Pretty Princess Sew Along – getting started

Hi All!  I’ve worked ahead on this and already made my Alice Dress for my girl.  And let me tell you, it’s adorable and she’s adorable in it!  You will definitely want to make this one.

Some details for the sew along if you haven’t been following along already.  We’re going to work our way through the princesses and characters using a single pattern…Simplicity 2377.  You pick this up online or anywhere that sells Simplicity patterns.  This is a beginner dress with no closures (zippers, buttons, etc) but rather uses elastic.  Which I love because that makes it super simple for little girls to put on themselves!

If you want to share about the sew along or have a blog, I’ve made some blog buttons in a couple of sizes that you can grab for your own blog.

Blog Button 150 x 150

<div align="center"><a href="http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com/" title="Cut To Pieces"><img src="http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s316/pingpong4614/prettyprincesssewalong_150x150_zps2d0ee81e.jpg" alt="Cut To Pieces" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

 

Blog Button 350 x 350

<div align="center"><a href="http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com/" title="Cut To Pieces"><img src="http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s316/pingpong4614/prettyprincesssewalong_350x350_zps2ad795e4.jpg" alt="Cut To Pieces" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

 

I’ve also created a Flickr group where we can share our dresses and sweet princesses who love them.

We’re starting off with Alice and we’ll make a dress every month or every other month.  It kind of depends on how much time I have frankly.  Although I’m already restraining from working on the next two dresses…eep!  I’m so excited about them.

To make the Alice dress there are some basic and particular supplies you will need. We are making version A with some modifications.

1. The main dress Fabric:  You will naturally want this to be a blue fabric of some sort.  I’m really trying to sew from my stash so you’ll probably see these dresses mainly made from what I have on hand.  Thus, I chose this darling aqua polka dot fabric.  You will want the amount of fabric required for Dress A.

2. White Fabric for “pinafore”:  I managed to get by with a fat quarter but I’m making the smallest size I believe.  So in general you might want 1/2 yard per dress.  We’ll be making an apron skirt and cutting the front bodice piece from the white fabric.  Also if you want to make fabric ties, you will want to follow the pattern instructions for how much to buy for that. (I made ribbon ties, but this is a perfect dress for fabric ties!)

3. Eyelet Trim:  I would estimate at least 3 yards per dress.  You will be putting the trim around the entire hem of the dress and around the shoulders and back neckline.  Feel free to do your own measurements.  I just used a moderately sized trim…not the largest, not the smallest.

4.  Matching blue gross grain ribbon for small bow:  I bought a small spool of 3/8″ wide ribbon or so.  But anything will work!

5. Red Heart Buttons:  these look super cute if you can find them and I bet you can.  Red heart buttons aren’t too difficult to find.  I bought mine at Hancock fabrics if you are looking for these exact ones.  These are purely decorative just FYI.

6. Matching Blue Embroidery Floss and Needle (and small hoop if desired):  I couldn’t do an Alice dress and not include the white rabbit.  So I did a little embroidery that I will share later.  But if you are picking up supplies, you might want to grab these too.  Again, I just used some bits that I had on hand.

7. Ribbon for tie at waist:  I chose not to make the fabric ties as the pattern shows but rather used a large width ribbon…it’s a faster trick for those who can’t be troubled to make the fabric ones (like me!).   One spool is plenty.

8.  Completing the look:  not part of the dress, but perhaps part of the costume:  White tights, black mary janes, and a black ribbon or elastic head band.  I’ve got some fold over black elastic on order for this that I found on Etsy.

And if you haven’t done garment sewing before, you’ll need to know that typically you will want thread to match your fabrics.  So grab some matching blue thread and some white thread.  And you’ll be all set to go!

Here’s a little preview of the finished product.  My kitty looks like she is trying to catch that white rabbit!