Alabama Studio Sewing + Design: A Ruffled Celery Dress for Clara
The basic dress pattern worn at a longer mid-length cut, embellished with a pleated ruffle at the hem and at the neckline. Cap sleeves. Construction stitching done on the machine, pleats basted together on the machine, then everything finished by hand.
The pleat is constructed separately from the dress and then machine-zigzagged onto the skirt. Then I hand-stitched a narrow strip of jersey down the middle of the ruffle, using a beaded feather stitch. 
The neckline has a slightly smaller ruffle basted down, and then the finishing strip is aligned with the bottom edge and hand-stitched down with embroidery.
23 comments:
Very charming - what a wardrobe you're making for her!
Lisateresa
Anna: This is a work of art!! So gorgeous. (in MD)
Beautiful! I love that it is mostly handstitched.
It's obvious that a lot of love has gone into that dress.
Gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!
Oh Anna, this is just lovely.
Your beaded hand stitching is indeed a work of art - a beautiful detail.
Is the material your 100% cotton jersey?
Please thank Clara for modeling for us - the dress is so becoming and it helps so much to see it on her.
Thank you for sharing!
My word, that is a lovely dress! Beautifully made :) I especially love the pleated ruffle and beaded feather stitching.
lovely! I was thinking as I typed 'p l' in my browser, that it was high time for another AC garment :-)
I wish you would consider doing some videos of the different stitches ~ I have tremendous difficulty trying to figure them out (especially stretch stitches) from the book. I did find a video on youtube for the cretan stitch, so that is what I have become proficient in ;-)
I love this dress, the color, all the special details. I was so happy to see the ruffles, then when I saw the beading, oh wow!
I was wondering about the fabric, too. It's just the prettiest shade of green! Thanks for sharing!
beautiful did you allow the fabric to drop before ajusting the hem -do you need to do this; I have a stash of cotton jersey and this dress is such a better use of it than t-shirts and a BIG request could you a a video of clara playing the cello before she goes to college (remember the one you did of bella singing) it would be so special; we've beenpraying for you all, another one flying tne nest beautiful and right but hard as well I miss the music no matter where I was in the house I could hear them playing all the best to clara when she starts college. grace
What a beautiful special occasion dress to take to college! A cello recital perhaps?
Linden--actually, there is another, much *fancier* dress in the works for cello recitals.
Grace, the nice thing about these dresses is that there is no hem. If it starts to droop I suppose you could just cut off a little more! I'm sorry I can't promise to post Clara playing the cello--that falls to the Composer and he is seriously overworked these days. Thank you for praying for us!
the details are extraordinary! what a beautiful dress for a stunningly beautiful girl.
Kimmie
mama to 8
one homemade and 7 adopted
Really pretty. I bet it would look great belted, too.
Absolutely beautiful!! Understated elegance with casual femininity. I just love it. Thank you for sharing.
This is beautiful on her!
A question on the small strip hand-sewn over the ruffle: how does it wash? I know jersey doesn't fray/unravel much, but would love to see how this (or, honestly, any other projects) behave after use - which things "age gracefully" vs which have some pitfalls and where.
A good question! This has held up really well through three or four washes so far, no sign of ravelling. It's a very thick (double-knit, actually). The single knit, that looks like purl stitching on the back, tends to ravel a little more, but also does great things like pull into cords, which the double-knit doesn't do. I've been washing some of our jersey garments two years now, on a frequent basis, and they are holding up really well.
Seriously, This is the prettiest dress I've seen on your blog!! I've been following a long time too. :)
Beautiful dress, lovely colour. It strikes me that some of these fabulous dresses could become family heirlooms. I can just imagine Clara's grand-daughter wearing one of her granny's vintage dresses, and telling friends that it was made by great-grandma!
Thanks so much for the post-washing information and the single-knit vs. double-knit explanation! That's very useful to know (especially the visual distinction so that I can tell which kind I'm dealing with). It's so good to get the knowledge so you can make the right things from each fabric - each has its talents and its drawbacks, and sewing is so much more fun when you play to the right strengths.
And if you have any hints on how to find or identify woven 100% cotton (or any natural material) that will stay respectably non-wrinkly without ironing, I'd also be all ears. :-)
- from the Anonymous who wondered about washing knits on August 20
Really lovely! Love the ruffles!
Let me just say that I'm completely overwhelmed with all the details and hand stitching you do. Not only with this dress, but all of them. I am amazed, and only wish I could do a teensy-weensy bit of what you do! So beautiful. :)
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