Finished Snorlax (pokemon) dress!

Finished!

It'll get sent off to the birthday girl recipient tomorrow.  And I'll be able to focus on my own back-to-school sewing!  

It really was a fun project to work on.  The base is a simple dress made from dark blue denim weave cotton with just enough lycra to make it comfortable.  The cotton was heavy enough to help the body keep it's shape and not deflate.  The white is a lighter cotton/lycra blend.  The belly shape is formed by gathering the waist and pegging in the hem quite drastically.  I had to add a back pleat for walking ease since the pegging allowed for very little movement.

To form the face and tummy I simply cut out two of each piece, sewed the two pieces together, turned them inside out and topstitched them on.  So they're really just giant applique pieces.  It does make it all a bit heavy but it actually works with the dress to help it all hold it's shape.  The arm pockets are made the same way with the sides left open to make them into pockets.  I based the shape on my own hand so as to make them really work as pockets.  The face and claws are embroidered on just using the zig-zag stitch on my vintage Singer.  No fancy machines needed!  Well, except for the inside where I serged the raw edges.  Or came as close to serging as my serger will go.  I SO need to replace that piece of junk.  Fortunately all that is hidden inside and I doubt anyone will look too closely at just how bad those stitches are.  They'll hold, keep the fabric from unraveling, and stay out of sight and that's all they need to do.

Anyway, there it is, a wild snorlax ready for a new home!

Pokemon Dress - the muslin takes shape

One client fell in love with this adorable snorlax dress made by Betty Felon

(This, for those who avoided the addiction, is a Snorlax:)

Isn't that just a happy, fun dress?

I was excited to get this assignment because it's just such a great dress that's great for showing off and a fun but not difficult challenge.

I made up the muslin today and am pleased with how it's looking so far.  The skirt is a basic pencil widened to allow for the gathering at top and then drastically pegged in by about 5" on each side to form that bubble.  To help with the imaging I gave it a face by quickly cutting a piece of paper the correct (more or less) shape and drawing the eyes and mouth on and adding the little ears.  On the actual dress the face and tummy will either be pieced or appliqued on (still trying to decide which technique would work best) with a cute embroidered face and little pocket arms.  It's been a fun project to watch come together.