Second Outfit Entry From Alisha's Creations www.AlishasCreations.etsy.com The second outfit I want to make is an 1850's style dress for Marie-Grace inspired by a photo I found of a pink ball gown from the mid 1850's. The dress will be made from light blue cotton with a silver floral design on it. It will have a Basque (dropped V) waist. The skirt of the dress will be made of tiers that will have scalloped edges. The accessories I would like to make include a bonnet that matches the dress, a hoop skirt, and a bouquet of flowers. Other accessories that I would like my doll to wear with the outfit I am making include pantalettes, a pair of gloves, and boots. In-Progress Pictures A mock-up dress I made to see if the dress would fit correctly before I made the real dress. Pinning together the strips of fabric that will be made into the ruffled trim for the bodice. Some of the pieces I was working on. Sewing one of the strips. Working on the middle part of the bodice. Sewing the trim onto the bodice. Sewing the scalloped edge of one of the skirt tiers. Sewing one of the tiers. Sewing one of the tiers to the skirt lining. Sewing the trim for the top skirt tier. Sewing the trim onto the top skirt tier. Sewing the ruffled trim onto the bonnet brim. Topstitching the back of the bonnet. Sewing the lace to the bonnet lining. Sewing the bonnet together. Topstitching the bonnet. Sewing the casings on the hoop skirt for the boning to go through. The flowers and lace I used to make the bouquet. Completed Outfit Description: My finished outfit includes a dress, a bonnet, a hoop skirt, and a bouquet of flowers. The finished dress was made from a light blue quilters cotton with a silver floral design on it. I had bought the fabric a couple months after American Girl released Marie-Grace and Cecile intending to use it to make a dress that they could wear, but until now I wasn’t sure what style dress to make with it. Shortly before this contest started, I found the picture of the pink dress and I knew the fabric would be perfect to use to make a similar dress. My finished dress is mostly my own design, but I did use a couple of techniques from Dollhouse Designs’ Promenade pattern to make the dress such as how I attached the skirt tiers to the dress. I drafted and redrafted my own pattern pieces and made some mock-ups until I got the dress to fit how I wanted it to. To make the middle of the bodice, I gathered white tulle and sewed it over white cotton to give it the same look as the original dress. I made my own ruffled trim for the bodice by sewing strips of fabric together and hand gathering them. White lace was sewn around the neckline of the dress. I sewed elastic around the top of the sleeve bands so that the sleeves would stay snugly in the right place around the doll's arm and the sleeves would puff out. The skirt of the dress features three skirt tiers with scalloped edges (69 scallops total) sewn to the skirt lining / underskirt. I sewed ruffled trim that was a little bit bigger than the bodice trim around the top tier. White cotton was used for the bodice lining, skirt lining, and the lining for the tiers. The back of the dress closes with snaps and features four pearlized buttons sewn down it. The outside of the bonnet was made from the same fabric as the dress. It is lined in white cotton. The bonnet features hand gathered / ruched trim around the top of the brim and white gathered lace sewn inside the brim. It ties underneath the chin with white satin ribbon. The bonnet was made using Keepers Dolly Duds’ 1850s jacket and bonnet pattern. The hoop skirt was made from white cotton muslin. It features three rows of boning sewn inside casings to give the hoop skirt its shape. It ties around the waist in the back with white cord. I modified the pattern pieces from Thimbles and Acorns Victorian Unmentionables pattern to make the hoop skirt. The bouquet was made using grey paper roses, white lace, and sheer white ribbon. I arranged the roses into a bouquet and wrapped a stem around the roses to keep them all together. I gathered the straight edge of the lace until I had enough to go around the flowers and then I sewed it in place around the stems. I tied a bow underneath the lace using the ribbon. Marie-Grace is also wearing American Girl brand gloves, pantalettes (not shown), boots, and stockings (not shown). *Please excuse Marie-Grace’s hair ribbons. I haven’t yet figured out how to replace them without messing up her original hairstyle. I would have replaced them with white ribbons if I could have figured out how to do so without messing up her hair. From Alisha's Creations www.AlishasCreations.etsy.com Thank you for your entry! Vote for this outfit via comment on this post or by emailing us at [email protected]. One vote per person. You can vote for yourself. You can vote for more than one outfit. Hence, you can vote for multiple outfits. :-) Voting for Second Outfits ends September 25th, 2013. Information about this contest: http://thedollwardrobe.blogspot.com/2013/06/dw-2013-fashion-design-challenge-starts.html First Outfit Tasks Due July 14th, 2013. Second Outfit Tasks Due August 25th, 2013.