#1305 - Girl and Doll Fairy details

This is my favorite view from this new little girl costume pattern.  I had a vision in my head how I wanted it to look, but it took some trial and error to get this vision from my head into reality.

First all the pointed skirt petals ... to cut them out quickly, I layered the sparkle net fabric in groups of 6 to 8 layers.

I wanted each petal to "pop", so I thought I would outline them by stitching around each one. I dove into my bins of serger thread and did some experimenting.

And this is what I ended up with, a mix of yellow/green for the green petals and a mix of pink/purple for the purple.

To exaggerate each point, I made sure when finishing the second side each petal I was stitching towards the point and pulled that point down while stitching.

I like the look of the dangling thread ends, so trimmed each a bit and ...

put a dot of "Fray-Check" on each end (any clear drying glue would work), then laid them all out carefully to dry, making sure the points didn't touch. Otherwise they might all end up stuck together!

They look best if overlapped a bit when the gathering stitches are applied.

Then just baste the gathered petals into the seam before setting in the sleeves and skirt.

Now, at first, I thought I could just use a purchased trim for the waist detail. It would be easy! but it looked so BLAH.

So I went shopping and came back with these flowers. Perfect!

I didn't want to glue the flowers directly onto the dress. That would make washing or cleaning it impossible, so I made little bands from the bodice fabric. The flowers can be glued to that and then that can be tacked to the dress, which is easily removed for cleaning.

I clipped and cut the flowers and leaves to make them the size I needed. I used the larger flowers for the girl and smaller ones for the doll. Hot glue is the best way to glue things like this.

And as I worked, I stopped to check how it was looking ... always a good idea. When they were all done, I simply slip stitch the band of glued flowers in place.


These fairies also get flowery headbands.  And the princess gets a pretty tiara. I'll show you those next time.