As usual I would like to thank all of you
for becoming my new followers.
And
please do not forget to find the giveaway
and leave a comment.
I thought that you might would like to
make this SIMPLE and CLASSY Pink Gown.
Here I show you how!
All of my designs are for personal use
only. They are not to be sold to anyone
or used otherwise without my permission.
So please have fun and make your dolls
some clothes - they are begging you!
Be sure to read all of the directions
before cutting or stitching just so you
understand it.
This is not hard!
All of my designs generally do not require
any patterns. I have many books but as
of yet have not utilized any of those
patterns in there except for one - and
that is a robe pattern. Some of my
dresses are made from this robe
pattern or made without patterns.
This pink dress is made from a
medium thick material which in its former
life was a napkin. If you make this from a thinner
material it will still be pretty but it will
not have the substance to it like the thick
napkin has. If you know
what I mean.
Matilda is my head witch
doll and as of yet she is not fixed.
I am waiting to find her an apartment
and then I will fix her so for the time
being Matilda is basically my model.
By the way she says hello!
Matilda is 6 inches high. I like my
dolls at all different heights
because in real life most of us are
different!
Many of our items are also
different so that's why on some things
I keep to scale and some things I don't.
Also I like my dolls to
be able to wear what I make.
This dress will hang in Daisy's
apartment but she will not be able to wear it
because Daisy is smaller in height but bigger
than my skinny dolls.
Daisy's new apartment is coming soon.
Meet Matilda
Take a medium thick napkin and I cut off the fringe
so if I want to use that fringe for something else
then I can.
This napkin could make perhaps 3 of these dresses
if you wanted to make that many.
Or you could make matching shawls or whatever.
Anyway I just cut it like so.
Once the fringe is gone then I measured my doll.
Matilda is skinny.
But you may find it necessary
to cut bigger or smaller.
See the napkin is folded and
I cut thru both layers all the way to the other end.
I kept pushing the ruler up and cut as straight as I
could.
You may choose to put it on a mat.
I am doing
this at my computer.
Here I measured the piece up to Matilda.
Too long!
So I need to cut it.
To cut - put the folded edge to
her feet or above her feet the choice is yours then
cut off any excess to midway or the bottom of her neck.
Here I show you with the ruler in inches how long
my piece is - which is about 5 inches to the fold. Fold
it back up and you have your front and back piece.
Like I said Matilda is skinny so I cut about 2 inches
width. And look I am not even worried about the
uneven edge because it will be hemmed.
Okay now do not stress cause you cut up
your best napkin!
To start stitching - put the 2 pieces together
and turn down the top a little and put the
needle thru like this as this will hide your
knot.
Then start sewing the 2 sides closed lengthways.
See photo's.
You can use the sewing machine if you
like but I choose to hand sew in case I
run into a problem and have to take it
off from the machine.
I just find it easier this way.
Do what is easier to you.
Sew all the way down and once you
get to the fold then just take your scissors
and cut it in the fold.
Then you have 2 even pieces.
Hey make sure they are even!
Stitch the bottom the same way that you
stitched the top. It should look like this. Now
stitch up the other side the same way!
This is the bottom of the dress.
For the hem you can either stitch it closed or glue it.
I just made
sure it was even and used small amounts of glue.
This medium thick fabric is so nice cause the glue does
not show thru to the outside.
Now lets go to the top.
It does not matter
which side you use for the back or the front
as at this point they both should be the same.
So pick which side you want.
You decide if you want
about an half inch to an inch down for your gathers.
From the top and from the inside stick your threaded
needle to the outside of the dress.
It will look like this from the top.
I have
gone down about an inch from the top edge.
From the bottom it will look like
this.
Now from where your needle is -
try to be as straight as you can and
stitch up to the edge and be sure to
turn under the edge for your hem as
I have done here.
See the knot inside and I don't think that
you can see what I did. But what I did was
to draw the thread tight to gather and be
careful not to break your thread or you
will have to do this again.
And it is
easy to break the thread on a thicker
fabric.
When you have gathered it up,
then knot it on the inside as I
have done here.
Now the dress has small gathers. This
fits Matilda nicely.
She loves to model the clothes I make!
This is the back of the dress.
Fits good and all is even.
Cut 2 pieces of ribbon or whatever
you choose about 2 inches in length.
You will cut off some of this but
it is better to have more than not
enough.
Place them evenly on either side
of the gathers and glue onto
the fronts and let it dry.
I am drying. Blow - blow!
Decide on the length and glue one down and then
make the other match.
Then blow again till dry!
I took the same ribbon and placed
it around the dress like this. Don't you just love
how I eyeball a lot of stuff.
Eventually it got too bulky so I cut off a 3 inch
piece of the ribbon and pinched
it together like this.
Once I was satisfied with making a waist for the
dress then I knew I had to cut off about an inch or
more - use my thumb as a guide.
Then hold on tight to the ribbon - do not let it
slip!
Remove the ribbon from the dress and do
not let go!
Now take that piece and add some
glue to hold it together.
Cut off any excess ribbon.
Repeat the blowing process till dry!
Now that the ribbon is dried - you did blow it dry
didn't you!
Slip the ribbon over the ribbon straps over
the top of the dress and inch it down carefully by
pinching the dress together.
You got the hang of it!
Until it looks like this.
You have to play
with the fabric now to get it to do as you want.
Even out the gathering as best
as you can.
I fix my gathers so they are
in the back of the dress.
Make them look pretty.
You can add
a ribbon bow or anything you
wish at this point to the waistband.
I chose to keep my dress simple.
So the back is plain just as you
see here.
In the front I still kept it
simple but I added a small
bead to the top of the dress
on the shoulder straps.
Matilda would love for you
to leave her a comment on how
well she modeled for you. And
if you liked this tutorial.
By the way you can
even make
yourself a gown like this to
match if you want to.
But you will
have to use lots of napkins!
But seriously, you could make
yourself a gown like this and also
out of the same thickness of fabric
and make your doll one too!
You would
both match and that would be so
cute!
Have a nice day and thanks for
stopping by to tease Matilda!
Conny
