Different Dresses for Sisters

My husband and I are lucky to have three grandchildren, the two oldest are sisters about 2 years apart. They can be a challenge to sew for because of their age and size difference, especially since they live several states away from us. Fitting challenges can be overcome having their Mom measure them and email the results to me. Then I can take those and "translate" them onto the pattern pieces and adjust as necessary (http://berryhillheirlooms.blogspot.com/2015/04/long-distance-fitting-challenges.html) No problem.

But their age difference is enough that I really can't make the same outfit for each one. They have to be different. A few years ago I had this dilemma....what to do for their Easter dresses? I decided to make a Smocked Basic Yoke dress for the older one, and a Smocked Bishop for the younger using the same fabrics and embroidery flosses.  Easy.....but then I started to think about the smocking design. Obviously I couldn't use the same one for both, especially for the Bishop dress because it would need lots of looser stitches at the bottom of the design since it's wider in that area. Hmmm....Then again, maybe I could use the same one and change it up.

The fabric, white cotton/poly broadcloth called Imperial Broadcloth by Spechler Vogel, was easy care, easy clean, and simple to design around (no flowers or stripes to pleat). I next searched for a design that could be easily adapted to both dresses. I found it in a Creative Needle Magazine issue. Unfortunately this magazine is no longer being published (such a loss to the sewing and
stitching community) but past issues can be found for sale on the internet. This issue was Jan/Feb 2004, an article entitled "Daisy Chain", a smocking design. It was made for a smocked shoulder to waist style of dress (with a front button tab) with three bands of design and back smocking in between each row. I used two of the bands on the Basic Yoke dress in the same colors as the article, and made yellow piping whipped in green for the sleeve bands, collar and yoke seam. There's a smocked yellow row between the two bands, too.

The challenge was the Bishop dress....I had to lengthen the smocking design and make sure it fanned out enough around the bottom. The last rows of the design have the yellow daisies inside the trellis diamonds (instead of being in the center of each band on the other dress). Repetition of the trellis two times below the diamonds added extra color and definition to the yellow daisies. Two rows of cables at the top with little flowerettes framed the design around the bias neckband, and added the required tighter tension at the neckline. The sleeves are smocked with two rows of cables with a trellis in between adding just enough color to balance out the dress.

So, two sister's dresses, each different, but yet the same for Easter. The smocking designs complement each other and all colors are the same. An "unmatched pair" for two darling little girls!

Whipped Piping

I talked about Whipped Piping in my last post "Another Easter Dress" and showed this close-up of the dress collar that includes it. I guess you could call this "Double Whipped Piping" because it was whipped in two different colors in opposing directions to create the cross-hatching of the pink and yellow. I decided to use this type of trim for a few reasons.
(1) I didn't have anything appropriate for the floral dress fabric on hand, and it's a 35 minute drive to the closest fabric store. I also knew I probably wouldn't find anything there that would work. But I did have some white cotton sateen that would be good for piping.
(2) I didn't want to spend any more money on trims, buttons, or anything else....or the time to track those things down. I was under a time crunch to get this dress done!
(3) Whipped piping is cheap and easy to make.
(4) You can match the colors to your fabric perfectly with stranded embroidery floss.

So lets go over how to make Whipped Piping, Double or Single. First you have to have piping on hand, whether you make it yourself or buy it. Think about the size of the piping, i.e., make sure the thickness of the piping cord (what's inside the fabric) is appropriate for the garment. You don't want anything to big or heavy, or even too small. The cord for this collar was size 16 (about 1/8" in diameter) because the dress is a size 8 child's dress.
Now look at the machine stitching on the piping because that's the guide for the whipping.....you have to count the stitches as you whip. Cut a piece of floss about 2 times as long as your intended whipped piping section.....a collar length, or a sleeve length. 'Strip' the floss first by pulling one strand out at a time and let it untwist. Do that with each of the other two strands. Then put the three back together making sure the cut ends are all together at one end and smooth them out by pulling them between your fingers a few times. (This stripping of the thread spreads the threads out so they will cover better laying side by side kind of like ribbon.) Thread the needle ( a long eye needle like the cotton darner #5 shown here)

with those 3 strands of embroidery floss and knot the end. Now we begin.....

Another Easter Dress

I love simple, elegant clothes for children.  Sure, it's fun to sew and stitch an outfit out of a few coordinated bright, printed fabrics in the colors children like. But there's something to be said for simple elegance: it lets the child shine through the outfit, not the outfit wearing the child. Case in point: the Easter dress here that I made for my youngest grand daughter. It's made out of a wonderful cotton lawn English Import Print floral called "Laura" in pink, from Farmhouse Fabrics. It is 60" wide, so you get a lot of beautiful fabric for the money. I used the "Emily" pattern from Children's Corner patterns, just like I used for the other Easter dress, but the neckline hasn't been altered. The dress has simple ties at the back for fit and ease of wear.

 What makes this dress simple, yet elegant, is the white collar out of birds eye pique with whipped piping and the addition of bullion roses in the exact colors of the printed fabric. Just a touch of embroidery near the face adds so much without overpowering the dress or the child wearing it.  The sleeves are also finished with the whipped piping.