My little angel turns 8 - mood board inspired dress

Dear Readers,

I know I haven't been posting regularly on the blog, but those of you who are on www.facebook.com/AdithisCouture know that I have been sewing ... I still have so many pending posts ,..oh yes elsa dress is still WIP post :( 

Ok now let me get on to this post. This is about the birthday dress I made for my little girl who actually isn't little anymore, she turned 8 !

Had made a sewing mood board using thermocol  and the first project on it was for her bday dress. I gave her collection of magazines and asked her to choose dresses she liked, it could be color, cut, design, embellishment anything she liked. She chose few and based on that I added a few and made the mood board

I have the mood board right above my sewing desk . I am surprised at the impact that it had on my design and sewing, I was improvising and working on bodice of frock and after having completing it, it was shocking to me that a design on mood board had come through in the bodice albiet in a morphed form , but It did come and without actually intending to do so while working on the bodice ...so yes Mood boards work big time and I recommend it for every sewista, infact for every creative person , I am sure it will help in your design and execution , especially when you get a whole whirlwind of ideas and don't know which ones to shortlist and choose ...pls try it out and you will be happy with your mood board .

Now let's talk about the dress in detail. As you can see the number 8 itself was in teal color as chosen by Adithi and the dress base color will be teal. She wanted to have peocock colors so teal, blue and green, slight hint of purple,  but I gave up on green and used teal, light blue, ink blue and a purple, blue, teal mixed fabric, sorry forgot the name, it was japanese something fabric I found in Kamdar. 

Oh yes fabric shopping was an ordeal, as I tried Spotlight once and couldn't get much to suit the mood board within my budget, which is surprising and had even thought of changing the pallete for the dress but decided to try one more attempt at shopping and I stuck s good deal this time at kamdar, the right colors, texture and price that I was looking for .

Bodice took an entire swwing day , with blink tuck pleats (yes my latest sewing technique obsession!!) which were in bias and then I filled in the gap between two pleated spaces using fan made of fabric in 3 colors, yes I went avant garde and to be honest I am pleased with the result, though I was initially apprehensive thinking if I am going over board... One shoulder bodice was drafted and I added elastic infused, intertwined straps for more stability on the other side. It has back zipper opening and is lined with cotton satin. Oh yes the main fabric for bodice is teal color tafetta . Wanted the skirt to start from low waist , hence added a big waist band with mixed color fabric 

With the bodice done, it was a tough decision to choose which fabric to use for skirt the dark blue organza or the mixed color name not known fabric . Adithi chose the later. Made an high low circle skirt which runs high low from side to side rather than front to back. Also another layer of ink blue organza is beaneath it and then  It is interlied with tafetta and underlined with cotton satin half circle skirt . Yes lots of layers for skirt and it adds fullness and gives shape without using tulle and is light in weight ...the only fabric heavy was cotton satin lining!

Bow on strap is last minute addition as I felt strap too nude compared to all those avant garde fabric fans on bodice. Bow is separate and is attached to broooch pin, so it can worn with any other outfit. 

After a trial session, Adithi said waist was itching , since the waist seams were visible though overlocked..i adding a seam covering using bias strip of cotton sateen and covered up seams, yes couture finish fit for a princess ...

 Oh yes had also made tile jewellery to go with it, earrings and necklace using fabric .

She had an awesome day at school, yes this year she wanted to go to school on her bday ..every year at the start she says how she would like to celebrate her bday and we plan accordingly ...last year she wanted a surprise a big one, so we took her to disneyland hongkong, this year she wanted to celebrate with friends at school..so it was ..then we went to park and temple in the evening ... Her favourite Geronimo Stilton book collection was the bday gift, which we had hidden in different places in the house and sent her on a treasure hunt, she was thrilled and elated. ... Made her handmade pop up card and then evening surprise gift was scrabble , which we played seated at the park until late into night when mosquitoes ensured it was time to head back home ...it was awesome birthday fitting for a princess....