Sunday, February 28, 2010

Kitty Mittens is Finally Done!

I was starting to think it might never happen, but Kitty Mittens is finally finished!
You may remember I used Vogue 8062 to make this.


I made View B, the dress, leaving off the sleeves at the Princess's request. You'll have to pardon the styling in the photos. We plan for her to wear it with white tights (which we need to get) and a white turtle neck underneath. Or at least a nicer t-shirt than this one (which is a ratty old Hannah Montana t-shirt which was all we could find this morning!)


This is a size 10, which is slightly large for the Princess, but I like for her to have room to grow. She wants to wear this dress for Easter. I don't know if I want to wait that long. I think it makes a cute little school dress.
Here you can see the piping at the neckline and the armhole:


Here is a shot of the back, which closes with an invisible zipper. It's a nice clean finish which I'll have to remember for other dresses. As much as I love buttons, they can be uncomfortable at the center back of a garment.

I pretty much ignored the Vogue pattern instructions on this. I underlined the dress with satin, which the Princess loves. I basted all the edges together and handled both fabrics as one. I used the neck/armhole facings- I attached the facing to the neckline by machine and then hand stitched the armholes down.
I decided to use a bias hem facing (an idea I got from watching Hot Patterns videos online!) I had the Princess try on the dress so I could mark the hem, then I stitched the bias band on (I cut the strip 2.25" wide, folded in half and attached the raw edges to the raw hem edge), turned it up and hemmed as usual. You can't see it from the outside, but I like knowing it's there, and if somehow that hem flips up, it will be a cute little flash of color.


The Princess is pleased and that's what it's all about. (And I'm happy that another 3.5 yards of fabric is out of the stash!)
I would love to make this dress again following the pattern. I'd also like to make View C, the ruffled top, maybe with a smocked insert. I think it would be a great garment to use with smocking for an older child.

9 comments:

Marybeth said...

AH! I saw that Hot Patterns video, too, and I couldn't understand what she meant by a bias hem facing... Thanks for the explanation!!! The dress is so adorable... What a treasure, and what a lucky little girl!

Martha said...

So cute! It really turned out sweet.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful work and dress. The dress is "sweet" and definitely for a child. However, that big honking pink jewelry on a little girl is just too much, and definitely an odd combination with smocking.

julia said...

What a great job you did on this dress!! I love it!

Beangirl said...

This is very cute. I can see why you wouldn't want to wait until Easter for her to wear it.

angie.a said...

She looks adorable! I love the dress, and yes! YOu should definitely do the top smocked! I have this one in stash, but lu outgrew it before I ever got the sucker made of course. :)

ps...I think the earring & necklace are cute too. She looks like she feels pretty and she absolutely does! :)

Kyle said...

cuuuuute!! I always love your piping detail (there's a new look dress of yours that I covet that has piping detail...)

Blakely said...

Looks great! I love it.

Linda said...

Very impressive. The smocking is gorgeous. I know my daughter would fall in love with this dress.