princess Archives - girl. Inspired.

Princess Dress Sewing Pattern for Girls

July 25, 2013 by girlinspired 33 Comments

As promised, today I’m sharing the other dress design that I contributed to the first 5&10 Sewing Pattern eBook and is now available as an individual pattern here. You probably spotted it from a mile away – it’s the princess dress! I am really excited to be able to share this pattern with you – princess dresses seem to be popular among the little girls in my life and I receive frequent emails asking for a pattern for the other princess dress I designed more than a year ago. So, I’m happy to give you all the tools you’ll need to create this new princess gown complete with a built-in pettiskirt.

This dress was made with my favorite fabric, Robert Kaufman Radiance, which is a silk-cotton blend and is gorgeous and easy to work with. In my opinion, this is the perfect material for this gown, but you can use whatever type of fabric you like! I picked up this particular cut of Radiance at Michael Levine last month during Fabric Weekend – you can purchase it online, here. (it looks like they have a million other colors available online, too).

The Princess Dress sewing pattern, also known as Look no. 10, uses the basic bodice pattern pieces provided in the eBook. It also uses the included cap sleeve pattern. It buttons up the back with fabric-covered buttons. The real transformation in the dress, though, is in the skirt. The pettiskirt is built in to the lining and lifts the whole dress up. Detailed instructions and pictures will walk you through every step of constructing this dress, including the addition of trim to the waistline and the hem of the dress.

I used the same pattern for Addie’s Princess and the Popstar princess dress, but used a rolled hem to finish the bottom of the main skirt. (I deviated from the included cap sleeve). This one is also made with Radiance (color: Wisteria).

Even though we already had the purple princess gown in the house (and the pink one from last year), the little girls fought over who the blue one would belong to…I guess you can’t have too many princess dresses, huh?!!! Frankly, I’ll keep handing them out if I get pictures like these.

UPDATE: As of September 7, 2016, 5&10 Designs has closed its doors. Pattern eBooks are no longer available for purchase. However, I am working on creating individual patterns for my looks from the original eBooks. Currently, the PETITE PRINCESS DRESS SEWING PATTERN (as seen here) is available for individual purchase in my Etsy shop, which you can access by clicking here. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement over the years!

Ready to Bustle?

February 28, 2012 by girlinspired 33 Comments

Tutorial for the skirt of this Gorgeous Princess Gown!

I promised I’d tell you how to make the skirt of the princess gown, so here goes. You can use your favorite dress pattern for the bodice and sleeves, this tutorial will cover how to create the skirt portion of the dress. The dress should be worn over a very full pettiskirt/tutu to really get the lifted effect. I assembled the whole dress and did the bustling last.

Princess Gown Tutorial - learn how to sew the skirt for a gorgeous princess gown!

Assemble dress, making sure that you have a very full skirt. I used a full width of the fabric for both the front and the back of the dress skirt – I didn’t measure the fabric, but it was probably 45″-50″ wide or so. So, the full circumfrence of the skirt would be around 90″ – a very full skirt!! Gather the skirt and attach it to the bodice – here’s a more detailed tutorial on gathering – How To Gather Fabric

Find and mark the top and bottom center of the front of the skirt.
Measure the distance from the center to the side. Divide by 3 and mark along the bottom of the skirt. So, let’s say that the distance from the center to the side is 24″. You’re going to mark every 8″ – the center, at 8″ over from the center, at 16″ over from the center, and at the side seam (24″). Repeat for the other front half.
Mark 6″ up from the bottom at each side seam. Then, 9″. Then 12″. Then 16″ at the center. These increments may vary depending on the length of the dress you’re making. I made about a 2T/3T. The top of my center point (16″ from the bottom) was about 3 1/4″ down from the top of the skirt.

Sew two parallel lines (using a gathering, or a loose, stitch) straight down from the top mark to the bottom. Secure your thread at the top so that you can scrunch it up without the bobbin threads pulling loose.
Now scrunch…cinch…whatever you wanna call it! Be sure you scrunch all of your bustles an even amount. The finished length of my scrunched portions were about 2 1/2″.
Secure the threads. I tried to just tie triple knots in the thread, but this won’t hold. Stitch using a regular stitch right down the center of the gathered portions; be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of the section.
Fluff and wear!!

the "brief appearance" dress

February 27, 2012 by girlinspired 5 Comments

I’ve gotten back in to my sewing groove after recovering from PR&P. I’ve been totally itching to sew something for myself, but it’s taken me a long time to get brave enough. I was able to squeeze in some sewing time this weekend and made the CUTEST skirt for Olivia, along with a simple skirt for myself! I will share those as soon as I can get some snapshots. I’m trying to clean up some pictures on my computer and found a few of the third dress I made for Grace’s birthday party…Addie’s dress. I feel kind of so-so about how this turned out. The fabric is really pretty – more of that silk/cotton blend, but it just hangs and seems a bit lackluster. I love the little belt with the flowered brooch, though.

I have zero decent pictures of Addie wearing the dress. She put it on for about three minutes total, refused to look at the camera, and then stripped it off, tossed it in a heap on the floor and ran naked to answer the door as the first party guests arrived. Lovely. I’ll give a quick share anyhow. Hope you have a great Monday!!

A Sweet! Giveaway from Papercandee

February 20, 2012 by girlinspired 71 Comments

You are in for a real treat today – a treat from PaperCandee!!

You might remember that when Gracie asked for a pink princess party, I was completely taken by surprise. Needing some inspiration to go all pink and girly for yet another party, I turned to Pinterest and Etsy. In a matter of minutes, I had found the perfect starting point for the party — the Fairytale Princess Storybook Soiree — a printable party collection by PaperCandee!! I contacted the shop and within a couple days, I downloaded Grace’s personalized princess party invitations, printed them up, and they were ready to go! Since Grace just invited a few preschool friends to the party, we were able to hand deliver them before Christmas break. This is the first year I was able to give out real invitations for my poor child with the birthday right after Christmas.

So…today, Papercandee has two! awesome things for you, my lucky readers! First, she is giving away a freebie digital file for printable stationary to every single one of you!! All you have to do is “like” Papercandee on Facebook and leave a comment on Papercandee’s page with your email. She’ll send you the file – lucky you!!!

Dez, the mastermind behind Papercandee, does the most beautiful work. She offers both digital and fully assembled collections for a variety of themes and purposes. She does invitations and announcements, cupcake toppers and activity books, food signs and yard signs, she does it all!!

AND….one of you will be winning an entire digital collection from the Papercandee Shoppe!! Eeeeek! You should see the beautiful designs that Papercandee offers! Here are some of my favorites…

Parisian Baby Shower

Shabby Chic Vintage Tea Party

These toes are not for sale, but wouldn’t you know….Papercandee designed the paper products for this birthday party and I designed the dress!! Small world, eh? And those toes look just scrumptious!! This was for the Shabby Chic Vintage Tea Party.

Shabby Chic Vintage Tea Party Invitation

Vintage Airplane Boy Birthday

Paris Party Activity Book

Pretty nice eye candy, right? To enter to win a complete digital collection of your choice, here are your options (leave a separate comment for each):

Leave me a lovely comment.
“Like” Papercandee on Facebook.
“Like” girl. Inspired. on Facebook.
Subscribe to the girl. Inspired. blog

Good luck!!

Twirling Flower Gown (what Olivia wore)

February 7, 2012 by girlinspired 13 Comments

First off, a really big thank you for continuing to support me at Project Run and Play. I made it through Special Occasion week and am working this week on my “Signature Look” for the final project – be sure to stop in Friday to see what I’ve made!

I’m hoping to squeeze in a couple things before Friday. To start, I wanted to share pictures of Olivia’s gown that she wore for Grace’s princess party (Are you tired of the Princess Party yet?? A couple more things, including a fabulous giveaway, okay?)

Olivia’s dress was made using three full yards of a stretchy, bouncy satin. I have no specific information on this fabric – I picked it up in a flurry of sewing and party planning right after Christmas. Those two weeks between Christmas and Grace’s birthday party were CRAZY!! I sewed and photographed Addie’s entire ensemble for the first week of Project Run and Play (that was the brown silk dress), little Oliver’s entire boy look, three princess gowns for Grace’s party, AND did all the decorations and baking for the party. Again, CRAZY!! So when it was two days until party and Olivia’s dress still wasn’t done, I ran to Joann’s and bought a pile of several different pink synthetics, ran home, and this dress is what I ended the night with.

It is HEAVY and TWIRLY!!

The bodice is basically a lined tube, cut a couple inches smaller than her chest since there is so much stretch in the satin. The floorlength skirt is very full and tightly gathered, then stitched to the tube bodice. The hem of the skirt is finished with a very ruffly ruffle. I finally bought a ruffling foot for my sewing machine and it definitely made this hemline ruffle a million times quicker to do!!

The flower on the bodice that wraps over into a single strap makes this dress extra special. I’ll do a tutorial at some point – remind me if you find yourself waiting too long! It’s basically a long ruffle, wound around and stitched down into a flower spiral. Then I added a few singed petals and a thrifted pearl earring to the center to finish it. Olivia was begging for the dress to be strapless, but 1) it was too heavy, and 2) her daddy was having a heart attack over his little girl wearing something so “grown up.” The flower strap helped on the first front, but probably not much on the second.

Nevertheless, this princess is definitely happy with her fancy dress and loved dressing up for her sister’s birthday party.

Dancing on a Cloud Princess Gown: Project Run and Play, Week 5

February 3, 2012 by girlinspired 22 Comments

WEEK 5!!! I can hardly believe it. Thank you again and again for cheering me on during this fun adventure!

This week’s theme is probably my favorite type of sewing – Special Occasion/Partywear. Since the very first garment I ever made was Addie’s first birthday dress, it has become a tradition to sew the girls dresses for each birthday party. And of course, Grace got a perfect princess gown for her pink princess party a few weeks ago. I just wasn’t able to show you until now! Olivia and Addie also got new gowns and I will be posting photos of those next week so stay tuned!

Today, we’ll be looking at Grace’s dress, my entry for this week at Project Run and Play. I called this dress “Dancing on a Cloud.” Have I told you how much I [don’t] love naming my outfits each week? Not my best trick. But I DO think the name this week suits this pretty puff of a dress.
Vote here!

I used a cotton silk blend in the most delicious shade of peachy pink for Grace’s gown. The gown has a scoop neck and short-sleeves that are large and billowy, but cinched with two rows of elastic thread for a simple, princess look. I wanted to keep the top of the dress simple for the main show…the skirt. The very full skirt was bustled in several places in a stair-step fashion to form an inverted V. I think the finished effect is stunning. The sheen and drape of this particular fabric suits the style perfectly. The back of the dress closes with ten, tiny fabric-covered buttons – I love this detail. It’s so fitting for a special occasion dress. The dress is finished with a wide sash that ties into a large bow in the back. In order to provide the right support for the princess gown, I sewed a pettiskirt from multiple layers of lining, stiff netted tulle, and lightweight tulle. The stiff tulle provides the support to hold up the gown’s skirt while the top layer of lightweight tulle adds a bit more fluff and a pretty compliment to the gown where it is bustled. I encased all of the pettiskirt layers with a thick cotton knit waistband for extra comfort.

This dress was really fun to make for a “princess gown”, but I also think it would be the cutest formal dress for a wedding or other super special occasion. I think we’ll do a little how-to on the skirt of the dress in the next week or so – sound good?

If you’ve been following along, you already know that the girls and I made a pile of glittery princess crowns for the party. Grace selected a smaller, tall silver crown to wear on her special day – I think she looks like the most beautiful little princess, giving me such sweetie peetie smiles and holding her skirt out just so. Gosh, I love that girl.

And thank you, thank you, thank you for your kind comments every week, I truly appreciate each and every one of you!

If you’re planning a princess party, you might also like:

Fit for A Princess – Princess Birthday Party

Princess Gown Bustle Tutorial

Lace Princess Crowns Tutorial Tutu Tablecloth Tutorial

Princess Dress Sewing Pattern for Girls

Ready to Bustle?

the "brief appearance" dress

A Sweet! Giveaway from Papercandee

Twirling Flower Gown (what Olivia wore)

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