Thursday, May 2, 2013

KNOCK it OFF!!! Flower Girl Dresses

Hi all! I am so excited to be asked to participate in the "Knock It Off" series over at Elegance & Elephants. I have been a super fan of Heidi's since her days of partcipating in Project Run and Play!

I often "Knock Off" cute outfits for my kids that I can't afford but for this post, the outfit I copied was chosen for me. My brother-in-law is getting married in July and since the flower girls are going to be my children I offered to make the dresses and save myself a little cash. The future bride emailed me the photo of the dresses she wanted and I got to work....

 
The dress is found here at GirlsDressLine.com. The uniqueness of this dress lies in the bow-like pick-up pleats and the bubble hem.
 
 
The bodice is really basic so I found a pattern to that had a similar style. I used McCall's sewing pattern M6496, option A.
 
 
For the skirt I made a circle skirt using the measurements and portions from Dana at MADE's tutorial. I increased the length by 5 inches- 1.5" for each pleat (2 per column) and 2" extra inches for the bubble hem. I also made a lining from this pattern but 5 inches shorter.
After sewing the sides of the skirt and the lining attach them to each other by sewing around the bottom (when right sides are together) then turn it inside out, making the bubble hem.
 
 
For each of the pleats I pulled up about .25" of fabric 3 times, offsetting them by making each one slightly lower, resulting in a bow like pleat. I then hand stitched each one to the lining.
 
 
I offset the pleats in this pattern:       X          X          X
                                                                        X           X         X
                                                                   X          X          X 
 
 
I thought that the dress needed some interest on the back of the dress, to be seen as the girls walk down the aisle, so I made an over sized bow with a long tail.
 
 
But of course I didn't just make one dress.... I had to make two!
 
 
The second one came together quickly since I had already found the solutions to all the problems I had with the first one (the first skirt I made was way too short and the petticoat hung out below the dress by about 2 inches!)
 


Thanks so much for having me, Heidi.  I'm so glad I was able to join in on this series and I got two items checked off my to-do list!
~Jessica

 
 

14 comments:

  1. great job - I bet you have just made one very happy bride and two very happy little girls

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  2. Wow your dresses are beautiful! I am sure they made the little girls feel so special!

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  3. So impressive! Love the flower girl dresses, and they look so adorable in them. Love the step-by-step, you make it look so easy.
    ~Monica

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  4. Simply beautiful dresses, this give me inspiration how to make party dress. Thank you for sharing :)

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  5. WOW, they are absolutely gorgeous. My first time to your blog. You have 'mad skills.'

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  6. Thanks for the tutorial. I will have to try this very soon. I don't know anyone who is getting married but I am sure I can find an occasion to make it for!

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  7. What great dresses! I've always wanted to attempt a skirt like those, so it's good to know!

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  8. I am so impressed. No pattern but you figured it out. I hope the bride-to-be (as well as the two flower girls) is pleased with the results. You nailed it. Wish I had an excuse to use the technique.

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  9. I have a question. Do you put anything inside the dress to get a good bubbling out effect or does it happen naturally because of the way it is sewn? I want to make this dress for my daughter for her Christmas dress.

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    1. No, there is nothing in between the outer fabric in the inside lining fabric. However the dresses are made so big because the girls are wearing petticoats underneath. I made their petticoats using this tutorial: http://littlebitsofbliss.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-make-pettiskirt.html. But you can buy one just about anywhere if you don't want to make one.

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  10. This dress really nice. just want to know did you make small pleats from the face side of the fabric. and did you draw any squares for each pleats from the ruler before make pleats pls..? thanks Harini

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