Hola!
Yeah, we know it is half-way through August already, but we are pretty sure we didn't do a July "Trends to Sew".... sooo, we'll do that now. ;-)
So yeah.... it is half-way through August, so we thought we'd look at some back-to-school semi-collegiate styles.
We wanted to use a Shabby Apple dress style as an inspiration, so we have landed on the shirtdress. Or the shirt dress. Depending on how you want to spell it.
Disclaimer: We are partners with Shabby Apple. That means if you click on that ad down on the right and then buy something from them, we'll get some of that sale. Five percent to be exact. We have been partners for awhile and haven't gotten any moola, so we aren't really high-functioning partners. Haha. Any $$ we earn though would go towards our doll giveaways.
Anyway, we had never heard of Shabby Apple until they emailed us. And once we saw their website we thought, "Hey, nice stuff."
So we are going to do a couple "Trends to Sew" about their products, not so much to advertise our partnership (which they have partnerships with about 1,000 other blogs, fyi), but more to advertise how cool their designs are and the potential they have for dolly clothing.
We begin with some of the shirt dress designs which (we think) lend themselves to possible dolly dresses. Also, a lot of their photo shoot set-ups are pretty neat.
A+
This dress's name is actually A+. We didn't give it a grade or anything. ;-)
Shabby Apple has a lot of "nerd chic" options out there for the 20-30-something crowd, and this is a good example. We like the pinstriped light blue fabric, dramatic collar and cuffs, and the 3-strap two-tone leather belt accessory.
If you are thinking of ways to create this dress for tween and teenage dolls, we suggest shortening the length. Such as with this GAP shirt dress below, which also features breast pockets, a tie belt, and a double-layer skirt.
Med Welch offers a shirtwaist dress pattern for your 1950s doll that we think could be adapted into a modern shirt dress with some sewing creativity and skilz.
Again, the key to make this style contemporary is to shorten the skirt, reduce its flair, and make the sleeves 3/4 length with chic roll-back cuffs.
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Here is another Shabby Apple design below to help inspire you: the Ivy League dress.
A wonderful green and white striped fabric, contrasting collar and cuffs, dramatic necklace, thin woven leather belt. A stunning, sophisticated look that really shouldn't be stuck in a shed...
Other style options to consider:
A neat military-esque shirt dress with feminine ruffles from Shabby Apple: San Gabriel.
A wrap-dress/shirt-dress combo with cute cap sleeves and a lovely striped fabric choice: L'Ete.
Again, a touch of military flair: La Noche Negra.
And in a lovely deep brown: Coco Bean.
Three other doll clothing patterns that might be useful and adaptable to these types of projects:
Liberty Jane's Faraway Downs Dress
Doll Duds Polo Shirt Dress
and
Lemieux Doll Boutique's Button Down Tunic
Tomorrow we'll do August's Trends to Sew which will be a Shirt Dresses 102 course,
with a deeper examination of how other brands approach this wardrobe staple.
Thanks for visiting us today!
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