[pippi]

If you want a more traditional princess dress I would think the fairytale pattern would be your best bet to get that very fitted bodice and full skirt. If you want a more casual “inspired by” look I was thinking the library dress (View B) with a gold band might fit some of the details of the Merida dress. Elsa is a little trickier. I think you would have to modify a lot or mix and match some patterns for that. I tried to work with my daughter on “designing” an Elsa dress but we kept getting stuck on the cape because she insisted that it be made of ice. 🙂

[pippi]

I have made a few disney things including sailboat Mickey pants and skirt (red with just two big white buttons). I thought it worked well, mickey was originally a sailor after all right? I know she doesn’t like minnie, but I also made a minnie dress with the tea party pattern (http://www.flickr.com/photos/59555784@N02/8452468313/) I was just thinking it might work for a very simple rapunzel dress because you could add contrast piping and a different shade of purple for the center panel to mimic the overlay effect of her dress.

My little girl loved Cars the first time we went to Disney and of course it is NEARLY impossible to buy anything Cars for girls so I made this Little Lisette dress for her: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59555784@N02/7154995476/ You could do something like that with mickey fabric too. I also made her a simple tiered ruffled skirt out of Cars fabric. http://www.flickr.com/photos/59555784@N02/6807019921/

Good luck! I had planned to sew for our trip last year, but only got one outfit done for each of them. Good that you are planning so early though because those deadlines always seem to creep up!

[pippi]

GREAT! Glad to hear that it is not something to worry about! I suppose those contrasting colors covering the seam do look nice when a shirt is on a hanger, but hardly worth the effort if you don’t have it on display. 🙂 I used a regular rib knit for my raglan neckline and it came out just right!

[pippi]

I decided a few months ago that if I “need” to buy new fabric, that I would try and make organic or eco- friendly choices whenever possible. But more than even buying anything new, I am trying to use my stash or find ways to reuse other types of fabric (like upcycling old clothing/sheets).

[pippi]

I found this book to be very useful for foot information: http://www.amazon.com/Sewing-Machine-Accessory-Bible-Machine-From/dp/0312676581/ref=pd_sim_b_1

[pippi]

By the way it came out totally fine!! I just sort of matched them up as best I could and they fit great. I think there is a little more room in the rise on these pants than in the sailboat pants. http://www.flickr.com/photos/59555784@N02/10712481865/in/pool-oliverands

[pippi]

Thanks! I will just sew through it and ignore the pointy part and see how they come out!!!

[pippi]

Great! Thanks for the input!

[pippi]

My girls have always preferred bike shorts too. If they were more into ruffles I would buy/make something like these ruffle bottom bike shorts: http://www.rufflebutts.com/white-organza-playground-shorts.html

[pippi]

I actually cleaned mine up a few days ago… here it is! http://www.flickr.com/photos/59555784@N02/8722739571/in/photostream/

In a few weeks I will have a new space… not necessarily better though. Might be dank unfinished basement, might be kitchen table…

Good luck getting your fabric sorted before your mom comes Mel! At least it looks like you have a lot of space!

[pippi]

I just made this not long ago and thought about leaving the collar off (because I thought my daughter would be bothered), but decided to try it first. I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t just skip that part. Instead of sandwiching the collar between the lining and the dress, you would just have the lining and the dress to sew together. I’ve been meaning to try this too so looking forward to seeing some finished pics!

[pippi]

I love the old-fashioned ironing boards built into the wall! I once toured this big old house that had a tiny little room that I couldn’t figure out what it was for… turns out, it was the sewing room! It had one of those ironing boards and was just big enough for a sewing desk and a hanger bar. How funny that a hundred years ago it would have been included in the house design! Maybe if we ever build a house I will revive the “sewing room”. 🙂

Nice to hear that I am not the only one sewing in small shared spaces! We are moving (to another small space) soon and I am hoping I am not banished to the dark, dank old basement also!

[pippi]

Hi- I haven been lurking around here for a year or so since I bought my first tea party sundress pattern. I like to keep a sort of anonymous online profile (hence all the weird headless photos of my kids!). My story is almost exactly the same as mrskanuckles, it’s kind of eerie actually, except instead of a teenage wrap skirt it was an a-line dress. I didn’t sew for years until I started making pillows and curtains for our newlywed home, then started sewing for my second daughter after I cut way back on hours at work. I was even inspired by danamadeit.com too! I think it was the warhol dress, but I totally botched it the first time around. Eventually I realized that patterns were nice because sizing was reliable and tried and true. And of course Oliver +S have such beautiful finishes I feel like the finished garments are really professional looking.

I have lived all over the U.S., currently in the South, but moving soon to the Midwest. I’ve been lucky to have a few friends here and there that also sew and like to shop for fabric, which makes it so much fun, but I have also been incredibly inspired by the flickr group and this forum is an amazing resource.

I also think “I could make that” and forgo buying clothes for my kids a little too often, because I don’t have to time to sew them everything they need.

I pretty much find time to sew almost every day, and I think it is mostly because I watch very little TV. 🙂

Someday I would also like to get a nicer camera and learn a bit more about photography so I can take nicer photos.

[pippi]

Ha- I have been thinking about this lately because my space is so ridiculously laughable! I really need to take some pictures for posterity because hopefully within a few years I will have a slightly better situation. I have an old computer desk with my sewing machine on top, and all my thread, scissors, bobbins etc sit in the little keyboard drawer beneath it. The desk is in my teeny tiny bedroom essentially at the foot of my bed so that if I were to sew at night i would practically be sewing in husband’s ear (so he usually shuts down production when he goes to bed). It’s such a tight fit that if I am sitting in my desk chair no one can walk between the chair and the bed. CRAZY. I have one of those flat ironing pad type blanket thing on the dresser that sits directly next to my computer/sewing desk because there is no room for an ironing board to even be set up anywhere near my machine. I have an over-the-door shoe hanger on the closet door to store (some) fabric and a travel jewelry case thingy hanging on the wall behind the desk to store needles, extra feet, measuring tape etc. it’s crazy, but somehow I still manage to get something sewn up at least once a week! I’ve been dreaming about the day when I might have even 1/3 of a regular room dedicated to sewing stuff!

[pippi]

Ahhh. That all makes sense. A blog post about it would be great! I assume there are some general rules that might be helpful in altering patterns for older kids? Maybe not, I don’t know. Also I know you had a series on fabric selection, but I have also noticed as my daughter gets bigger it seems the prints, patterns, and fabric choices really matter more just because there is so much more fabric involved. A print can more easily become overwhelming in the larger sizes and it seems fabric type and drape plays more of a role too. I would guess that at some point in the near future my daughter won’t want me to sew for her anymore anyway so I do see how teen patterns aren’t so popular. Thanks for explaining and thanks for sticking with the O+S brand even though it is not making you a millionaire… yet! 😉