sequined princess dress

Girl child's new dress was based off of Simplicity 4764.  I've had this pattern since she was three but just now got around to using it.  She just fits the largest size in the packet I have.

The photos were designed and staged by girl child.  This was her brainchild - the location, the atmosphere and some of the poses.  Sometimes I just followed her around and snapped pics. 

Girl child made a bracelet specifically to wear with this dress. 

And I did make her hold out her overskirt so the sequins could catch the sun.  Shiny.  She's lucky the crows didn't steal her away.

One of the challenges with this dress was fully committing myself to putting in the invisible zipper properly.  Which I did, you should know, like a boss.  I watched a couple YouTube videos for instructions and then, once turning the universal invisible zipper foot this way and that until I could figure out how it to mounted to my machine, it was surprisingly simple.  Go me.

Her flip flops crack me up.

The cartwheel picture makes me think I need to spend some time creating a few petticoats. 

This grassy lane is our favorite part of the old city cemetery.  We've spent so much time there as of late - it really is quiet and peaceful, with mature trees and lovely benches. 

A number of graves have been planted with perennials.  I don't  know who is doing this, but it's an unusual thing around here where cemetery decorations are tightly controlled by business owners who do not like anything that may become messy or untended.  Generally, if the mower can't go over it, they don't want it.

I bet these flowers look amazing in a month or two. 

While girl child styled her shoot, the only thing that she was upset by was the lack of fairy or angel wings.  It's not a stock item in our house, not with a little brother and friends who come over to borrow our dress up clothes.  They are simply too fragile to last for long.  But, a lack of wings was not entirely a problem for girl child.  She's been raised well versed in diy. She made do.

I consider this dress a test model before I make up a more elaborate Alice in Wonderland style dress using a variation of the same pattern.  The fabrics used were all from the discount section at a couple of dollars a meter and in my stash for a significant amount of time - it was nice to finally use them.  The real test was whether or not I could take the scratchy overskirt and successfully tuck the seams away under the lining in order to avoid irritating her.  I always have to go have a lay down and cool off after spending hours making a dress that she won't wear because it's 'scratchy'.

Girl child declared this dress 'very comfy, thank you,' which is about as good as it gets, especially with the plastic sequins.  They are concealed nicely under the lining, as per pattern instructions.  If you do make this dress, I suggest lengthening the lining pieces just a touch so as to make sure you have enough to fold under and stitch in place. 

Though we have no plan for this dress, other than one to get ourselves invited to occasions where wearing such a dress wouldn't be completely impractical ( though girl child does consider having coffee with grandma and visits to the farm to be sufficient reasons to adorn sequins), but it was also noted that it might be a good bases for a corpse bride costume.  Perhaps it is the cemetery inspiration, but I think she does quite a good reanimated corpse impression: