Frozen Dresses Part 2

I decided to start with Anna's cape. I thought it would be a good way to ease into both of these projects. If she wants to Tristyn can wear the cape by itself.

I was right. It was a very easy project. I did the whole thing in an afternoon.

Here are the pieces all cut out and ready to sew.

The pattern called for ball fringe to put around the cape overlay. I couldn't find a ball fringe that went with the fabrics. But I did find this cute trim. It looked like it might be hard to sew in place so I decided to apply some fusible web to the back to help it stick to the fabric.

The project has several pieces that are fused to the cape fabric. Since most of the fabrics are felt I wasn't worried that they would fray. However, since it is for a little girl who loves to wear all of her princess dresses, I think it will probably get washed. So I decided to just do a straight stitch close to the edge of those pieces. I also decided to do a straight line of stitching on each side of the fusible on the trim after I fused it in place.

I'm happy with how the cape turned out. 

Next comes the dress. It will be at least a few days before I have a chance to get to that. Until I get an electrician into my studio to get some canned lights I can only work during the day. And life will be getting in the way of play during the day for the rest of the week.

Happy Sewing,

Carol

Pillowcases for My Granddaughter

When we were at a show last spring I saw a fleece panel with a dog on it. It is a little bigger than crib size. Since my granddaughter, Tristyn loves dogs, I bought it and gave it to her for Easter. Since that night, it has been the "sheet" in her crib. Her mom and dad have to make sure that they wash and dry it around nap and bedtime because she won't sleep without her dog.

She turns 2 years old today. It is time for her big girl bed. My daughter asked me if I'd make her a pillowcase. Since the dog is made out of fleece, my daughter thinks that if her pillowcase is made of fleece it will be like her dog, soft against her face.

I found several options when I was in Hobby Lobby recently. I asked my daughter what to get. There was Elmo who is Tristyn's favorite (see my post about the Elmo outfit I made for her birthday party), pretty colors and Disney Princesses. Trystyn picked the princesses. Her favorite is Sleeping Beauty and the fleece I found had her as one of the princesses, but she was featured at the fold and close to the selvages. In order to get the most Sleeping Beauty I had to fussy cut the panel. I did that and realized that I would only get one pillowcase from a yard of fabric. Of course when I went back to get more, they were sold out. That meant I had to come up with another plan. I bought some purple fabric and figured if I had to, I'd make it two sided -princesses on one side and solid purple on the other.

I went to another store to try and find the same fabric. But all I could find was a similar one in pink. So I bought 2 yards of that (learning from the first one that I would have to fussy cut this fabric too). I ended up making two pillowcases. One is all pink princess fabric. Again making the most of the Sleeping Beauty parts of the fabric. Then I did the double sided princess and purple pillowcase. The hope is that she will like both of them and will want to use both. That would definitely make things easier for her mom and dad because they will be able to wash one and put the other on the pillow. We'll see what happens when she starts sleeping in her big girl bed. The dog will still be there. He is going to be her top blanket. Here are her finished pillowcases.

Back of the Purple Princess Pillowcase

These are just simple rectangles of fabric sewn around three sides and hemmed at the opening. That's all my daughter wanted. They are nothing fancy but I think Tristyn will like them.

Happy Sewing,

Carol