Wednesday 21 December 2011

Dress A Girl Around the World...



Have you heard of Dress A Girl Around the World? It's an organisation which aims to provide dresses for girls who otherwise wouldn't own one. How could a little girl not own one dress? Perhaps hard for us to imagine as we sit in our comfortable homes, blogging and sewing.

Here's some links if you would like to find out more about this wonderful organisation:
I've just sent these dresses off to Dress A Girl Around the World, Australia.






The pillowcase dresses are SO quick and easy to make. I've used fabric from my stash, but, as the name implies, they can be made from a pillowcase. You will easily find patterns all over the Internet. Here's a few links to pillowcase patterns:


I decided to try another style for the fifth dress, as I wanted to try out a pattern I had; Butterick 3477. I quickly skimmed the instructions.  It looked easy enough.


I'm not totally sure what happened, but the dress was much larger than I expected. I made a size 5. I know I'm only short, but the dress, without the ruffle, came down to my knees!!! Something went wrong somewhere. Time to properly read the pattern instructions. My mistake; the pattern allowed several inches at the top of the skirt for the gathering. I'm not sure why this much was needed. I just sewed three lines of stitching for the gathering, using less than one inch of fabric. No way was I undo the gathering. I could have shortened the dress and then added the ruffle, but I felt this would be a waste of fabric, so I've left it without. I think it's way too big for a five year old, which doesn't matter as it can be worn by an older girl. I doubt that I'll bother to use this pattern again. There's too many really good patterns out there.


This picture gives you an idea of just how long the last dress is. The template for the butterfly appliqué is from Angel Lea Designs.



Imagine a world where every little girl owned at least one dress...


15 comments:

  1. Beautiful Pam!!! Love your lil' additions and embellishments. There will be some very happy little girls who receive these!

    FYI...I just made something for babe with a butterick pattern and it was huge....even using a size down, so it might be partially the pattern sizing too. The commercial patterns seem to run much larger than the designer ones in my experience.

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  2. Pam, it is touching to read that you've thought of these little girls around the world and made them these sweet colorful dresses. As for the pattern, oh I can relate to patterns leaving me with a very perplexed look on my face after several hours of work! Who knows why that happens! I love your applique butterfly and flower as well. Wonderful :-)

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  3. It's great! I like mostly a dress with butterfly, it is awesome!

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  4. Gorgeous dresses! Thanks so much for linking to my blog in the UK too. Much appreciated! x

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  5. They are all wonderful. I definitely plan on doing this in the new year.

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  6. Your dresses are so cute! I'm sure every girl w ho gets one will be delighted.

    I didn't know there were organizations like this. I think it's wonderful! Thanks for sharing the links.

    Cheers,
    Tracy Screaming Sardine

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  7. What a wonderful course. I have just popped over and signed up

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  8. This is such a lovely idea. I think I'll have to do this next year :) I'm sure there will be some little girls who are going to love twirling and skipping in their pretty new dresses :)
    As for your pattern mix up... you know me and patterns.. I never read them! :D Although, next year I am going to have a go at completing something by following the instructions word for word (probably!!!) LOL

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  9. Hi Pam! So glad you linked up to my party. I am already a follower :)
    ~Kara (www.petalstopicots.com)

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  10. These dresses are so adorable, Pam! And you are very generous to keep sewing them up for the little girls. One day I need to find time to give to charity in this manner.

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  11. Gorgeous dresses Pam! And thanks for those links. I sent off a couple of dresses last year to something similar, but as far as I know it was a one off! I've bookmarked this page - so I can come back to it when I've a little time to make some more!

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a fabulous week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  12. Such sweet little dresses. Any girl would be proud to wear one.

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  13. These dresses are beautiful !

    I hope that you will share them at my party, Some Good Stuff: http://some-good-times.blogspot.com/2012/01/some-good-stuff-2.html

    Megan

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  14. Hi
    Can we still get involved in this project?
    How do I find out more?
    Jill

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    Replies
    1. This is an ongoing project in various locations throughout the world. There's more info in this post...
      What's Happening in September

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