The Comfy Christmas Dress, Simplicity 2377

I think I accomplished my goal here, a comfy, soft feeling dress that says "Christmas" for my little clothing fuss budget, Carly. Here is the low down:


Pattern:  It is Simplicity 2377, a classic little look, what my grandmother used to call a "gypsy dress". There is no zip, buttons, or placket. The neckline opening stretches quite large and it will fit over her head with no little aggravations to her skin. The pattern comes with a tiered or plain skirt. I found the skirt pieces just not full enough but was also constrained by the amount of fabric I had as well as Miss Carly. I knew if I used all the fabric I usually do in an heirloom dress she would find it too heavy and not wear it. Been there, done that, saw the dress on the floor.

Fabric:  I took Carly with me to the big Joanns in Middleton, Mass, not far from her home. "We" decided, with great discussion, to use a cream stretch velvet for the bodice, an embossed stretch velvet for the overskirt, and a poly tafffeta  for the underskirt. My last post showed how I texturized the poly tafffeta to mimic the original texture off the knockoff. I like it better than the knockoff.

The dress is fully lined using "Posh" from Joanns, something you would never want to line a summer garment with. But, here I knew she would be wearing this in winter and probably coming and going in the cold weather. She also liked the way it felt compared to the other linings we put on our cheeks.

Construction: I basically constructed two dresses. One was of the posh lining fabric, full length. The poly taff underskirt was gathered and triple zigzagged to the lining skirt. It sits between the lining and the public dress. From the inside you can't feel  or see the taffeta, only the "posh" lining. All seams except gathering were French seams on the lining.

Then I constructed the public dress. This consisted of the cream bodice and just the overlay. To get the proper size of the overlay I just sort of measured what I thought was right and cut. I didn't want a "ridgey" hem on the embossed velvet. I did various samples and found the best looking and very solid technique was simply applying Steam A Seam Lite and folding up and pressing  over a terry towel, just on the 1/4 inch hem area. I really like how that came out and am glad I tried it. The taffeta skirt has a traditional hand worked hem.

I differed from the original inspiration also with the sash. I felt the white bodice was not balanced with the rest of the dress. You can see the inspiration dress here. I liked how the red velvet sash added length to the overlay skirt when just simply tied in the back. I decided not to put any embellishment on the sash, as in the original, and just move my embellishment up to the neckline which I think balances the design much better. I made a flower and leaves out of scraps, attached it to a covered piece of peltex, and put a brooch pin on the back. If she doesn't like the way it feels we can just take it off and maybe move it somewhere else but I really like it at the neckline.

Oddly enough, Miss Carly loves to wear hats and will often put one on and still have it on at the end of the day. So I made her a headband to wear with her dress. This I know she will love. Can't wait to see my little platinum blonde in these colors. One more in the holiday queue done, yippee!

My next post will show a tute on how I made the sash keepers for this dress. Stay tuned.....Bunny

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While at DD#1" home over the hodiday, Sophie and I did a lot of beading. Because of aging eyes as well as tiny hands of hers, we weren't using beading needles. I forget what I used but they worked fine other than maybe 20% of the beads wouldn't let the needle go through. I complained to my daughter about how I needed to buy a bead reamer, what it was, and that a decent one was stupidly expensive, at least IMO.

The next day she came home from work and handed me the above and said, "Mom, I think you can use these for a bead reamer". Well, I certainly can! Ever have a root canal done and the roots get filed by progressively larger teeny files by the dentist? Tah-Dah! I now have root canal files to use a bead reamers on those tiny delica beads. Thanks, darlin'.....

I want to send a big Thank You shout out to Rett of The Gazebo House who kindly walked me through screen shots and how to deal with the  zooming right click on the Simplicity and Macy's sites. Thanks so much, Rett. Please check out her gorgeous blog. She is a Tablscaping Diva who hoards dishes like I do fabric....Bunny