Beauty and the Beast!!! and more!

I have been talking about it since the spring. I was permanently inspired by an image of a dress I saw one night on ebay last fall. It was an amazing ensemble of Belle appliques on a beautiful dress. I was stunned. How did they do that? Could I do something like that myself??? Well, I set out to try!

So over the spring and summer I was fortunate enough to learn how to applique by machine and purchase a machine. Check. Then I needed to find an appropriate pattern. Found one on Etsy from Wondermommy. It is a European pattern called Feliz. I purchased that. Check. The directions were for all intent and purposes useless. Then one of my disboutique friends pointed me in the direction of Trillium http://trilliumdesign.blogspot.com/. She had a fantastic, step-by-step tutorial with pictures. Yippy! I made a test dress with princess fabric to learn the ropes. Check. Then I needed fabric which inspired thoughts of Belle. I turned to none other than Jennifer Paganelli http://jenniferpaganelli.typepad.com/sis_boom_day_dreams/. She has such lovely lines of gorgeous fabric. My friend Carla helped me pick out just the right fabrics and even set me some extra of hers! Thank you so much Carla!!!! Check. Finally I had to locate machine applique designs of Belle and cast from the movie. I found an entire set on Etsy from DivaDuds http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5614102 so I took the plunge and purchased it. Check.

And then the project grinded to a halt all summer. I was busy with other things. But it was always on my mind. Then a little miracle pixie dust happened concerning our Disney trip. I will blog about soon. Suffice it to say it jump started me and I just HAD to do this dress NOW!!!!

So, I started last week. I decided to jump right in and cut out the fabric. Then I took several days to applique the designs....there 7 of them. Each design takes several hours. Then I assembled the dress... it took two days to sew and complete. And whalaaa! I was finished. My dream came true! The fabric is just devine...if feels so nice and has such nice weight and falls so nicely! I love the colors! The designs are so cute and the girls love them! The stitched out without a hitch. And the final dress completes my vision in my head from the inspiration dress I saw last year. Now, just so you know....there is a dress coming like this for Brooklyn. I will keep it a secret until I am done!

So here is the completed Belle dress on one very happy Devon!!......

And there you go!!!
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I also figured I would have the girls model some other outfits I had made a while ago.....the problem was, it was getting ready to rain....and I mean pour. So we quickly put these on and modeled them on the porch. As we were finishing up, the skys opened up to a downpour remniscent of Orlando....it just made me smile!!!!

So this outfit (I have identical version for Devon) is for meeting Buzz and Woody in Hollywood Studios. After our breakfast/brunch we are going to change and ride Toy Story Mania (at 1:15pm) and hopefully go to the Meet and Greet across the way. Here is Brooklyn all set to go!!!

Brooklyn just got her haircut yesterday. We had 5 or 6 inches cut off....look how long it still is! But it is a lot easy to brush out....not as many "knotties".

The next outfit is really one set divided among two girls. I still have to make another peasant top and capris to go with it. I did buy the fabric but that's as far as I got....lol! In Magic Kingdom, they have a Meet and Greet with Tinkerbelle and the Faeries which is a must do! The eternal problem is the line gets long and takes forever. So I am employing Tour Guide Mike strategies https://www.tourguidemike.com/ to prevent that from happening. You'll be hearing more about him in my upcoming pre-trip report! So here is part of what the girls will be wearing. Sarah also has a Tink top and leggins....and I have.....nothing.....hmmmmm. Gotta work on that.

OK so that's it for now! I am in the middle of making some adorable twirl skorts and tops for back-to-school!!!!

And I will be back for more updates too!

Have a great day...avoid thunderstorms....and smile!!!! :)