Princess Project Update - Girl #1 is finished!! PIC HEAVY

I am so excited to have one third of this completely done sans snaps for the backs. These 3 dresses are for Marianna, a Zuzu Delf Bichon Iron Fan LE. She is the younger princess, much more playful, and would rather be outside playing with her animal friends. My designs were really influenced by this as it has to fit her character. Her dresses are simpler than her sister's for this reason. Her favorite colors are pink, so we went with that for her theme. I did venture out a bit with the ball gown, opting for white and almost an orchid color for a little more variety. Her head dress I just finished today. I just did the final photo shoot for her beautiful dresses before I get them packed up to go to their rightful owner.

First off, the head dress. It is made out of silk and decorated with a lovely ribbon. I was lucky to have already found this in my stash after organizing a couple of weekends ago. I needed something that tied in with all of her dresses. This works perfect!

This next one is her Sunday Best. The silk is hand dyed. It has some little pearly white beads at the neck line.

This is her ball gown. It has quite a few beads. The orchid silk is hand dyed. I had fun mixing my dyes to come up with this gorgeous color.

The final one is her Summer dress. Silk is hand dyed as well.

I will be updated this blog with the other 2 girls finished clothing as soon as I get them photographed. :)

Princess Coiffe finished....

So, one head dress done out of three! Yay! I had gotten all the gold trim sewn on before Christmas, and let it sit until today to figure out exactly how to go about finishing it. It's like that for me when I have never sewn something before. I have to let it sit until a clear direction of going about it crystallizes in my head. The perks of being self taught, I guess. I have to figure things out, and whether or not I am doing it the "right way" as long as it turns out looking good and finished neatly, I just go with it.

I had initially planned to gather the bottom edge like human sized coiffes are finished, but for this size, that did not work. I pleated it with tiny pleats instead, and the hang was much better. I ended up finishing the inside with a facing, which did 2 things: hid the raw edges, and also gave it a better form for fitting the head. The top part of the coiffe I finished with a cream silk. I really am pleased with it. I had planned to add bead detailing, but I think I had better omit that on the white part of it before I make it too busy. I might add it to the cream though as I think it could use a little something more. After I got it finished, I held it up to all three of the dresses it is meant to go with to see how they all look together. They look great!. Its enthralling to see it all come together. :D Later on when the lighting is better I will do a nice photo session with the coiffe with each dress.

Making Medieval Head Dresses for the Princess Project

This has been one LONG and complicated project. 9 dresses, and 3 head dresses. Head dresses should technically be easier than elegant dresses, but this is me we are talking about, and as I am not really used to doing  much head wear, I am struggling just a bit. I just dyed the final 2 pieces of silk for the final ball gown, and while the fabric is soaking (it takes a really long time to wash out the loose pigment when the dye is really dark. I find soaking saves the hands.) I am working on the pattern for the coiffe.

This is the intended look:

http://www.echoppemedievale.com/upload/photos/femmes/coiffes/coiffe_medievale_moyen_age_i.jpg

I love it. I plan to do the end in cream silk, the rest of the fabric will be white cotton (way easier to work with for tiny things than silk.) I have bought some thin gold trim to give it a lattice effect, and some tiny brown seed beads to go where the gold trim crosses. Since the doll has magnetized removable ears, I will need to leave off the beads where the ears stick on.

The pattern should be simple enough. I did my first draft a little earlier today, and we're not quite there yet. I've been looking for some coiffe tutorials, and while I found one, it wasn't very helpful as it was a different style of coiffe than the example above.

Here is my first attempt. The gathering needs to extend further, and the basic shape is off, but it's a start.