Take One Dress 3: Do Guincho to While She Was Sleeping

By Victoria As-it-Seams - 23:41

It's the first Monday of March, and that means that it's time for the next stop on the Take One Dress  journey. 
And I am so thrilled to have Jenya from While She Was Sleeping to take up the challenge posed by Marta from Do Guincho in February.
Jenya lives in Australia, but I really wish she didn't! We stumbled upon each other last year when we were both  new to blogging and she's been 'holding my hand' ever since, offering endless friendly encouragement. And some awesome sewing!

 She produced this beautiful dress inspired by some tricky Secret Squirrel acorns (passed on to her by none other than ....um...As it Seams). And, amazingly, she said 'yes' again to the Take One Dress challenge! Over to you Jenya...

Hi guys, my name is Jenya. I blog at While she was sleeping, and I am super excited to be here today.

When Victoria first mentioned her idea of the Take One Dress series I thought it was brilliant! Seriously, how often do we see something that gets our creative juices flowing? So the idea of inviting a few ladies to get creative as well as provide a source of inspiration for each other - who would say no to that? Not me.

Natalie from La Gang a Nat kicked off the series with this gorgeous creation.

Last month Marta from Do Guincho created a beautiful dress for her daughter inspired by the dress presented by Natalie. Marta also chose this dress as a point of inspiration for me and anyone wanting to sew along:






I think this dress is absolutely stunning. I want one for myself! However the challenge was to create an outfit for my daughter. So While she was sleeping I made a new dress for Little Monkey inspired by Miss Holloway's dress.


I 'borrowed' the timeless shape of Miss Holloway's dress, the neckline detail, the detail on the skirt and buttons.
 I used Debbie's Birthday Dress pattern, only changed it a little. You can see the dresses I have made using this pattern previously here, here and here. I chose Debbie's Birthday Dress pattern again because of it's timeless shape.
 






I live in Australia and even though it is the end of summer for us, the Aussie sun is still very harsh. I added faux cap sleeves to the bodice of the dress to help protect Little Monkey's delicate skin from the sun. I can't believe I have not attempted this earlier! I think next time I will shorten the sleeves by 1 - 2 cm.


Apart from the shape of the dress, Debbie's Birthday Dress has a Peter Pan collar option which is perfect since I wanted the neckline of Little Monkey's dress to stand out, just like that of Miss Holloway. This was my second attempt at sewing a Peter Pan collar, and I admit I need more practice before I get good at it.


OK, maybe my collar is not perfect, but the pleats are pretty darn good! Why pleats? Well, Miss Holloway's dress has a gorgeous statement detail on the side of the skirt. I thought pleats would be the 'statement detail' that is appropriate for a three year old. Look at Little Monkey dancing away in her new dress!



Oh, and buttons! Miss Holloway has buttons on her dress. Little Monkey has two cool square-ish vintage buttons on the front of her dress, and one in the shape of a flower on the back. I did not realise the bottom yellow button was crooked until after the photo shoot! Oops!


Have you ever made something that is not perfect, but you still loved it? This is how I feel about this dress. However what is more important is that Little Monkey absolutely loves it! She squealed with joy when I showed it to her. She asked to put it on straight away and didn't want to take it off when we came home from the park. Not only does she like the buttons and colours, she loves the fact that her dress looks like her 'mummy's dress'. By 'mummy's dress' she is referring to a top I made for myself out of the same yellow fabric. Yeah, I like this subtle matchiness too sweetie ;)

Making a dress was nowhere near as difficult as picking an inspiring dress for Suz from Sewpony, who is next in line to create a dress in the series. I know Suz loves vintage pieces, however at one stage I considered offering her an ultra modern dress as a point of inspiration, for something different. That was until I saw this dress on Pinterest and loved it:



Suz, I hope you love this dress as much as I do. I can't wait to see your creation. I am certain it is going to be gorgeous!

Thank you very much for having me over Victoria. I am looking forward to seeing what other ladies participating in the series and those sewing along are going to make.

Thank you so much Jenya for sewing and taking part. I love your dress. Those box pleats are just lovely. Such simple flashes of colours, and great structure. It has the structural look of the Mad Men dress, yet perfect for a little girl. And of course... I should have guessed there would be buttons for Little Monkey! And the inspiration dress is great (collar, pockets, nautical, so many ideas..) I'm very much looking forward to seeing where it leads Suz of Sewpony, guest-posting here on Monday April 7.
And - keep your eyes peeled on Do Guincho over the next few days - rumour has it a Mad Men sewalong is in the pipeline!

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20 comments

  1. Thank you very much for inviting me to participate Victoria :) I have had a lot of fun making this dress for Little Monkey! Can't wait to see Suz's creation next month :)

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  2. What a gorgeous dress jenya - it looks great with the faux sleeves. I also love the pleat detail you added. Now I need to get busy thinking of how to translate the gorgeous blue and white dress!!

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  3. You have done such a great job Jenya :) Certainly a challenge to create a child-friendly version when you were given (arguably) the sexiest woman on TV as your inspiration - but you've done it spectacularly :)

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  4. The box pleats just make the dress, Jenya... beautiful!!! And I absolutely know the feeling of making something that I love, yet it's not perfect.

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  5. Those perfect box pleats and collar are amazing - well done. Love the colours too.

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  6. Oh Jenya, I love the yellow picking out! It's a wonderful dress, and it's clear to see that your daughter loves it... it doesn't always has to be perfect to be perfect for us.

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  7. Adorable dress - well done Jenya!!!

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  8. Jenya, so lovely! Little Monkey looks extremely thrilled with your creation. Fantastic job!

    And girl, I am in love with the dress that you are passing to Suz for inspiration... wow!!!

    Natalie
    XX

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  9. Well done mummy! Who cares if it's not perfect if both you and daughter love it :)

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  10. Gorgeous dress Jenya!
    I love all details and am delighted with the color combination!
    Great job!

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  11. I love Jenya and her blog too ;o) Stopping by to let you know that you've been featured at Nap-Time Creations weekend features! Thanks for linking up to Create Link Inspire! I've spread the word all around social media, would love a reshare or two :o) Please grab a button from my footer if you don't already have one. Emily

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  12. Thank you very much for your kind words ladies :) Believe me when I say your comments mean a lot to me. Thanks for featuring my little dress Emily :)

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Victoria