Happy Halloween: 1881 Bonnie

Bonnie got a lot of mileage out of her Halloween costume this year.  Her 4th grade class got to visit a one room schoolhouse in Waterford, VA this month.  I made her costume because of course I am obsessed that way.  She was able to wear the costume to several Halloween parties and will wear it tonight. 

The dress is silk taffeta that I have had in my stash forever.  I think I got it at Fashion Fabrics at least 8 or 9 years ago.  I underlined it in muslin to give it some body.  I used Simplicity 3725 view A.  I omitted the stand up collar and added the lace collar shown above.  While searching through my stash I came across the collar.  I think a friend gave it to me in college - like 25 years ago (yikes!).

I barely had enough fabric for the dress, so matching plaids was SUPER fun.  It took me far longer to cut out the fabric than it did to actually sew the dress.  I had to fudge a little, but at least the lines across the bodice and skirt look reasonably straight.

I also omitted the zipper and added buttons down the back.  Buttons are a little bigger than I wanted, but it's what I had in the stash.  I had to create a placket for the buttons below waistline because there is no center back seam. 



The lace from the cuffs was from the stash.  I actually have lots of white lace in my stash, unfortunately I either didn't have enough or it didn't look right for the hem.  I ended up buying the lace for the hem and Bonnie's hair ribbons from JoAnn's.  Total cost for Bonnie's dress was $12 (excluding sunk costs from years ago).

I attempted to french braid her hair.  Bonnie informed me throughout the process that Aunt Ann (my sister) did a much better job.  I can sew - but I can't do hair.

The chaperons were asked to dress up, so here is my ensemble.  Nothing like a shawl and full skirt to make you look svelte.

Happy Halloween from Princess the Guinea Pig!

And Katie!

The Details

Bonnie's 1st Communion dress was certainly a labor of love. I pulled out all the sewing tricks and treats.

All exposed seams were french seamed.

Including the organza.



I sewed a couple of layers of tulle to the inside of the lining so that it was sandwiched in between the lining and the underlining.



I didn't want to do a serged rolled hem for the organza because I thought it would be too heavy, so I searched the Internet for some options for hemming organza. I found this technique. I can't find the website, I'm ready to give credit if I find it again.

1.Fold the hem back 1/2 inch and press
2. Set sewing machine to 1.5 zigzag and the length should be very close to the setting for buttonholes. It is very dense.
3. Sew the narrow zigzag slightly off the edge.
4. CAREFULLY trim the organza hem as close as possible to the zigzag.

Ta da!


I used the same hemming technique for the sleeves. I used the sleeve pattern from McCalls 6238 to draft the sleeves.

I used hem lace to hem the fashion fabric. I hand stitched the lace to the underlining. Besides extra structure for the dress, the ability to have an invisible hem is an excellent reason to have underlining for dresses.



I used an invisible zipper.

I also hand-stitched the lining around the sleeves.



I hand-stitched the lining to the zipper.



I also created organza ties for a bow (I love organza bows!)


I didn't make a baptismal gown for Bonnie. I made a priest vestment for my brother-in-law and just ran out of time. I owed her a fancy gown. We'll see if she wants me to sew her Wedding dress (hopefully that won't be for a long, long, time!) I have a lot of expensive duchess satin silk left over from my Wedding dress. I actually considered using for her communion dress, but it is very sumptuous and heavy. It seemed a bit much for a little girl.

The dress

The long sewing drought is over, and I finished Bonnie's 1st Communion dress. I have been thinking about it for months and have not been able to sew anything for myself in the meantime. Of course I was sewing up until the last minute (I finished it at 9:00 and we left for the church at 10:00).





I made the pattern from a store bought Easter dress that Bonnie wore 2 years ago.




The dress is four layers - silk organza, 15 ply habotai silk, cotton batiste and 8 ply habotai silk (china silk). It is underlined in the cotton batiste and lined in the china silk. I tried to buy the fabric locally from G Streets. I tried both the Centerville and the Falls Church locations, but neither one had silk organza or any light weight silk white bridal fabric. It was all various shades of ecru or candlelight. I guess people don't go for true white weddings. I ordered the fabric from Thai Silks. I think their prices are reasonable, but the shipping costs will wipe out any savings you may get.



The veil is a piece from my wedding veil that I made. I also made my sister's veil from a piece of my wedding veil. It is the gift that keeps on giving. I bought the pearl and crystal headband from JoAnns.





Here is the family with my mother. My dress is from Nordstrom's. The boys were really miffed that they had to dress up.


My Aunt Diana is a very devout Catholic. She never had children and has always been very involved in my life. She loves the girls in their 1st Communion dresses and she was very excited about Bonnie's dress. She called me often about the exact specifications for the dress including the sleeves and skirt length. My aunt had been sick for awhile and she set a goal of getting well enough to come to Bonnie's 1st Communion to see her dress. Well, three weeks ago I got the early morning call that my Aunt had died. My heart is broken, but I certainly had to have the most perfect 1st Communion dress ever to please my Aunt. I have to believe she was smiling down from Heaven - though I certainly would have preferred to have her with us.



I made a mockup of the dress that fit perfect, however when I stitched up the dress it was about an inch too small. I guess all the layers added up. I ended up letting out the side seams. I tried it on her Thursday night and it was still a little tight. On Friday morning I said a prayer to my Aunt Diana "If you want Bonnie to wear the dress, it needs to fit." Guess what? It fit perfectly!


I love you Aunt Diana - Godspeed...

I'm in the Mood Blouse

Finally, I am finished. It was the blouse that went on and on and....I started it in December. It is made from a very lightweight silk almost a chiffon. It is beautiful silk but it is not an easy fabric to sew and making a fitted blouse from this fabric is insane. Yes, that's right I am insane.

I used McCalls 5522. I originally finished the collarless view. It was not attractive. I ripped out the collar stand and made and inserted the collar. Much better. This pattern includes different pattern pieces for B, C and D busts. I used the D and still needed to add an inch. Gracious.

I also added an inch to the length.


The fabric is from LA Mood. I bought it to match some sherbet wool that I have had for years.


Most of the seams were finished with french seams. I hand stitched the hem and all the facings. This is not fabric that should be top stitched. The facings and collar are interfaced with sew-in organza. The buttons are from the stash. They don't look like they match in this photo - but they actually do.

The only reason this blouse is in existence is that the fabric was very expensive: $15 a yard. I originally bought 3 yards. If it had been $2 yd fabric from JoMar, it would have been pitched weeks ago.
The wrinkles in this photo are a product of the floaty-ness of the fabric. I have beaten all wrinkles into submission.


Note to self: Don't wear a teal bra with this shirt.

Can I just take a moment to say, "Thank God for machines with automatic button holers"? I didn't own one until after I was married. How did I survive?

Another UFO Bites the Dust

I finished another unfinished project. I originally stopped this project because I got frustrated with the interfacing. I had used iron on interfacing that was way too stiff. I ended up ripping out the interfacing and replacing it with sew in poly organza. It looks a lot better.

Unfortunately, pictures do not do this fabric justice. It is a deep purple sueded silk with gray swirls and black dots. The fabric is from the stash. I believe it was purchased from Fashion Fabrics Club about 7 years ago.



I'm not digging it worn untucked. I am going to make a black high waisted skirt with belt- hopefully using Burda 1/2009-132 where I can wear it tucked in.

Head in this shot was just wayyy too scary.

I made a pattern from a shirt I had made around 10 years ago. I lost the pattern so I traced a shirt I made from it. I have no idea what pattern it was.

I hand stitched the hem because you can't see my hand stitches and my machine hems often look like I was driving the sewing machine while drunk.

And while the seams of this beautiful fabric deserved to be french seamed, I serged everything because I'm lazy....

The buttons are from the bottomless button stash.


This finishes off New Year's resolution #8: Finish at least 2 of my partially done projects.