Meet Maggie...Or Is it Clara

This sweet girl Maggie, is performing as Clara in the Nutcracker  put on by the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra.  It is held every year. I have never been, but this year I will have a special reason to attend.

And that reason is Maggie.

Her Mom and I met a few weeks ago to pick out fabric and talk about design. She had purchased a vintage pattern online and told me Maggie requested white with poinsettias.

After looking at satins and taffetas I suggested Dupioni Silk.

I had made one of my granddaughter's
Dedication dresses out of Dupioni and I loved working with it. It has a shine, texture and a crispness that makes it a dream to work with. It ravels, but I have a serger, so no problem there.

Okay...back to the dress.

We also chose Red and Green Velveteen, which is a nightmare to work with, but with stabilizer, I coped.

Ignoring the background, (I need a studio just to take pictures for my blog. LOL) here is the dress before I took it for Maggie to try on. It ties in a large bow and has three more poinsettias in the back.

A closeup of the poinsettia.  I machine appliqued them to stabiliser and then hand sewed them to the dress. I was going to embroider the gold in the center , but decided it needed a little bling.

I found these tiny gold Swarovski crystals...just the right touch.


Well, that was what I did last week.  I was so blessed meeting this family. Maggie was so lovely and sweet. She gave me a big hug and her smiles just made the project such a pleasure.
Not to forget her Mom Katie, who was so easy to work with and so apprecitative

I put myself under a lot of pressure over this project.  It stretched my abilities and creativity. It was 4 yds of white...can't drink coffee or diet Pepsi while working...wash hands often.
The velveteen turned my nails pink, so I was so afraid it would turn the dress pink.
But all in all, it was one of my all time favorite projects.