A Cinderella Mash-Up

The Jack's Back dress and raglan set were a ton of fun, but they did push me out to May without any actual spring (let alone summer!) dresses sewn for my daughter. Oops! Although by May, I had made good on my promise to order more spring-friendly fabrics.

Having learned my lesson from the Christmas-fabric-for-spring selection last time, I more carefully curated A's fabric selection the second time around; this is what she picked. The colors didn't look great when I photographed it at night before starting (working mom sewist, here), but rest assured that this panel (and coordinating fabric) is really an amazing, colorful, stunning must-have in person.

Of course, the panel is also 18" x 21", because that was the only size I could score. Panels, I am beginning to realize, are hard to plan around. No matter what plan you have for them ahead of time, they arrive and the characters are to big, or the panel is too small, or you just HAVE to include some amazing detail in the most inconvenient corner. I mean, these things can usually be solved with pattern changes and additional fabric buys, but they are details that have to be worked out after the panel is in hand and before sewing begins.

At any rate, realizing that the castle and the characters at Cinderella's feet were just too cute to cut off meant my original plan of using the PaB Violet pattern was out. So too was blindly creating a short-sleeved version of the Haven's Hoodie, because putting the panel and the featured print together without any visual break got... really busy. Oh, and both the Haven AND the Violet feature pockets that would have covered part of the beautiful panel. So, that was also out. But... they're all tried n' true patterns for me, and they all had visual elements I liked, so...

In the end, they both got used. Haven became the silhouette of the dress + the pattern for the armscyes, and Violet contributed both the neckline (so I didn't have to make a hood) and the concept for the back. And at the last minute, I realized I could still place pockets in the side seams of a Haven, which I did by bringing the pockets of the SLPco Isla into the mix. Thus, this dress became my first three-way mashup. I went ahead and traced out the entire front of the dress onto some tissue paper so that I could optimize placement of the artwork:

And here it it is, all carefully cut out and ready for assembly. I did use the lines from the Haven for my inner and outer back, adding a 3/8" seam allowance added to both pieces for assembly as I went.

I put the pockets in just where the hips flared out, on the logic that that's where the pockets on jeans go. I also added contrast bands to the ends of the sleeves, because I loved that shade of violet with the fabric, and thought a contrasting neckband would 1) look good and 2) need another element to tie it in somewhere else on the dress. Here's what it looked like made up:

But even once I had it together, I thought it still needed something... like a contrast band on the bottom to even it out. So, totally on the fly I trimmed the bottom a bit, and and added a bottom band using the same method I used for the foldover neckband.

All in all, it made for a very happy customer! I do think the bottom band balanced things out a bit, and A loves to show this dress off. At first she was a little bummed that it doesn't "twirl" like the Isla does, but disappointment quickly gave way to excitement over the panel up front, the colors of the dress, the "cool" silhouette

and, as always, the inclusion of pockets.

The back is a little harder to see under all that hair, but I think it turned out nicely as well. I also think I ended up with enough of the main feature fabric on the back to squeeze out another dress if I have the chance.  A doesn't have a little sister she can coordinate with, but I'm sure she'd enjoy occasionally matching a friend.

This is by far the most unique dress I have made - in pattern mashups, in panel workarounds, and in last-minute modifications. But, when I look at it, I'm pretty proud it is "mine" - and I think kiddo is proud that it is hers as well!

I still desperately need to make little A a shortsleeved dress with a full skirt - an SLPCo Isla or a Paisley would work, and now I am also eyeballing the Solis pattern by Sofiljantes for - but I am very proud of this make, and very relieved to have at least one mom-made summer dress in her closet!