Wednesday 26 November 2014

Frozen Inspired Dress 2


Frozen dress number 2! This one is based very much on the other nightgown design I used before - if there's an easy way to make something, especially a way I've done before, then that's fine with me!

So I started out with the same basic fabric pieces cut out, from a white sheet again...


And I had a paler blue, old voile curtain to add the frozen feel to this one...


My plan was something like this...


Only with pale blue sleeves and a cloak too. But at this point I decided it really needed something a bit more on the top. So I started playing around a bit with it.



I hemmed the front pieces...


Ironed a small hem over to the back and sewed it all down, except for the already hemmed, crossover section.



I decided it didn't need anything extra on the back, since the cloak would be covering it. There was already a hem along the bottom of the curtain so I used this as the bottom of the cloak and cut out a rectangle wide enough to gather nicely and the length I wanted.



I gathered it along as I went and sewed it to the top of the back top piece.



And then sewed these 2 pieces, right sides together.



Then for the sleeves, I cut them to the shape of my, now revealed, arm hole, but with extra for gathering.



And gathered them as I sewed them on, right sides together.




I then sewed from the tip of the sleeve right along and then down to the bottom of the top section, right sides together. So the top was all taking shape now.



Next the skirt. I wanted the pale blue fabric to wrap around freely and open in the middle at the front. So first off, I sewed the 2 white pieces down the sides, right sides together. I love being able to make use of already existing features when I'm upcycling - like pre-existing hems, the sides are both already handily hemmed for me here, and it also seemed sensible here to make use of the gathers which were lovely and even from the curtain tab at the top.


So I kept the tab on there initially and positioned the white sewn skirt just below it, as in the picture above, and sewed along below the tab to join the blue and white pieces.


So here it is sewn...


I then chopped off that tab which had served its purpose...


And at this point I did my usual trick of not taking any more photos! Maybe one day I'll manage to remember my weakness here! But, as always, from here on in is quite straightforward. 

Gather and pin the skirt to the top of the dress, right sides together of course, keeping the cloak out of the way and positioning the middle of the skirt with the centre of the top. Once you're happy with the gathers, sew it securely. And sew on a ribbon across the join, I found a lovely snowflakey ribbon.

Elasticate the sleeves, as in dress version 1. Hem the bottom - both blue and white. 

And then I used some white ribbon to 'bind' the neckline. I cut an opening in the back first, through both the cloak and the white top piece, and used the ribbon to bind both of these separately. And then added an elastic tie and button closure.

The darker blue fabric you can see in this photo is actually Maria's dress which is on the same hanger!


That's it for the basic dress, but I also hand sewed one of the silver, sequin snowflakes on to the centre of the top. And, mainly because there were a couple of tiny stains on the blue fabric, I sewed a few small white snowflake decorations on to the skirt too.



You can see some of the white snowflake decorations here.

 
So two Frozen type dresses, made almost entirely with upcycled fabric, and made fairly quickly and easily. That makes me happy, especially as it's two more very important presents ticked off with these two dresses!

And on a side note, after I hit the 'publish' button last night, climbed down from my soap box and into bed, I worried that what I had written yesterday might have come across that I was denying the existence of mental illness and the fact that it is a medical condition, or in some way poo poohing it. In fact the very opposite is true, which is why I feel so strongly about the subject. I think mental illness, particularly depression, is one of the biggest, under appreciated issues we have to deal with in public health in the developed world. We're seeing this already, and I worry that it will be worse for my children's generation, and their children. I know it's not just a matter of telling someone who suffers from depression to 'pull themselves together' or words to that effect, and that there is often a need for prescribed drugs to treat the condition medically. And that there are going to be extremes of clinical depression where 'choice' isn't an option in any way. But I believe, for the vast majority of us, there is so much we can do to help ourselves; to help ourselves avoid periods of depression in the first place and to help make the best of it and minimise it's effects, whether or not prescribed drugs are also required. And I feel passionately that we should be giving our children the 'tools' and the know-how to try and look after their mental health throughout their lives, I think this is something schools should be far more proactive with. And as someone heavily involved with the two local schools my children attend it's something I've pushed for, but writing this I'm thinking I should be pushing more there! So I'll stop going on about it here, stick to the crafting in this space and start trying harder to get our two schools to do even more! Money where the mouth is again!

Sally.

8 comments:

  1. It looks just lovely Sally. You are going to have two very happy little girls at Christmas.

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  2. Just lovely... both dresses are so different yet so complimentary. I can't wait to see pictures! xo

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  3. It looks awesome! You know the outfits that will get worn all of Christmas now don't you!! As for what you wrote yesterday - I only read it today but it was well written and well thought out. It's your blog and you should write on here what's important to you and how you see things. Also I happen to agree we you lol

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  4. Hope one of those is for me!!!!!!!!!x Shell

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  5. Both dresses are fabulous, and I am glad to hear you were feeling good enough to work on the second one!

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  6. Mindfulness in school for sure!

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  7. Oh that's gorgeous too - I love the cloak effect! And I thought your last post was beautifully put, I thought you made it very clear that you weren't suggesting that you could think yourself out of depression and I agree that supporting your mental health is as important a lesson for our little ones as knowing how to keep healthy :)

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