Christmas dresses from my slopers

Finally, after all that blabbing about drafting slopers, here are the dresses that I made from them:

You'll notice they are a bit 'glam' and not red and green.  They'll likely be worn every other week all year long so I think thats okay.  

They have fitted bodices and full circular skirts (for maximum twirl factor).  

I am pleased with how they turned out.  I added too much ease to Grace's bodice but was able to easily fix that when making Leah's.  I guess thats a bonus to two girls so close in size and taste - I'm basically making duplicates so its easy to do a better job on number two.  Leah's bodice fit very nicely.  

Here is Grace's center back - see all the extra ease I added that didn't need to be there?  

And here is Leah's - much more fitted (I couldn't really grab any).

I like: 

- the twirly skirts

- how the bodices with darts turned out

- the general construction went well without any major snafoos or 'operator errors'

- love the sparkly trim  :)  

- the backs/zipper area/shoulders fit them better than previous dresses and I'd like to think thats because they are drafted from slopers rather than a generic kids pattern  

I'd like to fix: 

- Grace's zipper.  I'm getting better at zippers but hers still turned out a bit wonky at the bottom.

- The weight of the satin made the skirts less twirly than I had imagined.  

- Leah's bodice and lining turned out a little wrinkly.  I have only done fully lined things thus far, but I've read alot about facings and I think that might solve the wrinkly problem.  

- I'd have made Leah's skirt longer if I'd had more fabric.  She is much taller than Grace but their two dresses are almost the same length because thats all the bigger/longer I could make the skirt from 60'' fabric.  

 - I need to learn to do sleeves.  And the armholes that go with them.  

I had a bit of trim left over from each dress so we hot-glued them to some headbands to coordinate.  

So, there you have it.  

Two dresses drafted from scratch.  

That pretty much fit.  

And didn't fall apart at the seams during Christmas Eve church.  :)  

Now I'll be working on any number of things: learning those sleeves, drafting a sloper of myself, finishing up a quilt for spring, the girls need some everyday hats for playing in the snow, Grace could use a few pairs of pants that are the proper length (she's growing fast!), etc etc etc.  Happily, though, the  Christmas gift rush is over so I can sew at a nice leisurely pace with fewer deadlines.  

Happy sewing everyone.