Now available in the pattern shop: The Sweet A-Line Dress ePattern. As a special treat I included a doll dress pattern that will fit most dolls ranging from 10″ to 15″ and even American Girl dolls. This knit pattern is a quick sew and perfect for almost any occasion. Make a comfy play dress or nightgown with the pattern or go down a size and make a fitted special occasion dress. Best part? I’ve included the largest range of sizes yet: 6M to 14 Years
I love this fun, sassy dress style! I made this cute circus style party dress for Lisa’s daughter Elle’s recent birthday:
I made a similar dress for Boo last Valentine’s day (click to see the photo shoot for the V-Graffiti dress):
The “built in” petticoat gives the bottom of the dress lots of twirl and volume. I used fabric spray paint and fabric markers to do all the graffiti:
I used my Twirl Skirt pattern but went up a few sizes since I wasn’t using stretchy material:
I cut an identical skirt out of a contrasting material but made it an inch longer for the petticoat layer:
I cut long strips 5″ wide and connected them together so it was about 8 or 9 feet long…..over twice the length of the bottom of the skirt. I folded the strip in half and sewed the top closed. Then I pulled the bobbin thread to gather the entire length:
I placed the ruffle as shown on the right side of the petticoat layer and then I sewed the ruffle to the bottom:
To create the cinching in the top layer of the dress bottom I used a ruler to mark 2 places on the seams……one 6″ above the hem and the other 4″ above the hem:
Then I used thread to sew through both my markings……
……and I tied the thread in knot underneath gathering the fabric into a bunch. I repeated this in several places around the skirt bottom.
For the top of the dress I cut about 1.5″ inches off the bottom of a tank top and added a scanned image of a vintage playing card (the same images used on the favor bags). The image was printed onto Dharma Trading’s Super Soft Transfer Paper and ironed on. I sewed the skirt bottom to the tank.
To embellish the skirt further I sewed polka dot ribbon and crochet trim on top of the gathered areas:
The finished dress!
Click on image below for more circus party posts!
I desperately needed a few headshots for some projects and appearances coming in the next year (yes, I’m planning a full schedule….just giving myself some time to get better first!). I rallied yesterday and put on makeup and curled my hair. The hair only got half done because I got too tired…I gave up towards the back….but Lisa just shot around it. I’m not feeling great today (maybe I overdid it) so I’m glad we just went ahead. Headshots are for the birds.
I know it was like pulling teeth for Lisa to take shots….I never stop talking and I scoff at any artistic shots.
“Put my hand under my chin? NO way.”
“Hands on my face? I’ll look like a Palmolive commercial!”
“What do you want me to do? Look at the camera?”
“Can you fix my poor chapped lips?”
Here’s my pal Diesel….he just got a new haircut:
My sister-in-law Carolyn came out to help. Not sure what I was laughing at…I laugh at anything so who knows. My sister Perry and I both joke about our “horse teeth”……my dentist even had to file them down when I was younger…..it takes work to keep my mouth closed…neeeeiggggh!!!
Too cheesy for my taste…it looks like a photo you buy with a frame. I realized looking at the below photo that my shirt is on inside out:
Just normal….but you can tell my hair curling isn’t that great in this photo. And the chapped lips. Ugh. 
If there’s a “brown thumb” (i.e. green thumb) for hair styling….I’ve got it. I never had the knack for doing hair. Thanks so much Lisa. Love you. You can make anyone look good! Sorry I gave you the finger, at first glance this photo looks like I’m censoring boobies.
