Oh, I can be so silly sometimes! I hope you have been following Wild Olive and the virtual tea party going on over there. What fantastic posts and giveaways!
I am really excited to share this post with you. A little while ago, Mollie contacted me and asked if I might be interested in collaborating with her in making some tea party dresses! Really, how could I possibly say no? So, this post is to share with you a little of the process of our Tea Party Dress designs. Oh, did I say designs? Well, after some back and forth, we decided to do a little “mini-line” of dresses. These are all in Mamma Made’s typical “Sewing Kit” fashion. For those of you who are not familiar with Mamma Made sewing kits, let me tell you about them! (Here’s my shameless plug!)
Our Mamma Made Sewing Kits take the difficulty out of sewing! The kit includes fabric (100% Organic Cotton Sateen) with the pattern and design printed right on it. No marking, no tracing! All you have to do is cut and sew! You can read in-depth directions on our website or print out the .pdf file for your convenience. What could be easier? A designer dress in just hours!
Well, I did say it was shameless. I don’t have any PR personnel over here. Please enjoy this inside look to our design process!
Design Process for Tea Party Dress!
We started with a color palette to keep us grounded to a scheme. I really like knowing what my base colors are and then it’s easy to branch out from that if needed. I really wanted to offer something a little different for our tea party designs and stay away from your typical candy pinks and so forth. I’m sure when I said, “candy pink” you had a visual exactly what I’m talking about. Here is our starting color palette:
I love all of these bold colors. There are a couple design challenges presented here. Although we are designing for children and they can pull off bright colors like this, there is a line that is easily crossed into “circus” territory. We want to try and avoid that and still embrace the fun of a tea party and the joy of these happy colors.
Here are the first “tea party” images that Mollie sent me. We have 4 tea cups and a tea pot.
They are such happy little tea cups! I was instantly in love when I saw this.
Our sample size of this dress is being made into a size 8 for Mollie’s sister which limits our design a bit. When you start working in the bigger sizes, obviously the pattern pieces get larger and that yard of fabric gets sucked up pretty quickly. So, right away we knew that the dress would be sleeveless. Sleeves take up so much room! When we offer the smaller sizes, I’m sure we can throw a sleeve option in the yard, but for this sample, no sleeves.
I was really inspired by the lid of the tea pot and the lines on it. Because of the lid, I decided I wanted to create an A-line skirt so that I could mimic the lines on the lid and they wouldn’t get lost in gathers or pleats. I like how the yellow lines look on the orange cup so I decided to start with those colors for the skirt.
Now for the bodice. I don’t want the dress to be too dark so I’m going to choose a slightly lighter shade of orange for the top. And we already know that the dress is sleeveless.
Now I want to pick a color that is going to “pop” out of the orange to give us a little contrasting interest. I love the blue on the teapot and I want to see how that would work on the bodice in the exact colors that Mollie gave me.
I like it. I angled the pot so it looks like it’s pouring. Kind of appropriate for a tea party, don’t ya think? Now I want to incorporate our tea cups into the design and I think they will look quite nice on the extra-wide sash area.
I added a little drip of tea. Each of the cups I sized differently for visual interest. They look like such a happy little tea family, don’t they?
I want to add a small touch more to the bodice but it’s already so close to being overwhelmed by the color and design. This little guy caught my eye.
What a sweet little flower. I’m going to play around with it a tiny bit.
I added a small sprinkling of flowers to the upper right shoulder and repeated the flowers in the sash. I always like to include a sash option because it really makes the fit more personalized for the child. In the older garments, the sash is shorter so it’s a small tie verses a huge bow. The sash will only give a hint of the flower design because it will be tied in the back, so not too overwhelming. Now on to the back of the dress.
I wanted to bring in the floral motif in the back with the delicate spattering of flowers. It’s fun to have something to look at in the back as well and again, the tie will just hint at the flowers.
Now for the inside lining of the bodice. I like to make a necklace with my tag on it; the kids think it’s fun and so do I. This is our “Wild Olive/Mamma Made” tag. I made a joke one and sent it to Mollie. Maybe I’ll show it to you later. It’s pretty funny.
And here are the washing directions also printed on the front bodice.
The organic cotton is so great to work with. I really love it. You can wash and dry it of course, but I found that the best results (and especially if you hate to iron like me!) are to wash it, take it out and shake it, hang it on a hanger, and let it air dry. Then the dress is ready to go!
Here is our final design of Tea Party front and back:
The yard of fabric looks like this:
If you ever wanted to design fabric, check out Spoonflower. They do an amazing job and are extremely helpful. You can also go through my Fabric Design Tutorials if you have no idea how or where to start; they will help you with your process.
And Now A Surprise!
In celebration of “Tea Party Week,” Mollie and I are giving away a Tea Party Sewing Kit. Here are the designs that we have created for “Tea Party Week!” As the winner, you get to choose!
#1 “Tea Party”
#2 “Tea Spoons”
#3 “Blue Sugar”
#4 “Yellow Sugar”
#5 “Sweet Treats”
***THIS JUST IN!***
I just received the fabric from Spoonflower yesterday, sewed up the dress, and just took a couple pictures to show you what the sample looks like. I am VERY pleased!
I think someone likes the Tea Party Dress!
How Do I Enter This Amazing Giveaway?
1. You need to decide which of the (5) designs you love best. And you can only pick ONE!
2. Leave a comment below AND a comment at Wild Olive (this is a joint effort after all!) stating your favorite tea party dress design and you will be entered into a randomly selected vote.
In your comments, please leave your email address where we can contact you and discuss your PRIZE!
I hope everyone enjoyed this LENGTHY design post! HAPPY TEA PARTY WEEK!
Love,
and Mollie
