At the beginning of the year, I began my search
for the perfect baptism dress for my daughter. After
scrolling through pages and pages of frilly, over the
top dresses online, and having no luck at the mall, I
finally stumbled upon the Crewcuts site and found
quite a few dresses that were a bit more age appropriate
and less "wedding-dress from the 80's" looking. The only
problem was that I wasn't about to fork out the $150+ it would
cost to get one of their dresses for my 8 year old.
This is the one I was drooling over. The simple design, paired with
the dainty, slightly imperfect ruffles had me at hello.
I was feeling adventurous, even though I have very little experience
working with "fancy" fabric. I stopped at the fabric store and
walked out with a yard and a half of white douponi silk for $15 and not
a clue what I was going to do.
I used one of my go-to vintage patterns for the main shaping, the sleeves, and
sizing. After cutting out the front bodice, I eyeballed a line a couple of
inches below the armholes and cut straight across. This piece now became
my template for the placing of the ruffles. I cut five strips of varying sizes and
just started gathering. (FYI, douponi silk gathers on the grain, so your strips
must be cut lengthwise along the selvedge) I found this out the hard way.
Other than a few stressful moments with the zipper and more than a
few problems with the lining....also a first.....I was happy
with the results. When it was complete, I took it to my
dry cleaner and he steamed it for me for a few dollars. I
didn't even want to mess with trying to press it and he
really gave it the finished look that I wanted.
Possibly the first of many......
And, of course we had to accessorize!
