New Dress... (with pictures)

[Skittl1321]

This is my second AG dress. I am not sure which doll's period it fits the best. Any ideas? I do love it on Samantha, but I don't think she would have worn short sleeves... maybe it just doesn't matter.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...0560277&idx=23

I did stay away from plaids, although the materials for this are also s*c#r*a#p*s from old projects. When going through my stash I noticed the majority of things were patterned, of course. This red was for a binder cover 6 years ago, and the lace on it was from a remnent bag I picked up about 3 years ago. They match so well.

I am really enjoying sewing for my dolls, and will probably make another dress out of the leftover purple fabrics from my quilt/Felicity's dress.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ September 22, 2005 09:12 PM: Message edited by: Skittl1321 ]</font>

[heidiabigail]

I would love to see what Josefina would look like in that dress!!!

[Skittl1321]

Ask and ye shall recieve. She looks great in it! I would have never thought to put her in it without the suggestion.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...0560277&idx=27

Unfortunately, I managed to snap the elastic on one of the sleeves while taking it off of Samantha, so please ignore the ungathered arm. I will have to fix it. (Grrr... I had thought I'd done a good job.)

[lorak79]

that looks soooo cute!!! I love it on josephina! it looks great on sam too [img]smile.gif[/img] good job. [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

[AG DRESS DESIGNER]

The dress is very pretty. You did a great job sewing it. Josefina might very well have worn a dress like this. You are ready to go fabric shopping now! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

[Peachysweetdream]

Great job! The dress looks lovely... and I agree with the posts above, it is perfect on Josefina. The cut and color just work with her. Congrats! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

[dornroeschen]

Lovely dress! The color and style suit Josefina very well. Great job!

[AngieGill]

VERY pretty!! It is perfect for your Josephina! I try to avoid plaids too.. they are boogers to work with, hu? LOL!
Angie

[Sakurako]

Actually, Sam might have worn this style to an evening event, where a long skirt would be appropriate. Maybe to a performance of the Nutcracker, with Grandmary? Or the opera?

I think you've been thoroughly bitten by the bug, now. One of the best things about sewing for American Girl dolls is that they are large enough so you don't get your fingers stuck in the seams but small enough so you can use small pieces of fabric. Allow me to suggest that patchwork piecing would be stunning on a bodice. You would have an entirely different dress if you used the same pattern and did a patchwork design on the front and back bodice pieces, with the sleeves matching the skirt in either one of the patchwork fabrics or a complementary color. Also, since you understand piecing techniques, consider that any fold line on a bodice front, for example, can be turned into a seam line. So s*c*r*a*ps that are too small to make a full bodice front can possibly be seamed together to get a big enough piece.

I wanted to show Lindy (AG Dress Designer) some really unusual hand-screened fabric that I used to buy in remnant bags. (The whole panel cost $50 but you could get bags of leftovers at 4 for $12). I made Kirsten's pinafore apron for her but, alas, in order to get the full sunburst design across the top front of the apron, I had to sew two too-small pieces together and the seam was off-center! I won't say it came out perfectly but from a distance, you see the design before you notice the seam.

You can cheat in a number of ways. I mentioned in a post on the first dress you made that you need at least a 20 inch remnant to make a skirt for an AG. Well, I actually got a very short sleeved blouse out of that remnant, too. I used a short bodice pattern from a dress and the narrowest short sleeve pattern I could find. Seam up the center front. Front and back bodice pieces cut on the correct grain line in the section of fabric left between the edge of the skirt pattern and the selvedges. Sleeves laid out at 90 degrees across the grain in the same tiny leftover section. Skirt waistband cut above the skirt but you only need one waistband so I used what was left over on the second layer of fabric under the waistband to extend the length of the bodice. Basically the blouse went together like Kirsten's meet dress, with the front and back bodice banded by a waistband, only I didn't gather the bodice into the waistband. (Gather what? I scarcely had seam allowances!) To make a nice finish on the bottom of the blouse while also adding a bit more length, I finished the lower edge of the extension with extra wide bias tape. I used ribbon and lace trim around the square neckline to draw attention away from the center front seam and all the rest of the piecing was hidden under the skirt. So for under $5, I have a pretty Josefina-looking outfit and a huge sense of having gotten something for nothing!

Good job on this pretty red dress. I really like it.

Edited to replace the 5 letter word for small piece of fabric, which got censored.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ September 23, 2005 10:54 AM: Message edited by: Sakurako ]</font>

[AG DRESS DESIGNER]

Here is a link to pictures of the dress Cherry made for me from piecing. It is adorable. Maybe this will bring up the pics.







<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ September 23, 2005 12:40 PM: Message edited by: AG Dress Designer ]</font>