McCalls 7858 - Aleena's Version

I made Aleena's dress after Samantha's. I thought since I'd already made one I would better understood how the sewing order should go. However, since I was using an embroidered mesh with a scalloped edge, I started with the skirt portion of her dress...and therein laid my problem.

The darker fabric was purchased because it had the scalloped pink border. That would give the two dresses, two separate looks, from the same pattern. As I laid out the skirt pattern pieces, I realized that the embroidered mesh was only 45" wide and that my pattern pieces wouldn't fit.

Y'all this threw me into a true tizzy. It didn't help that it occurred in the middle of the night. I melted down...truly.  The fact that I have a dress made and that Aleena loves it is more a tribute to my daughter and Aleena than me! *LOL*

Anyway after they came by and we did a fitting with a bad hooped petticoat, I got back on track.

Let's start with the supply list ~
3 yards pink silk shantung from Chic Fabrics
3 yards of blk/pink/turquoise embroidered mesh from Chic Fabrics
1 12" pink zipper
1/2 yard white bemberg lining from the collection
1 yard of pink piping from the collection
7 yards lt. pink bias binding

Construction Changes ~
- I ended up piping Aleena's bodice with the same pink piping I used on Sammy's.
- Again the mesh was carefully chosen and placed on the front and back bodice before they were sewn together.

- Then I played around with the sleeve. My first choice was sleeves made from just the embroidered mesh.

- Then I added the pink shantung under the mesh and sewed it into the bodice for the try-on

- I had the two pieces finished and I stopped there for the night before the task of adding the bias binding to the hemline of the mesh.

It wasn't my intent to have the hemlines finished the same on both dresses. My original intent was to use the scalloped edge for the hemline. The fabric was just not wide enough to manipulate. I'm glad that I finished the hemlines the same though. It made both dresses look similar but not exactly the same and both dresses reflected the girls personality.

A few pictures of Aleena in the dress ~

I was thrilled when I finished both of these in plenty of time. The girls were thrilled with the dresses and so was I. This is the last post of the event dresses. I hope I've shared enough information about the dresses construction in case anyone else is interested in using the pattern.

As I said previously, I have a backlog of garments that will be shared in upcoming blog posts. Also, I'm headed to the Five Day Sew Camp at Carriage Corner B&B next week, so there will be much fabric shopping, laughing, talking and sewing with friends.

One Final Picture of the Girls ~

...as always more later!