Ball Gown Adventures

Every now and then I'll be working on a doll costume, and everything constantly needs to be redone - because the outfit has a mind of it's own.  Miho's ball gown is turning out to be one of those. Every day brings something new to redo, or add.  Of course it's also the very first thing I'm making for my Fashion girl, so there's a lot of kinks to work out as well. This gown is actually a 'test'.

I didn't have enough of the mint tricot for the full length of the underskirt layer, so had to make it gathered in tiers. I also didn't want all the skirt thicknesses at the bottom of the bodice, so made a yoke for the top of the underskirts....

The pattern for the bodice still needs some adjusting for next time, but I have to work with this one the way it is. I wanted the bodice to lace up the back, but there were far too many layers of fabric to insert eyelets.  So I sewed on a row of 'eye's down each side.

 The back of the underskirt just seemed too long. My Miho was still in her flat bare feet, so I was adding extra to the skirt lengths to compensate. I figured I better put her high heel feet on and find some heeled shoes.  The only pair I had was a pair of pink boots that came with my Leona....

Not exactly appropriate footwear for such a fancy gown!  I'm going to have to buy - or make - some nice high heeled shoes to go with it. But for now these will just have to do. At least I could now check the length of the skirts. They were way too long. So I picked out all the seams on both the sheer overskirt, and the lace underskirt, removed the edges and gathered lace, cut off a couple of inches, and reapplied the edgings. Then the dress was a much better length....

Before

After

I had sewn decorative ribbon flowers onto the bodice....

Of course, then the skirt edges demanded similar flower embellishments.
​Good thing I had stocked up on ribbon roses and flowers at the sale last week....

I had thought a single row of flowers, alternating between small and larger ones, would be good. But the skirt is now telling me it looks too 'sparse' and wants another row higher up. I had debated between sewing the flowers or, or gluing them, and decided I would sew them on - at least for the over skirt.  Although, now that there's going to be a second row, AND the longer skirt wants the same thing - plus a beaded edging - I may just have to resort to glue after all. 

​And because I shortened the sheer overskirt, the lace edging on the bottom of the lace skirt underneath didn't show anymore, so I had to sew a second lace ruffle above the first one, so the lace will show through.

I need to get some more beads, start on the big fabric bow for the back of the gown, and continue with sewing on the flowers. This is going to take a while!