Princess Dress Page - Fabric Lace Memory Book #5

I am still enjoying these fabric lace memory books I have been working on. I have been learning so many new things and learning to relax! Yes, really! I have been sewing for 50 years and there is so much stress in sewing! I hadn't thought much about it, until now! My recent endeavor was with quilting. Good grief, much as I love it, the stress abounds! We get used to it, and still love it, but it is there! All seams have to match. Stitches have to be a certain size. Cutting has to be exact. No stretching. Perfect points are a must, hems have to measure perfectly and so on. Granted, I still enjoy quilting  and and will pick it up later down the road a bit. But I have to say...with these fabric books...no stress! Things don't have to match perfectly, they don't have to but cut straight and thank the good Lord for lace and hand sewing! Both cover a multitude of sins... I mean mistakes!

Here's the reason for this page...and the memory. I stopped sewing about 15 years ago. I made my first grand daughter (turning 15 next month!) 13 outfits for her second birthday. Her mother (my daughter) refused to allow her to wear any of them as they were homemade! The outfits were darling and good work and all, but you know kids. I got over it eventually! She just gave every outfit back to me recently.  Well, anyway, I stopped sewing clothes then and only did a few things like some curtains or pillows. About 4 years ago, when my second grand daughter was about 4 years old, she said to me. "Nanny, will you make me a princess dress?" I asked her "why do you need a princess dress?". She said "Well, Daddy says I am his princess don't he?" I said "yes". She says" well, how can I be his princess if I don't have a princess dress?" Next day, I pulled out my sewing machine, went to Joann's and paid full price for all the makings of a pink princess dress...sparkley fabric and all! And that is what started me back sewing. Her parents said she had plenty of clothes so I started quilting.

But that simple little innocent, loving comment about making her daddy happy, has stuck in my mind all these years. Well, I had some of that fabric left over that I saved and that was what made my second fabric page. And I will type that little discussion on to fabric paper and put is in a fabric envelope and slide it in the pocket on this page... or something like that, haven't decided yet!

THE PRINCESS DRESS PAGE

This page is covered with the fabric I made the dress from. I don't remember the name of the style of fabric...it was a thin, see-through fabric with diamond-ish little sparkle gems in the fabric..and they did sparkle! It doesn't show in the picture, but the page does sparkle. I used a beige lace, then a dark pink lace and sewed that to the page assembly...front piece,laces, batting and back page piece all together and then turned inside out and pressed seams. They I added white ric-rac that covered the seam side and then added another lace that was a gathered lace with a ribbon and a small edge of lace all attached. These were hand sewn in place. Trust me..it is gorgeous! I am so pleased with this page and I know my grand daughter will be too!

THE BOW

 I took the picture sideways thinking I could rotate it in my photo editor, but when rotated, it cut half the picture out, so I had to leave it as is. But the bow here.. I found a tutorial on Pinterest  about making this style of bow....HERE
and made my own version as I only had a small piece of the fabric left. This is the dress fabric also. I then added a strand of silver pearl "beads" (bought at Joann's for $2.50 for 3 yards and used a 50% off coupon) and some "crystal" looking beads I had in my craft stash from when I taught my grand daughters to make necklaces and bracelets years ago. The middle "knot" on the bow is embellished with a square crystal bead.

THE POCKET 

Notice on the first picture the slant pocket I made? This is where I will put the conversation she told me, I will print it out on fabric paper and make a fabric envelope to put it in and slide that into the pocket. I used the dress fabric to make the slant pocket and embellished it with the dark pink and beige lace as I used on the edges and put a strip of grograine  ribbon in the middle. Then, I used some alphabet beads and spelled out PRINCESS and sewed them to the ribbon area. I wanted to say "Daddy's Princess" but didn't have the additional letter beads.

THE FLOWER

The last embellishment is a flower I made from the dress fabric, some light pink tulle ribbon and white gathered lace with a pink button in the middle. To make the flower, all you have to do is gather the lace strip and pull until it is the size you want, then sew the ends together. Then place the gathered circles on top of each other, tack together and add the center of your choice. I used a button but you could use those "crystal" beads like I used in the bow or anything that you can sew on. You can see the side lace in this picture a little bit better too. I have three layers...largest is the dress fabric, middle is a bit narrower but a tulle trim and the top one is a white lace.

This is another "take" of the page...I did some edits  so you could better see the embellishments a bit better but the color is off, but you get the idea! I just love this page and can't wait to see it in the finished book! See how different this one is from my first page..  Apple Shirt page
which is a bit more structured than this one. Just goes to show, as you move on...things change, you get more creative and the ideas and inspiration start taking effect!

I am making pages first, and will bind it when I have enough pages. That is why the right side there you see raw edges. And you can use a hot glue gun to attach things if you want to, I use needle and thread as it is extremely inconvenient for m e to have a glue gun plugged in at the kitchen table...no outlets near by!



So, my journey continues. I have a few more I am working on...making four of the same page to help get the books done hopefully, this year. And with 2 more grand children on the way.. I haven't figure how to add two more...except to make 6 of each page...so...I'll just have to see how it goes. I am running out of lace and have started using fabric to make a ruffle for each page. I see a trip to Joann's with my coupons in my future! I need more lace!


These are great embellishments! I used the alphabet ones!

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Thanks for stopping by and...keep on sewing those memories!

 

 Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE

If you want to re-read or start from the beginning of my Fabric Lace Memory book adventure...

#4 - My First Page and some Tips
#3 - It's Coming to Life and so Much Fun!
#2 How I Organized my Supplies
#1 Shabby Chic and I Am Hooked!

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