Little Dresses Update

This picture looks cruddy, I know. I had to have taken 30 yesterday in my hallway, under not the greatest lighting. That obnoctious alphabet mat needs to go for sure! Once I get it together, I can pin it to my board and get better pics without my shadows in the way! Or better yet...show it in the bedroom where it will eventually live.


Things have progressed well in the last week. My order of more stripey fabric came yesterday. All of the squares but the one remaining are bordered, and I have enough should I use it for the binding.

(double click for a better look)

Fourteen of Fifteen done, mostly. One needs to have the paper removed and possibly change the velvet sash to a smaller width (below).

Here's another of my recently done dresses. This pink fabric is in some of the stuff in the room already. Lisa sent me some great fabrics this week. one of the soft aquas will be used for the last dress block. IT's just the color I was hunting too!

I have gone nuts over these silly little bows, nearly ditching them altogether. If you remember, I started out with pink bows, and had done 4 or 5 when I discovered the pink stripe fabric (and that I did not like the bows with the stripes!). They are a wasteful pain in the butt to make. It takes about 45 minutes to make 2 bows. Paper piecing...(UGGH!)
Then, with the aid of Photoshop, I manipulated the colors of the bows a bit, and discovered that green ones were more attractive. I also realized I had done the central fabric incorrectly, and it needed to be the floral of the ribbon, rather than the ivory. I had that green floral (Moda Blackbird) material to do a skirt or dress for Sophie and had not gotten around to making it yet. It matches the quilt nicely. It will appear again in the borders somehow too!

Only, I found one more error in my PP planning (curses!!...fortunately I decided to just make ONE green bow to see if I liked it first). I made a modification to the PP pattern so that the floral "ribbon" will mate up properly, and now have 9 of these made. I need a minimum of 10. Ideally, if I could locate another half yard of the yellow floral (ribbon fabric), I'd do 20 of the bows. I have this material in Sophie's crib bumpers, but cannot bring myself as of yet to cut them up. The last go-around on the bows is definitely my favorite - they appear larger (fuller?).

So, the top is just about ready to be assembled. One block and one bow left, and a bit of manipulation of the sashings to make them have ribbon points (wait and see here)....not to mention rearranging the blocks a dozen times before sewing!

So, in 2 week's time, I have gone from this ...
to this...
Good improvements!