I was positive I would be able to get everything finished for the dresses today, but NO…it didn’t happen. Almost though!
Rebecca did have a few little things I could use for Samantha’s neckline decoration and this is what I chose… a pretty rhinestone set in silver… I added a white silk ribbon bow so the dickie could be worn with other things the winner might have.
I also made a new slip for Samantha… one not nearly so full, but just enough to hold the dress out slightly. I made it from a white cotton fabric, very soft with a little bit of decorative stitching on it. Actually the pattern in the fabric was big 4″ diamond shapes but the slip piece I used wasn’t even 4″ wide so you can’t quite see the diamond shape. I made the slip so it’s open in the back for easy dressing and used some ultra thin Velcro to close it.
As I looked at the blue dress, it just seemed a little bigger than the beige one… so I laid them on top of each other and discovered IT WAS…
So…I took the skirt off, cut off 1/4″ and then cut off 1/4″ on the bottom of the bodice. Then I moved the pleats that were overlapping the left side about 1/2″ in… Then I put it all back together again. It did make a difference in the way the dress fits, but I still don’t think it’s quite as fitted as Nellie’s beige dress. It could just be the difference in the fabrics… Nellie’s is very soft and somewhat sheer and the blue fabric is just a regular weight cotton…soft, but not so fluid as the beige.
This was before I changed the dress…
…and this was after I altered it… subtle changes.
I made Nellie a new slip too, out of some very sheer cream fabric. I think it was a vintage piece I had. It’s very soft and lets the dress hang very nicely. Hers too, is open all the way in the back and closes with Ultra Thin Velcro. I made both slips with a yoke at the top to decrease the bulk at the waist.
Here is Nellie with her new slip. I think it does look better…
…again, before with the poufy slip…
…and after…
I still have to make Samantha a pair of thigh highs and find her some shoes to wear while she models the dress. I also have to make the sash longer on Nellie’s dress… apparently everyone seems to like the longer looking sash… guess I might be alone on this one… I like it shorter… but I’m not going to be buying the dress, so I’ll make it longer. :o)
So here they are… one step closer to being finished and ready for you to see…
I think that’s all I have to finish up… well, besides taking pictures of the girls and maybe a few other girls wearing them… :o)
I guess that will do it for today…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
The new slips really work well with the dresses. It gets harder and harder to choose between them. I like Samantha’s bow and pin. Do you have one for Nellie? I’m beginning to really like Nellie’s shorter sash. The outfits really are lovely — i think in the end they’ll go on your list of favorites. Maybe you should add a close-up of the blue fabric — I know how beautiful it is but it’s easy to miss the fabric detail while we’re admiring the design details.
It’s going to be fun to choose shoes to go with the blue dress. I think the lace they are standing on works especially well with the new lace dickeys. I just noticed that we’re spelling it differently, so I looked it up. It appears that we can’t go wrong. It’s commonly spelled both ways and dicky as well. whatever the spelling, the thing itself us lovely.
You have a close-up of the fabric — the 3rd picture — but I was so busy looking at the bow and decoration that I didn’t notice. It’s beautiful and photographs beautifully.
MUCH better! The slips, plus altering the blue dress. Interesting that it turned out to be larger than the neutral-colored one! That was a lot of extra work you had to put into it today!
I like the little sparkly on Samantha’s dicky. Really sets off the whole outfit! Will you be doing something like that for Nellie’s, too? I’d be inclined to go with a pearl something on hers, if you do, although her lace is, perhaps, a bit more ornate, so may not need it.
Marilyn is right–it’s getting harder to choose!
Love the new slips, Jeanne! So much better than the fuller ones for these dresses! I see now how the dress on Samantha fits better, and looks just great with the new bow and dangle at the neckline. However, I must say, I don:t think Nellie’s dress needs that! Hope I don’t get Marilyn mad at me, but she has those three buttons on the front that Samantha’s dress does not have, and I think adding another thing would be too much. I like Nellie’s dress just the way it is, even with the shorter sash. Maybe make two and let the buyer pick? Of course, then you are stuck with an extra sash! Smanatha’s dress looks longer than Nellie’s, is it?
Funny thing I am realizing here, with all the changes you have done, we started out with a schoolgirl dress, and I think we now have a Sunday church dress! These are too pretty for school!
I must say, that I love the new background you are using now! I cant wait to see the finished pictures!
Still rooting for Nellie in beige. Love how the sleeves don’t stick up. Just looks more natural to me. I’m not so sure about the dickie/dicky/dickey. I’d probably just go with a triangular same fabric filler piece instead. But that’s just me. I like the dress length on Nellie’s too. Is her dress shorter than Samantha’s? Maybe it is how they are standing.
Lots of work put into these dresses, but now there is a great pattern for another one in a different fabric in the future. 🙂 Can’t wait to see the photos and listing.
I liked the shorter sash. Still calling blue the winner!
Love these little slips for this style dress. I agree with Joy about the softer drape of the sleeves especially on Nellie’s dress. The shorter sash is growing on me too, but longer drapes better. Also nellie’s sash is wider. So much pretty to talk about! It’s been a lot of fun to compare two dresses and how little changes make such differences. Thanks for the style tutorial.
I’m for Nellie in biege too. Is the blue dress supposed to have a dropped waist? It seems kind of indeterminate to me. Love to bow with the rhinestone button. Very clever. You could sell just the bows separately on Etsy. Having fun watching all this. Glad Joy is safe!
I love the underpinnings, especially Nellie’s She looks so sweet standing there in them Her slip is so delicate looking. Now, with the new slip, her shorter sash looks more appropriate to me. I’m still firmly in “camp beige” as I have been from the beginning. I love everything about that dress. The softly draped sleeves are so lovely Samantha’s is is pretty, just doesn’t grab me the way the beige does. Boy, that was a lot of work to alter Samantha’s dress, but I do like how it changed it.Linda is right, this has gone from a school dress to a church dress. Maybe for the church harvest festival picnic. Go, beige, go!!
I like the shorter sash on the beige dress. The new slip is good, the dress hangs very naturally. I’m in love with the beige dress!
You have the patience of a saint….all that ripping and re doing! The total effect is darling. Both dresses and dickies look so sweet. The dickies and slips even look good🌟
On to more pictures and listing and Selling!
Great job Jeanne!
I love the blue dress but now I look at them more closely I see what you mean, Nellie’s dress does seem to fit/hang better. I think maybe I like the beige better now. Actually, I also like the shorter sash too.
Spring is back today, 20C the weatherman says. I hope he is right. Unless they have planned a skiing holiday the school holidays haven’t been much fun so far for the kids.
We had another person absconding from quarantine on Wednesday. He tied all his blankets and sheets together and climbed down from a fourth floor window (5th floor to you)at around 12.am, went walkabout around Auckland overnight and came back to the hotel at 8am where he was picked up by the guards. I hope he enjoys the rest of his quarantine in jail! Fortunately his second test came back negative yesterday though he didn’t know that at the time. This particular hotel is more secure than most as it is where the deportees from Australia are quarantined but of course it is not a prison. Australia has a policy of returning everyone who has any kind of conviction back to NZ never mind that they have lived in Oz since they were babies and all their family (often including children) are Australian. If they have lived in Oz for that long then presumably they are a product of the Australian system rather than ours and should be their responsibility. I don’t have a problem with them returning those who went there as adults and commit serious crimes just the fact that it is a blanket law and some of the crimes are pretty petty. Ah well rant over. The relationship between us and Australia is a very complicated one. It is a bit like siblings. You might love to hate them sometimes (especially on the sports field) and fight with them but when the chips are down you are still on their side.
I finished my Challenge 20/20 quilt last night except for a label. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. I still have to finish the row by row but that is just an exhibition piece as far as I am concerned. My Victorian outfit needs a label too so I mustn’t forget.
Glad you are still OK Joy. It must be so horrible to live with all that smoke and the worry of possible evacuation. Take care, Kia Kaha. (Stay Strong)
Both dresses are so lovely and I like the less full slips. The dresses hang nicely with those under them. I’m still up in the air over which is my favorite dress. One day it’s the beige and then you’ll add something to the blue that gets my attention. I think I would call the dresses charming. I find I like the shorter sash on the beige and the longer on the blue. Oh the dilemma of choosing.