of the hanger.

Cut a piece of fleece 3 inches by 2 inches and fold. Sew along the bottom to form a tube.

 Slip the tube onto the end of the hanger. Then put the hanger and tube under your presser foot and tighten the tube by sewing the outward edge closer to the wire hanger.

 I sewed a long tube and then cut them into individual pieces, as I was making quite a few Princess dress  hangers.
 
This is what the hanger looks like when you are finished. Notice that I placed a tension rod in between two storage cabinets in the girls playroom area. The rod is placed so the long dresses are just off the floor.
I wanted the girls, ages 4 and 6 to be able to hang them up  themselves without my help.

 
I taught them how to put the dresses on the hangers.
 
Scoop one side and then scoop the other side!
 
The dress slips into the fleece valley and stays there.
 
SO... this is my creative formal dress idea.
 
Deborah
 
Also Linking up to :Train To Crazy's Linky Party

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Fat Quarter Dress

This week's challenge on Project Run and Play is "Details."


Deborah used the following details while creating this dress:
Distinctively unique embroidery 
 
Experimenting with fabric  
    For example, the applique work on this dress came from a pre-printed fabric panel. I cut out the individual designs that I wanted to add to my dress adding a 1/8 inch margin all around the design. Next, I finger pressed the 1/8 inch margin under and basted it in place. After placing it in position on the dress, I hand stitched it to the dress.

Basic sewing skills that I am always striving to improve.
 This outfit features  applied ribbon on each seam. I tried a new technique using 1/4" fusible webbing to temporarily hold it into place until it was topstitched. This resulted in smoothly applied ribbon, and it also made it so much easier!
 
Oh, how I love choosing colors and patterns that work together.
       This dress combines 4 different colored fat quarters, and a fabric panel. The turquoise fabric was actually considered a "Christmas fabric" of a stylized snowball, but I thought it blended well and was in the 40% off stack. Turquoise is a wonderful color that makes a big splash.  Since you see turquoise used a lot in current fashions, I was able to find  cute turquoise shoes to complement Miss C's dress. 
 
Resourceful- whether I am using new or recycled materials.
      Here I used the reverse side of the ribbon, because it was the perfect color!
 Don't forget to check out the reverse side of the ribbon. One time I used both sides of a  ribbon in a single garment to give it a unique look.



Appliqued heart shapes provided the inspiration for the heart shaped buttons down the back of the dress. Repeating a pattern creates a flow in the design.

Happiest when my sewing creations bring joy to others.
     I love creating and individualizing designs for the people I sew for in my life. Miss C likes bright colors, AND my daughter challenged me to use more vibrant color combinations. I have a tendency to use pink, pastels, and small prints.

    Using the fat quarters gave me just the push I needed to experiment with vibrant colors.
I used the pattern,
 "Olivia's Best Dress"
 by Emily Taylor.


I hope you enjoyed my dress. 

P.S.  I love when you leave comments, because it  makes me feel like I am  connecting with another person that loves sewing like  I do :)


Deborah


 
 









L.  




Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...