Alyssa's Princess Dress For Her Birthday

It is hard to believe that Alyssa is fixing to be two!!  OMG!!  Where does the time go??

Anyways - I am doing a princess party for her.  If you are going to have a princess party you have to have a princess dress!

My mom said she wanted to buy the dress...but of course, being the sewer that I am, thought it would be funner to make her dress :-)  So my mom bought all of the items needed to do so!

I wanted something that she could wear more than just for dress up play!  So I decided to do the basic dress, that she could actually wear to church, and then do a dress-up layer (or what I call the "ball gown" layer) to wear to her princess party to play dress up in!

I used the tutorial I found here for the basic dress.  I decided to do it in pink and white instead of yellow and white.  I made the dress out of men's t-shirts.  (it was a very sad fact that I found the pink color that I wanted in the men's t-shirt department!  My sister and I looked all over the ladies department at Target, even in the intimates section, maternity, sleepwear, everywhere and not one good pink color t-shirt or jersey knit!  But we did find it in the men's department.  I know my husband would not be caught dead in this color t-shirt! LOL!)

Anyways, I bought 2 of the pink shirts and one white shirt.  My pink shirts were size L.  For her dress which is probably truly about a size 3T it took EVERY BIT of those two shirts...I would suggest buying larger sizes if you want to make this. :-)

So here is the basic dress...

When I first tried it on her it was a bit too long (went all the way to the floor) so I decided to pull up the sides.   I made two fabric flowers and attached them to safety pins and used that to "tack" the dress up (this way as she grows the dress will grow with her).  I really liked the result of how it looked though with the sides pulled up like that!  I think it really added to the dress.  Here is a picture from my phone of the dress before I tacked the sides so you can see the difference.

Here is a close up of the top.  It is a peasant style top and I shirred the neck and arms instead of doing elastic!  I liked the shirred look better.  I just used some eyelet lace trim that I got on clearance at Wal-Mart for the collar.  I used an elastic hoop in the middle to gather the collar at the middle.  This also sets the necklace in place (so she won't be so apt to play with it...but lets the necklace be removed before the dress is washed.)

For the "ball gown" layer I found a elastic and jersey knit braid headband on clearance at Wal-Mart for $1!!  (it was actually a set of 3 headbands - so two for Alyssa to wear and one to use for this project!  What a deal!!)  It fit very well around her tiny waist!!  :-)  I thought it would be perfect to attach the embellishments on to add flair to her dress for her party!

In the front I added pearls and fabric roses.  In the back I added a ruffl knit and lace bustle!!

Here is the front of the dress with the added layer.

Here is the back of the dress with the bustle!

Here is just that layer to show you what I am talking about!

 Here is a close up showing you the headband that I used.

Here are other items that were bought to go with the dress for her princess party!

Her dress up shoes!!  (yes they will be a bit big on her but aren't dress up shoes suppose to be big??  She is going to go crazy over these!! She loves shoes!!)

Here is her birthday girl tiara!!  Can't be a princess without a tiara.

 It even came with clip on earrings!  How fun!!!

And here is her bracelet that matches the necklace on her dress (the necklace and the bracelet were on the $1 aisle at Target!)

And I have decided to make a petticoat to go under the dress to make it poof out even more!  I was trying ot figure out if I had material on hand to do this with and remembered that some time back my grandmother gave me 124 YARDS of lace!!  It sits in the top of my closet because I have not found much to do with it.  I have used a little here and there...but not much of it!  I think it will work perfect for a little girl petticoat!!  The wheels in my head are turning to figure out how to make this so that it can grow with her because a little girl will always need a petticoat, right?!?  :-)

So more on that later!!

I can't wait to see Alyssa all dressed up in her princess dress!!  I will make sure I share pictures!

Another thing I am trying to decide is what to do for the cake!  Do I use the cake pan I have to make a princess doll cake (using a Barbie doll) or do I make a castle cake (you know with the sugar cones)??

Well I guess I better go...I have lots of thinking and planning to do still!!