Christmas Dress!

Every Christmas when I was young, my mother sewed us beautiful Christmas dresses. The night before the first Christmas season Sunday was spent pressing and prepping the gorgeous dresses. Of course, when I finally got my girl, I couldn't wait to make her first Christmas dress. I scoured Sew Beautiful magazine and settled on a pattern I loved when searching for a blessing gown. The original gown is HUGE and long, but I LOVED the swirled puffing and lace shaping: both techniques I've studied in the magazine and on Martha Pullen's show and have wanted to try out. The dress also had corded pintucks, another new technique I've wanted to try for years. Literally, my double needle has sat in a drawer since I bought it 4 years ago! I hemmed and hawed, trying to talk myself out of such a complicated dress. But seriously, a girl only has 1 first Christmas dress, right? So I got to press my first Christmas dress tonight. I starched it, straightened it, and was grateful for our little girl and the wonderful Christmas season. I can't wait to sit in the pews tomorrow with all the kids in their holiday clothes and sing of our Savior's birth. The boys got new vests and ties, they look sharp! And here is Cosette's dress:

I found a beautiful polyester shantung in a cranberry red (it's a bit darker than pictured). Next up were the laces. The local heirloom shop had some inexpensive ones, but none I liked in ecru. So I bought them in white and dyed them myself. I spent 3 hours pintucking the fabric before cutting out the bodice and sleeves. Pintucking is easy! Just a bit tedious. Okay, a lot tedious. I used the same bodice pattern from Cosette's blessing dress, I just shortened the bodice. I LOVE the super-puffy sleeves! Next up was teaching myself lace shaping. Ugh, it was hard! It didn't help that I was working without a template. After fiddling, adjusting, and playing with it forever, I finally got the lace in the right places, zig-zagged it down, cut away the fabric from behind, and then pin stitched around it. I started pin stitching with a wing needle, but found that it didn't agree with my choice of fabric.

I spent a few hours shaping the puffing and lace on the skirt. And when I say a few, I mean 5 or 6 by the time I finished cutting the fabric from behind and pin stitching. It was WAY more time consuming than I had planned. I be crazy. Of course it's not the first time I've made crazy time-consuming Christmas outfits. Anyway, actually constructing the dress only took a couple hours. I'm so in love. The sleeves are ultra-huge. Anne of Green Gables huge. My lace shaping leaves much to be desired, but I'm happy with my first try. I added ties, because it ended up being a little big. I'm thinking she can even wear it next year.

I also made a bonnet. It's basically a rectangle with a casing at the back to cinch it up. Of course I was about 3 inches short on fabric and it required a quick trip for more fabric this morning. The bonnet's a little big as well, but I think it looks just as good folded back to show Cosette's face. The queen was already in bed by the time the dress came out of the wash, so I don't have any pics of her modeling it yet. I think Travis is happy to have the kitchen table back since I finally packed away my sewing machine. It will only get a short rest though, I've got to whip up Cosette's stocking this week.

Merry Christmas!