A Not Too Dressy, Dressy Dress

I made this dress for Melody to wear at my my cousin's wedding back in March. Lots of family, lots of hugs, a beautiful wedding. I wanted something dressy, but not too 'Eastery'. Which is funny, since she ended up wearing it on Easter. Whatevs.

And even more whatevs is that it was TOO dressed up for our casual Easter Sunday, followed by emergency appendectomy (me not Melo :). But had to get one more wearing out of it!

I used Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush Viole. I've yet to meet a fabric from her collections that I don't like. A little see through for skirts and dresses, but tops are ok without having to line them.

I used tulle to give this dress some poof!

My favorite part actually is the back. It's very fitted, and I used fabric covered buttons for the back closer. Hard to see in this pic.

Her shoes matched perfectly, too bad she only got to wear them 2 times :-( Girl is starting to get more shoes than me!

I love this pic :-)

I Learned It From My Mama!

Everytime I make a cut, or run anything through my sewing machine, I'm learning something new. My mom and friend En both taught me the basics in college, and from then on I've been pretty much self taught. Still trying to get through this stack of books however!

Remember this Dress?

More pics Here

Well, I used a new gathering technique that worked wonders with all the layers of lining and Tulle I used.

There are many techniques for gathering for a ruffle. You can use your machine if it's set right, there is a 'gathering foot', you can do a long stitch, and pray it doesn't break when you pull the thread, which it usually does, yet this is the technique I normally use.

Not Anymore! All you need is a little DENTAL FLOSS!


Yep, just do a zig zag stitch over the thread, set at the longest setting.

Worked like a charm. Need to invest in some unscented floss though. Melody smelled a bit minty when she wore her dress the first time!

Thanks MOM for this tip!