Disney Princess Themed Doll Dresses

For Christmas I made some little friends of mine Disney-themed doll dresses, based on their favorite Disney princess. It was such a fun project, and my first sewing project in a long time that was my own idea and I could do whatever I wanted with it. ;) (I've come to the realization that I don't like custom orders because I have to make things according to how other people want them and can't play around with them and make them how I want; but with projects of my own invention, I can do whatever I want with them and be as creative or uncreative as I'd like. ;) It's so much easier. ;) )

The idea started with this dress, made several months ago, from leftover fabric from the bridesmaid dresses.

I thought then that the coloring reminded me of Cinderella, and then I decided to make several doll dresses based on my friends' favorite Disney princesses.

Michaela's favorite is Tiana.

For this dress, I used was the Heritage Wrap Top Dress (which I also used for the Cinderella dress and as a base for the Snow White dress). The main fabric is a greyish-green polyester shantung. (It looks greener in person; the camera captured too much of the light reflecting off of it.) A silky off-white fabric (like was used for the sashes on the bridesmaid dresses) forms an underskirt and the lining. I was going to put the flower on the side, like Tiana's, but ended up liking it better in the front like you see in the picture.



Kirsten's favorite is Ariel.

The Ariel dress is the most unique of the four because I used a completely different pattern for it. I used the Bunny Bear 1940s Sweetheart Dress pattern as a base, altering it so that it was sleeveless (and the back is a little different to accommodate the sundress look). The alterations were tricky, but I'm pleased with the result. The top is made from purple polyester shantung (from my Little Dorrit dress). I'm not sure what the skirt fabric is; I received it in a collection of scrap fabric. ;) The flower on the side is completely random because I thought the dress needed an extra something. ;)

Brianna's favorite is Cinderella.

Again, this is the first one I made.... if I had made it with Cinderella in mind, I might have done some things different with the pattern... but I still love the way it turned out. The fabric I used is cornflower blue satin, with an additional bit of silver ribbon across the waistband. I kept pretty much totally to the original pattern with this dress.

Ivy' favorite is Snow White.

This one was definitely the most stressful one to make because I had only one day to cut it out and sew the whole thing. (I hate deadlines. :P ) I also didn't have yellow fabric for the skirt, as I would have liked... but I still think it turned out cute. The dress is a silky blue fabric, trimmed with a yellow ribbon, and the sleeves are a thin, silky white fabric (again, similar to the sashes of the bridesmaid dresses) with red trim ribbon. I used the Heritage Wrap-Top Dress pattern again, but altered it to no longer be wrap-top, but to have a rounded neckline instead.

I have one more I'd like to make, for another little friend, but I don't know whether she reads this blog or not, so I won't say any more about it for now. ;)

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I might list these on Etsy as made-to-order items, as I wouldn't mind making more of them; however, I am starting college next week, and hopefully a job soon as well, so my sewing time will be greatly limited. I'm not even sure if I'll have time to sew at all, or if I'll want the pressure of extra deadlines . So... I don't know. I may or may not list them. :P But these were so much fun and I really would love to make more, of the same, and of the other Disney princesses/heroines, when I have time. :) They're so much fun! :D

P.S. I really should post, too, about the Regency gowns I made for the Christmas ball this December. I'm afraid I always forget to post here though because I have several different google accounts and this one kind of falls into the background of the other ones. :P Oh well. I should get to that this week before I start school. :P

Fall Fashion Challenge: Day 7

Fall Fashion Challenge
Day 7: Wear a hat

I don't own any hats...I rather take the quote from You've Got Mail as my opinion about hats: "I assume it was going to buy a hat which would turn out to be a mistake, as nearly all hats are." However, there are a few hats that I really do like...and fedoras make me feel positively gangsta. ;)

Blouse - Kohl's
Slacks - Kohl's
Jacket - Kohl's
Silver chain - JCPenney's
Earrings - Kohl's
Shoes - Target
Hat - Alex's :)

Fall Fashion Challenge: Day 4

Fall Fashion Challenge:
Day 4: Your Favorite Era

Another news flash - I don't really have any clothes from my favorite eras...HOWEVER - this year for Halloween I dressed as a hippie, and made some bell-bottom jeans for the outfit. So my decade for this day is...

The 1970s!
(with a bit of a modern flair :))
Blouse - Goodwill
Shawl-thing (I can't remember the real name :P) - Sears
Jeans - Goodwill, with bells added by me with fabric from JoAnn
Platforms - Mudd, from Goodwill

~Marianne
Jewelry - Kmart

Fall Fashion Challenge: Day 3

[Skipping Day 2 for the moment because I still need to find the pair of shoes for that outfit. :P]
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Fall Fashion Challenge
Day 3: Bold Tights

News flash: I don't own any bold tights at all. I don't even have any bold socks. :P So I just decided I would wear some bright colors - it is a summer outfit that works well on warm fall days.

Cami - JCPenney's
Blouse - thrift store ;)
Skirt - Christopher and Banks
Shoes - Target (P.S. These are my favorite shoes ever. :D)

Apologies about the grain in the pictures...for some reason, they just didn't turn out well this time. :P

Fall Fashion Challenge: Day 1

FALL FASHION CHALLENGE, hosted by Bramblewood Fashion!
Day 1: Whatever You Want
I chose one of my most favorite fall ensembles...

Mossimo black tee - Target
Apartment 9 sweater - Kohl's
Straight fit jeans - Fashion Bug
Sneakers - Target
Brown jewelry - Kmart

Seriously...if you have any trouble believing that this is one of my favorite things to wear, just ask Alex - I wear it at least twice a week. :P :D

~Marianne

Fall Fashion Week!

Fall Fashion Week

Hosted by Bramblewood Fashion

I, Marianne Dashwood, am making a return to the blogging world for this week of fun. :) Be sure to check out all the links on Bramblewood Fashion for more entries and ideas!

Mid-19th century doll dress

In case any of you were wondering, no, I haven't been doing a whole lot of sewing the last couple months. ;-) I took a break after my sister's wedding and the break ended up being a little longer than I was intending. This was due to a lot of factors... my grandma came to stay at our house due to her declining health, and passed away in August; I've been working towards starting college and had things like my ACT to take and fun stuff like that; we went and visited family and friends in another state for a couple weeks.... lots of things like that. Busy busy.

However, now that Christmas is coming, with school closely following, I've decided to get back to work on my sewing. I wrote out a page and a half of doll dress ideas, mostly movie costume remakes. :-) I also have some other large-scale projects coming up to get done before I start school in January, so I should be getting started on those soon too. Details yet to come.

Anyway, I thought I'd show you my most recent project. I started it a couple weeks ago, but ran out of thread and then life and busyness picked up and I didn't get around to finishing it until this last week.

The style was based on an absolutely fantastic specimen I stumbled across on [the world's most awesomest site] Pinterest.

I think this gown from 1844 is simply breathtaking. I would totally absolutely 100% wear this. :-) Unfortunately, historical costuming costs money I'm saving up for college, so the next best solution is to make it in doll size. :-)

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, except that the bodice ended up a little shorter than I would have preferred, and the skirt is fuller than I expected-- it seems to stick out more like a hoopskirt. I listed it as an 1850s dress instead of 1840s because I figured that was about right...? I could be wrong though... :-|

Anyway, this is now listed on my Etsy shop, which, by the way, I would like to change the name of, since I'm the only one who lists on there, and the products don't really have to do with the Dashwood sisters at all, but I would have to set up a whole new shop and transfer everything, come up with a new name, and confuse my Facebook fans... ;-) (and the rules about how many shops you can have are kind of confusing on Etsy, I've found). What do you think? Should I set up a new shop with a new name? Or is it fine as it is?

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully you will be seeing more of me now, though, as I have more sewing projects to keep me busy now. :-)

P.S. Question for [present or former] college students who sew: How did/do you keep up your sewing while in school/college? Or can you at all? :-P