Sundays best Silk Christmas Dress!

Here is a silk dupioni dress that was custom ordered for a little beauty for a Sunday's best style pageant. I love how it turned out. I added red glass beads to the holly berries in the smocking for added shine :o) More to come soon!
Have a great week!
Angela

Sweet little silk pageant set....

Here is a sweet little 3-pc set for a little pageant customer. It has a hairbow, bloomers and hand smocked silk dress. The silk is stunning in person. Such depth and shine! I love it.

The bodice was handsmocked with lots of faux pearls.

Thanks for peeking!
Have a great week!
Angela

Silly Old Bear

Here is a brother/sister set of outfits for Disney. I created a smocking design for the occasion! I hope they get their pictures taken with the big silly old bear. I'd love to see them! :o) Here is the smocking...

Have a great day!
Angela

Lilac and Rose Smocked Silk Dress

I have been getting a lot of orders for "Sundays Best" smocked pageant dresses. Here is one in a lovely lilac and rose combination....

The neckline is embroidered with bullion roses and pearls..
As you can tell, the color was a bit off in the photos! lol One was taken outside and the closeup was taken inside. The correct color is probably somewhere between the two :o)
Thanks for looking and have a great week!
Angela

Royal Garden dress....

Here is another Sunday Best pageant dress. It features a gorgeous royal blue dupioni skirt and ivory top.

The bodice is smocked with a garden scene.

I love the texture and sheen that only silk dupioni has!
Have a great week!
Angela

Ivory and Gold Silk Dupioni...

Here is another "Sunday best" pageant dress. I loved how the colors turned out. I hope this little sweetie does well in it too!

There are 50 hand embroidered roses and buds. There are 58 seed pearls.
Thanks for looking and have a great week!
Angela

Another Tea Party Dress...

This dress is for a sweet little girl's 4th birthday. She wanted to have a tea party so a special dress was required! This little dress is made of a pink/orchard dimity. It has a detachable hand embroidered apron. The apron is embroidered with a vintage bird and tea set design.
It also has a matching rolled roses hairband.
Here is a closeup of some of the embroidery.
I hope she has a wonderful birthday!!

Tea Party Princess

Hello! I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! Things have been super busy here, so I am sorry for the lack of posts. I am busy working on several orders so I should have more photos soon!
Here is a special little dress I made for a tea party photo shoot. It is blue batiste with white lace edging and sleeves. There is a hand embroidered rose spray on the bodice.
Here is a photo that shows the embroidered bodice a little. (You might be able to click on it to make it larger)

Thank you to Lerissa at LB photography for the photos!
This sample is a size 5 and is for sale. Please write me for more info if you are interested. :o)
Angela

First Birthday Jon Jon

Here is a jon jon that I made for a sweet little boy's first birthday. I made up the smocking design to match his invitations and birthday theme. I also created a little bib to try and save the jon jon from the inevitable frosting disaster that is sure to follow when he eats his birthday cake! :o)

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a very safe and blessed 4th of July!
Angela

Sew Beautiful July Issue

Sew Beautiful magazine has featured my Grace smocked suntop in the current issue. My friend, Kathy Dykstra made a couple of different variations to the top too! Here is a photo from the magazine:

Here is a closeup of the smocking plate that I designed. The plate is free in the magazine.

They did a 4-page layout featuring it. I was very excited to see it published!
Thanks for sharing in my excitement! :o)
Angela

Beach portrait dress....

This little dress set was made for a precious little customer's trip to the beach. It is a two piece set consisting of a dress and pantaloons. The dress has a swiss embroidered hemline and angel sleeves (my favorite). It also has a few cast on roses embroidered on the bodice. I hope her photos turn out great! :O)

Tierred, Smocked dress

I loved these shabby chic florals so much that I decided to use all 3 of them in the dress :o).

I smocked it with a geometric design.

I added some lovely battenburg lace to the hemline to complete the look :o)

We will be heading back to the TPC Sawgrass golf tournament tomorrow. I hope we get to see Ian again! :o) Have a great weekend!
Angela

Golf dress....

Those of you who follow my blog might remember that last year, my son got to meet his favorite golfer, Ian Poulter, at the TPC in Sawgrass. Ian was so kind to my kids. This year, I decided to make Ian's little girl a dress in honor of her daddy. I was able to give it to him yesterday when we went to watch the TPC practice rounds. He was so kind and appreciative. He signed his own glove and gave it to my son. I thought I would share a photo of the little dress I made. It was seersucker, smocked at the waist and appliqued along the hemline with a golfing scene featuring Ian, himself! I hope he wasn't insulted.......he was not the easiest thing to applique! Ian is known for his tartan trousers, so I made him wearing some on the dress.

The bodice of the dress had little golf ball buttons.

Here is a closeup of the applique.
Ian always wears white sunglasses and a visor, so that is how I stitched him.
It was such a fun day. Ian Poulter has 4 fans for life in my family. :o)
Have a great day!
Angela

boy's romper...

This was just a fun little gift that I made for a friend. I really like how it turned out though. I like making a white collar and white sleeves to give the appearance of a jon-jon with a shirt underneath when it is really all one piece.
I have been busy sewing and will have some new things to post soon! I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day!
Angela

PATTERN SALE!

I am very pleased to say that my smocked suntop pattern is ready for sale!
For this week only I am offering it for $8.00. After that, it will be $9.95. I am also including a special butterfly smocking plate! It is the one shown on the smocked suntop in the first photo above.
And for an extra special deal, you can buy my friend Wendy's Lucy Pocket Pettiskirt pattern with my top for a total of $15 for both patterns! Here is her pattern:
THIS SPECIAL IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.... TO purchase the Grace pattern, please go here:
http://www.dandelionavenue.com/press.htm

Thank you! Angela

I just finished this set for a customer. I love the vintage styling of the bodice. The pattern was from a Sew Beautiful magazine a few years ago. I thought the little cloche was a nice touch. The baby rick rack edging adds some vintage sweetness too :o)
Here is a closeup:

The weather here has been soooo gorgeous. I am finding it hard to stay indoors and sew! Thank you for peeking!
Angela

Great Britian was wonderful!

We had such an amazing time. We were blessed with gorgeous weather. The tour group that we went with was GREAT! My only complaint was that I couldn't find any good fabric stores. The two fabric stores that I did find, only carried regular fabric that is sold here in America....Moda, Michael Miller, etc. So that was a little disappointing. I fell in love with a store called Cath Kidston though. She had some amazing fabrics....but it was home decor. Check them out:
Here was another shot of the store. (((love)))
I also fell in love with another store. It was in York. It was a true princess store. Check out the darling name of it...........Rosie Muggles!
It had the most beautiful princess gowns!
Love the pink too :o)
Another type of store that we all loved.... the sweet shops! lol
The scenery was so beautiful. The daffodils were in full bloom everywhere we went.
Stratford on Avon was so pretty. Here is a shot of Anne Hathaway's cottage. So sweet!
Well I am busy working on a few Easter sets. I will post pictures as I finish. Thanks for peeking!
Angela

Great Britain Bound

We will be visiting England and Scotland :o) I will be gone until the 29th, but I will answer all emails when I return. Please pray for a safe trip for us. Thank you!
Angela

Sunday's Best.....

I have a client whose daughter competes in a type of beauty pageant called a "Sunday Best" pageant. This is a non-glitz pageant where little girls actually look and act like little girls. :o) When I heard the word "pageant," all I could think of was the TLC show "Toddlers and Tiaras" lol Fake tans, fake fingernails, flippers, etc. :o) However, in these pageants, the little girls wear hand smocked bishops and hand smocked yoke dresses, and patent leathers............just adorable!! So I created this dress for my client. It is a peacock blue silk dupioni dress. (the one I pleated in my pitiful tutorial):

Here is the closeup of the smocking:

This was the first time that this little girl was competing in an older category. She is 3 and she had to compete against 4 and 5-year-olds. I am very happy and proud to say that she won QUEEN!! So congratulations to her!! :o)
Angela

Shabby chic country set finished!

Here is the set that I showed a sneak of a week or two ago. It includes the hand smocked suntop, double layered twirl skirt, matching purse and headband........what little girl doesn't love accessories??

Please excuse the fit on the mannequin....it is a 2-4 and the set is a size 5
Here is a closeup of the top/headband:

Here is the matching little purse:


If my friend, Pat from the UK Sewing Room is reading this, could you please email me at angela@dandelionavenue.com? I will be in England next week and we will be visiting the Yorkshire area :o)

The weather here is absolutely gorgeous. I LOVE Spring!! The flowers are stunning this time of year. I hope everyone reading has a great day!!
Angela

Pleating silk dupioni tutorial

I needed to pleat a dupion silk dress for a customer today. Since I have had several people ask me for tips on pleating silk dupioni, I decided to make a little video :o) NO LAUGHING! lol I know I sound like a Smurf! I had to make it in two little videos because I couldn't hold the camera and turn my pleater handle. This is just a VERY simple tutorial, not anything amazing or elaborate, but I hope it might help someone.

Another work in progress...

I am working on a custom sun top and skirt set order. This sun top features smocked panels with embroidery in between the smocking. Here is a sneak peek of some of the embroidery. The flowers match the flowers in the fabric of the skirt. :o)

I'll post the finished product next week :o)
Have a lovely week!
Angela

Baby gown finished.......

I know this is a long time coming! My daughter got sick, then generously shared it with me! :o) I thought that was going to be the end of it, but then my son came down with it. :o( I am hoping my husband will stay healthy!!! (Men are the worst patients! lol) Here is the gown. It has the baby's initials shadow embroidered in the center.

Here is a closeup:

It features a hand embroidered, scalloped hemline too.

It was a joy to create. I love white with ecru! :o)
I hope everyone reading this stays healthy! Thanks for sticking with me!
Angela

A work in progress

Here is a sneaky peeky of a baby gown that I am working on. I love white with ecru!!

I will be sure to post the finished product next week :o)
Have a lovely day!
Angela