Flower Girl dress that nearly killed me!

[MissEmmy]

Full disclosure, this little girl is now in her late 40's.  I made this dress for my sister's wedding in Houston.  It was a Gunny Sack pattern which I altered somewhat, making two layers, and measuring to fit my daughter's torso (when I really had no idea how to customize a pattern).  Yet, somehow it came out OK.

There were so many yards of ruffle and ribbon... I thought it would kill me.  It almost did!  I made up strategies on my own (which are probably quite standard), like sewing that satin ribbon to the wrong side of the ruffle and then folding it over to make the hem.  I seem to remember there were 45 yards of ribbon and ruffle altogether

When I say this dress nearly killed me, I'm kind of not kidding!  I remember being at a craft store buying kits to make the flowers for her hair (and on my neck), and being so faint I actually got down on my knees at the counter to write the check.

The plan had been to make my own dress also, but I had nothing left.  I scoured Sacramento malls and found this dress on clearance in the basement of Nordstroms!  (Proving there is a god!)

This little girl was obsessed with this dress, and kept getting it out and wearing it even when she was older and it was much too small.  A lot of dancing, and twirling, and eventual snagging ensued.  It is now just a battered remnant of its former glory, but she still has it packed away and treasures it.

[Bumblebuncher]

How lovely and she looks so happy in it 
I nearly killed myself making bridesmaids dresses for DD1's wedding! Well it was four full net petticoats 50's style which took months with all the layers 
The difference is that two of the bridesmaids hated them (including DD2) and has never forgiven me or her sister for making her wear such an awful thing  I thought she looked good in it 
Yours looks much more wearable and no wonder she loved it so much.

[MissEmmy]

How lovely and she looks so happy in it 
I nearly killed myself making bridesmaids dresses for DD1's wedding! Well it was four full net petticoats 50's style which took months with all the layers 
The difference is that two of the bridesmaids hated them (including DD2) and has never forgiven me or her sister for making her wear such an awful thing  I thought she looked good in it 
Yours looks much more wearable and no wonder she loved it so much.

Thank you, you're very kind to say so!  (I have to say that I did not sew for many years after this experience... I think until she reached high school!)

And, BTW, this was done on the bottom of the line Kenmore sewing machine, purchased late 70's.  Replaced with my Baby Lock about 30 years ago.

[Iminei]

What fascinating pictures! Brings back the eighties to a tee (for me at least)

Your daughter (?) looks chuffed to ninepence as they say somewhere oop North here in the UK, but I particularly like the delicacy of her hands and her painted nails and the flowered ribbons in her hair ... She must have felt very grown up indeed !

I think you bagged yourself a real bargain with your elegant dress too.

[Celia]

What lovely photos, at least your daughter treasured the dress.

[Surest1tch]

What a lovely dress and beautiful little girl.
I won't touch frilly stuff like that, just thinking about it's enough to give me an attack of the vapours  . You did a superb job and I'm so glad your daughter appreciated it and still does.

[MissEmmy]

What fascinating pictures! Brings back the eighties to a tee (for me at least)

Your daughter (?) looks chuffed to ninepence as they say somewhere oop North here in the UK, but I particularly like the delicacy of her hands and her painted nails and the flowered ribbons in her hair ... She must have felt very grown up indeed !

I think you bagged yourself a real bargain with your elegant dress too.

Well, she was quite full of herself in that dress, I have to say.  That dress from Nordstrom's was an incredible bargain... I think it was something like $12!!!

[MissEmmy]

What a lovely dress and beautiful little girl.
I won't touch frilly stuff like that, just thinking about it's enough to give me an attack of the vapours  . You did a superb job and I'm so glad your daughter appreciated it and still does.

Oh thank you!  I think I had no idea that the sheer stuff would be a problem to sew, and it's probably a miracle it didn't clog up on that machine.  I think I probably knew little about changing needles and feet... maybe even tension.  So, probably an angel on my shoulder helping!

[MissEmmy]

What lovely photos, at least your daughter treasured the dress.

She totally did(does).  At this point, I'd kind of like for her to get it out so I could look at what all I did way back then! 

[MissEmmy]

How lovely and she looks so happy in it 
I nearly killed myself making bridesmaids dresses for DD1's wedding! Well it was four full net petticoats 50's style which took months with all the layers 
The difference is that two of the bridesmaids hated them (including DD2) and has never forgiven me or her sister for making her wear such an awful thing  I thought she looked good in it 
Yours looks much more wearable and no wonder she loved it so much.

@Bumblebuncher, I just wanted to add that I don't know what I would have done if after all of that work my daughter would have hated the dress, or refused to wear it (little girls that age can be terribly stubborn)!  So I feel for you that after all of the terribly hard work you went to some people had such a negative response to wearing your dresses!

[Bumblebuncher]

@MissEmmy Fortunately she was 19 at the time and just wore it because it was the dress her sister wanted with no comment whatsoever  It was a couple of years after that she let me know how much she hated it and she never EVER wanted to wear anything so horrible ever again 
We all rolled our eyes at her because she had the option of wearing a 50's pencil skirt style which she would have preferred but went with what her sister wanted.  I would have preferred it too as I would not have had to make five of those bloomin' things!
We all do the strangest things for those that we love don't we?

[MissEmmy]

@MissEmmy
We all do the strangest things for those that we love don't we?

We do!
(as Madeline Kahn said in Blazing Saddles:  "It's TWOO!  It's TWOO!" ... although in a completely different context! )

[BrendaP]

Lovely photos. 

The stripes and frills remind me of dresses I made for my twins when they were small, not as elaborate or so many frills but c1980 these were their party dresses.  I also made the short sleeve version from floral printed poly cotton.  These were poly satin!
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[Bumblebuncher]

@BrendaP They look adorable.
Whatever happened to cute lil girl dresses?  DD1 used to love dresses and one time I hand sewed her a party dress as I had no money and no machine. She adored it.  DD2 was always a dungaree type of girl.

[HenriettaMaria]

@BrendaP You've just reminded me of a frock I had when I was 13 or 14 that was of a similar style.  Pale yellow small (circa 5mm) gingham check, puffy short sleeves gathered onto a band, frills running down the seams either side of the front panel, collar of some sort, belt that was stitched into the seams with the frills that tied at the back, flared skirt.  I wore it to the Xmas non-uniform day at school and thought myself very smart.  This was December, in Scotland, on a, geologically speaking, raised beach with nothing beween us and Scandinavia, in a school that was brand-new that year but that has now been largely rebuilt for being so difficult to heat, but I don't remember feeling cold.  Youth, eh?