Circus 1st Birthday Dress from a Repurposed Bridesmaid Dress

My friend, Danica's, daughter, Aaralyn, turned one a couple weeks ago.  And for her party, I designed and sewed a dress as a gift from our family to the little princess.  Danica is a professional photographer (Flora Danica Photography), so she had definite visions for how she wanted this dress to look.  She had shown me a bunch of different ideas that she had, but she couldn't quite pin down exactly what she wanted.  You know that feeling?  Where you know what you want, but you just can't quite find a picture of what is in your head.  So with great faith, she allowed me to go to town with the design and trusted that I would come up with something that she loved.  Talk about pressure.

So here's where the tricky part came into the mix.  Danica wanted to incorporate the bridesmaid dress (the maid-of-honor's dress, to be exact) from her wedding into the design along with this adorable circus fabric she had found.  But let me tell you about this circus fabric, though the printed design is absolutely adorable.......it is upholstery fabric!  Yes, it was one of the most difficult fabrics I have ever worked with, but luckily it turned out.

 

The above pictures were taken by Danica of her little cutie patootie at the over the top girly circus party she threw.  There was a candy bar, circus food, games with prizes, and so much more.  Danica has become known in our circle of friends as throwing the best parties around!  No detail is overlooked.


As for the bodice, I used a basic peasant style silhouette.  I wanted to do puff sleeves, but I also wanted the little lady to be comfy, so I thought an elastic neck and sleeves was the best way to go.  I incorporated some trim that I had on hand into the bodice and re-used the little buttons from the back of the bridesmaid dress as well.



The pink fabric yo-yo was from a deconstructed vintage yo-yo quilt that I had picked up awhile back at a flea market.  The pink fabric just happened to match perfectly.  I covered a large button with the part of the fabric where there was a monkey since I knew Aaralyn's big brother, Roaron, loves monkeys!



I did a double layer skirt to make sure there was plenty of fullness.  The under layer is fabric from the bridesmaid dress.  I made the top layer a little shorter and left it open in the front to add a little interest.  I also added a small ruffle around the bottom.  The circus upholstery fabric was so dense and thick that I couldn't use a single straight pin constructing the dress.  Every time I went to put one in, it bent my pins in half.  For someone that pins everything, this made me really nervous.  But, by the grace of God, it all came together.



The sash on the dress is made from the bridesmaid dress.  I wanted it to have a big full bow in the back, but didn't want the sash to be too long.  You should have seen this dress after I had cut it all up........pretty sad, but it was so neat to be able to repurpose it into something new and special.