Summer sewing swap

OK, this one was a little harder.  I signed up for the swap and waited to get my partner.  We all fill out a questionnaire..what we like, what we don't like, what we absolutely do not want to receive, what's the dream outfit you'd like...etc.  My partner's dream outfit was a mid 1800's dress.   I was totally lacking inspiration in that area.  I didn't want it to be just the same as the last dress I made for the spring swap. So I procrastinated.  Then American Girl released their new historical dolls Cecile and Marie Grace.  So I was looking through their new outfits and was inspired by one of them.  Marie Grace's skirt set.  So here is my version of the set, I hope my swap partner loves it as much as I do.

I did not care for all the bows on the front of the AG one, so I left that off, I thin it does need something but I don't know what that is.  Sometimes it's better to leave something rather than put too much.

This is the back view:

Close up pics of the front and back

This is a picture of one of the sleeves in progress, it was a lot of work, but I love how it looks

I know some people like to see the inside of the project so here's some pics of the inside of the top (forgive my mess, my sewing table is also the dining table so it's a challenge to sew a project while trying to live life at the same time):

The finished top, front and back.

I also made a Chemise and pantaloons to go w/ it, sorry about the ugly fold in it, this is before I washed and pressed it for the last time.

I LOVE this dress, wish I could keep it, but it's the day of shipping and it has to go out.  I will have to make another one for my daughter to put on her dolls so I can admire it.  It turned out better than I expected because I had to draft some of my own pattern pieces to make it look like Marie Grace's outfit.  Again I modified parts of 4 different patterns to get what I wanted.  If I do make another there are still some changes I would make so it won't be exactly the same but it was a good learning experience.  I enjoyed making it, just wish I would have decided on what I was doing a lot sooner so I could have given myself more time to be ready.  I made it all in one day, from drafting pattern pieces to assembly to washing and ironing, today it's going out in the mail to my swap partner.  I hope she loves it as much as I do.

Birthday dress

I originally cut this dress out to make for my daughter when she was 3, she's now 7.  Well stuff happens right?  Anyway, we were invited to a birthday party for a friend of our's daughter and guess what?  She's 3!  One of the prettiest little princesses I've ever seen and perfect for the dress.   So I sewed it together finally.

It has the most adorable little pockets.

This is only the 3rd zipper I've ever put in.  I don't like doing it really, but at least it looks ok.

My daughter insisted that we put a tag in the back.  So I let her write "back" on it.

It sewed up pretty good, there were some confusing parts, but I got past them.  Overall it's really cute, and I hope to see her wearing it sometime just to see how well it fits.  I had no measurements to go on.

I wish the pictures and lighting were better, but it was down to the wire and I had to wrap it to give so this is the best I could get.