Princess (or Fairy) Geranium

I had this idea for how to make a "princess" dress out of the Geranium dress pattern.  I was originally considering some of my heirloom 70s patterns - long dresses with pinafores (Holly Hobbie!), but realized my idea wasn't that far off from the Geranium pattern.  It has good bones.  I wanted something that was not precious, but also not flimsy and not itchy.

The only critique from the 5 year old is that it could be twirlier.  However, she's planning to wear it to school tomorrow.



Materials:  Made By Rae Geranium dress pattern (now available in larger sizes).  2 yd of Kona Cotton (quite a bit of cotton left over), 1 yd of 54" coordinating tulle  ( I would get a half-yard more, though, next time).  1 yard of rosette trim.  1 largish package of ribbon roses.  2 buttons.

I went with the flutter sleeve/gathered skirt combination.

 Sewing with the tulle was like sewing jelly fish.  Not for the faint of heart.  It was nearly invisible and flippy and stretchy.  (blech).  I used two layers of tulle for each flutter sleeve, the gathering stitch sews it together.

I cut out enough tulle skirt pieces to make 2 layers of tulle.  Next time, I would figure out how to cut it so that the only seam for that is the back seam - it's a wide enough bolt that this is a feasible idea.

I followed the regular directions for the cotton skirt layer.  For the tulle layer, I made it so that the side seams were both right sides out, then sewed them all together for the back seam.  I basted the three layers together to do the gathering.  The rest of the assembling was per the pattern.

    This is what it looked like pre-trim.  It was looking a little Mother of the Brideish to me (potentially lovely and tasteful when you are actually a parent of someone in the wedding party.  Not cute when you are 5).

  I hand-sewed the rosette ribbon (it's on a mesh backing).  It camouflages my somewhat-wonky gathering.  My thread didn't exactly match, so it seemed like the best bet.  Hand-sewed the ribbon roses on too.  You could get them in all one color, but I liked the rainbow potential.