Little Gray Dresses

So Uber Son and the Lovely Jean will be getting married in August. In that event there will be 3 little girls doing various things...that could always change....and the colors for the wedding are gray and blue. So I'm tasked with making two size 6 and one size 5 dresses. I promised myself I would make the lace go the right way and make the taffeta go the same way. See this is  the lace.

 The design is actually across the grain...not that lace actually has a grain I guess, but it is something I had to pay attention to.

 And with 3 different dresses I had to keep the pieces sorted out too. I used masking tape to mark the wrong side of the lace and the wrong side of the taffeta too.

 I am glad there are really only 4 basic pieces for this dress pattern. Plus the 2 extra bodice pieces.

Here's the pattern Lovely Jean chose. I made the test dress and found that I didn't appreciate their assembly directions. Imagine that! haha. I blogged earlier about the Test Dress and I'm glad I made that one first.

  

They call for the dress to be almost completely assembled before putting in the zipper. I, of course, have to change that. I wanted to use invisible zippers-I like the way they look. So I assembled the back  and before I  joined at the shoulder I installed the zipper.

 See doesn't that look nice!!

 I love the way invisible zippers go in. They are so much easier for me than the lapped application.

 But I don't have an invisible zipper foot for Bernie the Bernina. SO I picked up a new package of feet. I'm not sure which one will fit, so I'll save myself a trip and get the package.

 As it turns out the feet are poorly made and I had to use some tiny strips of duct tape to hold the slider bar in place. I had red duct tape handy so that's what I used. Note to Coats Co...your foot is poorly designed.

Anyways, once I had it the way it would hold together, I just put it on the handy adapter foot part from Bernie.

See how slick that is? Nice!! Unfortunately I could only get two invisible zippers in the correct color, so I'll be doing a lapped application on one of the dresses.

 Here's the front of the dress-see how the lace is going the right way? YAY!

 These dresses will all have this blue ribbon sash. It really sets them off nicely I think!

 Here's the first finised dress-except for the hem.

 I used purchased bias tape, I did make some taffeta bias tape, but it's so ravel-ee I don't think I would like working with it. I'm glad I bought the bias tape-it will likely be more comfortable in the hot weather too.

 Here's the first try on, looks like a good fit! Sorry to interrupt cartoons Jaymie!!

 I realized I will need to add belt loop carriers for the sash. Good use for that taffeta bias tape I made!

 I made the bias tape from the taffeta under fabric.

 It's very slick and ravels a lot!

The bias tape wasn't hard to make, but I don't think it will be any good at all around the neck and arm hole openings.

 There, with the sash and belt loops...front view

 And the back view. I see the pattern has the bow tied in the front, but I think the back looks much cuter and since the girls will be carrying something. the bow in the back will be much better.

 Mmmm, I love the way these dresses came out. I was pretty nervous about the layers of lace & taffeta sliding around, but I really didn't have too much trouble at all. I serged the side seams separately on the front and back pieces and then sewed them up with a regular sewing stitch so I can let them out if there is a little growth spurt before the wedding date.

The girls will look very nice in these dresses I think. I'll be hemming them a little closer to the date-summer growth and all in mind. I cut them all with about 2" of extra length, so I know they will not be too short.