Shirley Temple inspired this cute little frock/tunic/long shirt type dress item I came up with.
Instead of doing her typical "Good Ship Lollipop" attire --- nautical-ish. Or the crazy Toddlers and Tiaras look, (the one where she is wearing that awful white with red polka dot fluff dress), I decided to dig deeper into her photos and chose a sweet little number that I thought would look great on my kiddo.
Hannah vs. Shirley
I don't have much time to sew these days so when I do I want the end result to be something my girl can wear again.
Shirley Temple is SUCH a little cutie....
I have been wanting to try a more vintage item for my daughter for a long time, I just never could decide which style and hadn't come across a pattern that I liked OR looked easy to read. But then, I came across this photo, as I was researching what I wanted to do for PR&P week 2. SOLD!
I have looked into purchasing a "real" vintage pattern on Etsy but then I thought to myself, "why buy one of those when you can just use a simple A-line bodice and add the vintage details with your own skillz." :)
I am sure glad I tried because I am so proud of what I ended up with.
Ever get into one of those moods when you just want to dive in on a project and be creative and hope it works? Well, this was one of those times, and I have to say it worked! My grandmother who taught me how to sew when I was younger, (she will be 95 this month!!!) told me a few weeks ago, "take a chance!" -- Now I am trying to use that philosophy more in my sewing adventures.
I did have to do some figuring out on the collar of this dress.... I originally was not going to attach it but then I was like what the heck, (?!?) - how is my kid going to keep it on straight unless its sewn on.
The collar is just an angled piece of plain pink linen, and I sewed on some twine at each corner when I was sewing the collar right sides together- I didn't have a pattern for this and drafted the collar myself. It ended up a tad short so I just cut it in half and sewed it on so it would lay evenly across her shoulders. Why twine you ask? .....I didn't have any
ribbon that I liked in house. Oh and one other thing - you might notice that I made the collar a little more pointed than the one in Shirleys picture. True Peter Pan collars kinda rub me the wrong way.... only can tolerate them in small doses. hehehe
As you can see I did a very short version of this frock. I think if I make another it will be a tad longer... but this one is cute with leggings, and I am sure Hannah will wear it again.
To construct the dress I used an old bodice pattern and just extended it. I didn't make it too long in order to stick with the integrity of the style of the dress, which was super short. I also added flutter sleeves. I did the sleeves by folding a piece of fabric 3 inches by about 12, in half, wrong sides together, and then gathering it along the raw edge. Then I pinned the raw edges of the sleeve to the outside of the bodice arm holes. Once those were pinned on, I sewed on the lining like I would any other dress of this style. (once the sleeves are sew together at the shoulders, you sew the whole bodice right sides to right sides, liner to main fabric).
It was super easy, you just sew it together like you would any bodice and lining, just keep the flutters sleeves tucked in while sewing the bodice together... I never did this before in all my dress making years but it was so easy, and looks so cute on!
Want to know what this photo shoot cost me? --- Hannah isn't into modeling much these days, but I told her if she took a few pictures I would give her 2 bucks, AND a cookie--- She was VERY happy with that!
I didn't think that I was going to get very good photos from this session, but my little beauty did an awesome job on this one. She looks so elegant, and so sweet.... just like Shirley! I think some of these are going to be framers..... (even though this isn't Hannah's natural hair state). It took us about a half an hour curl all of that hair!!!!!
Just a little side note: I used a lot of variations of color when editing each picture. I played around a bit in Picasa with these photographs, and it just made the vintage feel come through even stronger.
Look at those lashes!
SO PRETTY!
This one has a bit of an Instagram feel.... love it though.
Thanks for reading all! I am so glad I had time to put this little number together.
Happy Sewing!
XOXO- Lauren
Thanks again Hannah! You are a doll!
