My daughter and I love a fancy, twirly dress and the new Patterns for Pirates Gala Gown is perfect. This pattern comes in both women’s and girl’s and while I would have loved loved loved to sew one for myself I was too busy with other commitments to test both patterns. But now my daughter has the perfect dress for Christmas and I won’t be sewing the night before. Here is a look at the details of this new release.
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I made this dress with gorgeous stretch velvet from Hobby Lobby. They had the same fabric in burgundy, pink and green, but my daughter and I loved the navy and thought it would be good to pair with some silver. (I will show more about the belt we added in silver below). The fabric was great to work with but the dress is a tad heavy in the full length. My daughter loves it though and can’t wait to spin around all Christmas day. To help when working with velvet, make sure you use lots of clips to hold in place. Sometimes this fabric can be shifty and you will want to be careful, especially around the waist where you are lining up six seam lines (side seams and princess bodice/skirt panel seams). I really like these clips:
The features of the dress that we love are the v- neck and back. There is both the high and low v back option, I sewed up the high v choice. The women’s pattern has a deep v in the front too which is gorgeous. When making your bodices, make sure you use a sewing machine to sew the v’s to help you get crisp points. I like to turn my machine to a straight very small stitch about one inch from each edge of the v point. Then sew down to the point of the v, leave the needle down in the fabric, lift the presser foot and turn fabric, then stitch up the other side with the smaller stitches for about an inch. After, clip into the v right up to but not through your stitching line. Having the smaller stitches helps keeps the v in tact after clipping and allows more precision in stitching.
Oh, and how cute is that fur muff? This is a great and easy free pattern from Made for Mermaids. You can find it linked in my post with over 100 free sewing patterns here. It is the accessory section.
We also love that this dress has POCKETS!! And of course that it can be made in a variety of options with different sleeve and dress lengths. The maxi length does take a ton of fabric…but man oh man, does it make for a beautiful twirl!
My daughter is thin for her age, so making patterns to fit her is one of the things that make sewing so great. I used the 6 width throughout this pattern, but the 8 length in the arms and bodice and the 10 length on the skirt. The girl has some length through those legs!! You can find more detail about mashing sizes in this post from Patterns for Pirates here.
Finally I decided to add an applique I found at Hobby Lobby to a satin ribbon for a fun belt. This is one of the hacks that is included in the Pattern for Pirates hack post. You can find all the details here. Sadly, my daughter’s blocking the belt in all these pics…so I need to take another round of photos and add them!
I hope you enjoyed this look at the new Gala Gown from Patterns for Pirates. My daughter is so excited to wear her new dress!
Until Next Time,
Happy Sewing
About 18 years ago I decided to teach myself how to sew. Long before blogs and resources available today which meant it was often disastrous. But I never gave up because I loved it so much. Today I love helping others get started on their own sewing journey. You can read more about my family and I