Snow White Sleeves Tutorial

I had a few requests to share how I made the sleeves on Delilah's Snow White Dress. I'm happy to try and oblige! I used the Oliver and S Puppet Show Dress pattern. My method for the pleated sleeves could be used for really any pattern with a similiar sleeve.

Before we get started, here's a few more pics of my little girl wearing her dress. Here she is, SO happy giving Princess Ariel a hug.

And here's one of Delilah and I posing in front of Cinderella's castle.

Ok! Off with the tutorial!

I started off with strips of fabric in blue and red. The red strips were 2' wide, and the blue strips were 3' wide. I sewed them together. I eyeballed the pattern piece and made the strips several inches longer just to give myself some play room.

I used 3 red strips for each sleeve, with two blue strips. I then added wider blue strips to the outer edges. The center red strip will become the center pleat on the sleeve.

Each seam was ironed flat, then I folded the red fabric over itself to form pleats. So the inside of each pleat is all red. the blue all remains on the outside. They didn't meet exactly in the middle, I wanted the red to peek out a bit even when folded flat. I pinned it and ironed it flat.

The next step was to lay the pattern piece down on the pleated fabric. The center line of the sleeve piece was aligned to the center of the pleated fabric. I drew around the pattern with a fabric marker.

The next step was to sew a stay stitch line, just inside the fabric marker line, to keep the sleeve piece stable for cutting and to make it easier to work with.

From here I just followed the pattern directions. I cut out the sleeve, and inserted it in the dress. The pleats were perfect!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out this tutorial.

Cheers,

Janimal

Delilah Wears Her Snow White Dress AND I'M PREGNANT!

Hello all! It has been a little while since my last post. Lately I have been really really really tired and haven't done much creative at all. Although I have been making something -- I AM PREGNANT! I may have mentioned before that getting pregnant for me isn't an easy task, but thanks to some talented doctors, we are expecting our next arrival 11/1/11.

Despite the pregnancy exhaustion, we decided to take a little family vacation to DisneyWorld.

Delilah got to wear the Snow White dress I made her to meet Snow White herself! Check it out:

Just walking around the park made Delilah so happy. Here she is in her Snow White dress again. Do you notice the spilled water down the front of the dress? Smart way to keep cool in the heat, actually!

It was SO completely adorable watching Delilah's reaction to the characters she met! We have TONS of pictures that I think will make a lovely picture book to hold some memories for Delilah to look back on. Here is one pic I really love of Delilah and Sleeping Beauty.

I can't even explain how wonderful it was to experience DisneyWorld through the eyes of my little one. I lived in FL for years and went to Disney many times, but going with Delilah was BY FAR the best experience there ever. It was truly magical. Awwwwww.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to get some energy back now I'm in my 2nd trimester so I can share some creative things - but please forgive me if I'm not posting again soon.

Take care,

Janimal

Puppet Show Dress by Oliver & S

Hello! Hello!

I am so happy to show off one of my favorite dresses I have ever made! We recently decided to plan a trip to DisneyWorld for our beautiful Delilah. Although we limit her TV time, she has a definite passion for Disney films featuring the iconic Disney Princesses. We're pretty sure seeing some of the princesses "live" at DisneyWorld will blow our little girl's mind!

So for the occasion - I am preparing her wardrobe. Check out her new Disney Princess dress...can you guess who inspired it?!?



Snow White of course!

This pretty dress buttons up nicely in the back:



When I decided to make Delilah a Snow White Dress, I bought a costume pattern. Upon further reflection, I opted NOT to use an actual Snow White pattern. I didn't want her outfit to be a "costume", I wanted it to be a dress. Not a long flowing gown (called for in the pattern) but a dress she could move and groove in. Not something to be used for dress up over clothing, but an actual garment of clothing, with proper closures and neat finished hems. So I referred to my favorite childrens clothing pattern designer -- Oliver and S.

This dress is the Puppet Show Dress. I was a bit intimidated as this was a 3 scissor pattern! (O&S ranks the difficulty of their patterns with a 4 scissor rating scale). But honestly, it wasn't scary at all and I am SO pleased with the result. And even better, Delilah loves it too.

I did make my own adjustments to add the red pleats on the sleeves.

Now off to plan more outfits for our trip!

(You know, we like this dress so much, D might just wear it BEFORE the trip. I'll share pictures!)

Thanks for stopping by, Janimal