Pretty in Pink

Having a creative outlet is a necessity for me and I've chosen hobbies that give me plenty of opportunity for creative expression. I love putting patterns, fabric, and color together to make what I hope will be a satisfying creation that is pleasing to the eye yet also practical, a nod to my hard-working German heritage. In an earlier post I wrote about making girls dresses that were sent to my great-nieces in Texas to try out and report back. Here they are, so cute in their new dresses:

Ellen and Ava in their new dresses

Only a few comments were made such as making the straps adjustable (actually, it wasn't a suggestion but I figured out a way to remedy Ava's too long straps) and to make the purse handles long for over-the-shoulder style of straps. They washed well and, hopefully, required no ironing. Now I've had another opportunity to have a tester closer to home. My friend, Anne, commented that one of her granddaughters asked for a dress that was pretty. Maybe I had one? I offered to make Addie a dress that was just her size and as pretty as I could make it.

Checking out my fabric and dress patterns, I liked two pieces of pink: a pink cotton with small white flowers and a pink voile, very sheer but an exact match (to my eyes, at least). Simplicity 5580 caught my eye with a cute inset in the back of tiered ruffles. I decided that voile would be especially cute in the ruffles and back tie so I cut out a size 4 and added extra length since she was between and 4 and 5 and that usually means they are getting taller, not wider. It went together easily and I added the cotton eyelet lace edging down the front and neck edge just so it would be "pretty" with white buttons that looked like flowers.

Simplicity 5580 front

I held it up and declared it a success until I found out that back ruffled section was sheer, as in see-through. Oh no, we couldn't have a dress with a see through back!

 I went back and added a wedge of the pink print fabric that would provide the perfect shield.

Inside at the back with sewn in extra panel

This would have been easier if I had thought of it from the beginning but better late than never. Really, I doubt the dress would even have been worn with a peek-a-boo back!

Simplicity 5580 back

As per usual, I report on the sewing machine I used and this time it was my Viking #1 that traveled here from Michigan. It is so similar to the Viking 1100 I have used for the past three years that I can hardly tell the difference. When it came time to make the buttonholes I thought it would be a good time to practice using the memory feature. It took four practice buttonholes before I could get it to work like it should and another two trials on the dress before they worked perfectly.

If I made buttonholes all the time it would be easier but for a first time this took way too long. I have a project of about 40 hand towels that are going to need two large buttonholes so I think I'm either going to really learn how to use the memory feature or I'm going to use a different machine with the buttonhole attachment. Those attachments make the best buttonholes! I think I might just have to experiment with that and report back in another post. Ease of use? Finished look? Functionality?

Neckline with new labels!

Stay tuned for more adventures!