Beau is Prince Charming Part 2

Beau is Prince Charming

Part 2

Thought I'd start this post off with a photo showing the seams from underneath, ironed and folded back so they'll sit flush against Beau.

 

 

Once the lower side was sewn together and ironed I lined up the maroon on the top half so it would match the maroon on the lower.  It doesn't lie at the end of the blue like the lower half because I created a feaux jacket out of the blue.

 

I blame sewing until 3am most nights and getting up early to ride and get everything done during the day but I really struggled with the feaux jacket tails.  I just couldn't get the lining to come out right so that the stitched were concealed and it was safely tucked right way onto the jacket. 

I have since conquered this problem but my foggy middle of the night solution was to painstakingly hem both pieces and pin them together and sew them from the outside. 

 

Not as pretty as the desired effect and took forever! But on the positive I did manage to keep the stitches fairly neat and it doesn't look too bad. 

 

 

The above pic shows the off the feaux jacket tails and the start of the decorations.

 

I have also jumped ahead a bit.  Before starting on the decorations I sewed the the upper and lower layers together inside out to conceal the seams, leaving a gap at the tail as per usual.

I then turned it right way out, re-ironed it to get the edges crisp and pinned the velcro in place.

 

Don't worry too much about the stitches you can see connecting the maroon to the blue, they will be mostly concealed by the belt once its in place.

 

To secure the ribbon in place I ran stitching down either side of the ribbon.  I didn't want it to fold up and flap if I sewed down the middle, and I also didn't want the stitching to be too obvious so I concealed it in the darker edging of the ribbon.

 

I am quite proud of how well that worked and how straight the stitching is!

 

Here's a sneak peak at the underside so you can see the stitching.

This photo also shows the thick sections where I have gone back when sewing to secure the stitches at either end.

 

 

The gold bit in the middle of the outfit was painstakingly hand sewn on!  It is a fairly fancy connecter like a button but cooler.

Theres a bauble in the center of it which hooks through a circle in the design securing it closed.  I sewing it down securely so it won't come apart. It's not meant to be functional in any way, I just thought it made a great bit of decoration and fitted in with the outfit perfectly.

 

: )

 

Beau is Prince Charming

Beau is Prince Charming!

Part 1

Beau has always been a prince charming so I was really looking forward to create an outfit that would see him look the part!

 

I also wanted to branch out and do something a bit different and trickier than all the other costumes.

 

I'm not sure who originally put this picture together, (so if it's yours let me know and I will credit it to you) but I love how well it shows both outfits.

 

The key things for me that say Prince Charming is the maroon pants with gold striping, pale blue jacket, gold belt and epaulettes.

 

Thats alot to squish on one little furry human! Especially since he doesn't wear pants.

 

What I decided to do is make it look like there is a jacket over a lower maroon layer.

This involved a new pattern and LOTS of bits and pieces!!!

Bottom left is the main outline, the finished size of the outfit.

The upside-down 'u' shape is a decorative bit for the collar.  The piece above that is the back side of the coat tails which makes it appear a seperate outfit.  Above that is the belt.  To the right is the maroon section, it is the only piece that is the same for both the upper and lower parts.

Top left is the upper side of the pale blue and top right is the lower.

 

When I cut the pieces out I always pin the pattern down so it can't move.  It is especially important in this outfit that care is taken when cutting and sewing the pieces because the upper and lower sides need to match up.

In all previous outfits they have been cut out at the same time from one bit of material folded in two, making them identical from the start. This pattern involves patching lots of different bits together and trying to line them all up.

Trickier than it sounds.

 

This is the lower layer all pinned up ready to be put together.  I started with the underside as it was the easier of the two since it only has two pieced to connect. 

An added element of difficulty is that I am connecting two different types of materials.  The lower maroon half is cotton, while the upper section is satin. 

I thought the cotton would be a better material for pants if it were really a pants jacket combo and it also prevented the outfit from being too shiny and over the top.

To avoid the cotton slipping off the satin and making the outfit uneven, I put LOTS of pins in. My rule of thumb was at least one pin every two finger widths.

 

 

This is what it looks like right side out, all stitched up and ironed flat.  When I ironed the seams I folded them out so each colour was sitting back on itself and pressed them down with the iron so they will sit flat inside the outfit. 

The ironing isn't just important for making it look nice.  It makes sure the outfit doesn't have any folds or creases so it will stretch out to its full size and match the corresponding piece.  If it had a crease it may warp the shape or not be big enough to connect comfortably with a seam allowance.

As I learned with the fairy outfit you just have to be really careful that you don't have the iron set to steam or too hot if you're working with delicate fabrics like chiffon.  Most irons have their temperature settings in material type these days.  Always set it to the least robust fabric you're using.

Because I connected satin to cotton, I set the iron to satin.

 

 

Honey is Cinderella - Final Touches

Honey is a Cinderella

Final Touches

Having made sure all that awsome tulle is nice and perky and standing up well, the first thing I have to do is pin it back down so I can get the satin on without all the tulle getting in the way!

 

The satin has been pinned and will be sewn on upwards to hide the stitches. 

  

 

There are two long strips of chiffon in a tear shape with rounded ends beneath the satin, which will be sewn with the same stitches that hold the satin in place.

 

 

The above photo is still just pinned in place, but I folded the satin down so the chiffon can be seen.

 

 

 The satin and chiffon has been sewn on in the above two shots, but I have left the tulle pinned down for now incase I have to make any changes.

Honey LOVED trying the outfit on.  Her and Beau even did their best impression of regal poses, practising for their roles as Cinderella and Prince Charming.

Again this doesn't show the skirt's tulle-enhanced ball-gown awsomeness since the tulle is still pinned down incase of adjustments.

 

Lucky I did because I wasn't entirely happy with how the skirt sat.  I could see that even with the tulle puffed out it was going to be a little droopy looking with the corners hanging down.

 

To fix it I used a trick I learnt with the fairy dress and sewed the skirt for a short way along the line of the underjacket. 

  

Not having it hanging down also means there will be less weight on the tulle so the skirt will stand up better when complete.

This was the result once the tulle was unpinned.

A beautiful ball of a dress, just like a human ball gown.

 

The only problem is the chiffon bits.  They are a little hard to see but if you look carefully you can see the one closest to us hanging down just in front of the skirt.

 

The first thing I tried to do to fix it was putting a small stitch in both tear drops to keep them centred and together but the weight of them dragged them forward off the skirt and they still hung down.

 

In the end I decided to cut off the long tear drop ends which had been intended to follow the line of the skirt.  Now that the skirt doesn't hang down anymore it just wasn't necessary to have them long.

I cut the new ends into a rounded shape making the chiffon into ovals rather than tear drops.

This design fits closer to the original inspiration now that the skirt is higher and doesn't hang down and combined with the dart worked perfectly to fix the problem.

 

I had intended to get a final awsome picture on the night of her with Beau and Mark and I but due to the state of the people taking the photos on the nigth they didn't turn out. 

I will take some nice photos of the complete outfit and add them to this post later.

Both costumes are a little worse for wear due to a rough night playing with each other and a boisterous staffy.

 

This dress design would be very versatile and doesn't need to be confined to a Cinderella theme.  It could be made up in any colour, with or without the chiffon ovals to give your furry human a pretty satin dress.

There are plenty of dog tuxedos on the market for a handsome boy dog to wear to a wedding but not many formal dresses.

If anyone was interested in having a special four legged girl accompany them down the aisle or just be a guest of honour at a special occasion I could alter it to match a bridal gown or be in the bridesmaids colours.

 

Any requests can be made to honeyis@bigpond.com or niki.turner@bigpond.com.

 

: )