The Little Blue Dress

 {Project Run & Play Season 5 Sew Along ~ Week #2 Fashion Icon challenge}

For the Fashion Icon challenge I chose Audrey Hepburn and The Little Black Dress, but instead of black I picked blue. Just like every woman needs a Little Black Dress, every little girl needs a Little Blue Dress.

 Let's start with the dress... The Little Blue Dress is very Audrey Hepburn styled, simple, and elegant. It is a sleeveless dress, fully lined, with v-neck back, invisible zipper (needed to shorten the invisible zipper from the bottom as I couldn't find a short enough one), hidden on-seam front pockets, blue fur trim along the dropped waist seam. It is made out of light blue suiting fabric. I bought 2 different blue fur trims and this was the trim that my daughter chose, she said she chose this one because it was a lighter blue and softer than the other one. I do have to mention that we were emailed the Season 5 challenges in mid-August which was before Oliver + S even announced their Book Report Dress which features the same type of pockets. I had that idea all set before and I have also been sewing ahead of schedule (thanks to the wonderful advice from contestants from previous seasons). This is a very wearable dress that my daughter will definitely wear to Sunday School, also it will last a long time.

 Although the style of this dress is very simple, it wasn't necessarily simple to execute, as you already know sometimes looks can be deceiving, and a lot of extra care and attention to detail went into this beauty. I have a song in my head right now "making it look easy, is not as easy as it looks" that's from Angelina Ballerina that my daughter enjoys watching. Anyway, it took 2 days of work for me (you know, the free time I have being a stay-at-home mumma bird to 3 eggs) to sew on by hand the blue fur trim, teeny tiny little stitches all around the dress.

 I decided to go with a nicer static-free lining fabric (instead of the cheapest lining) and to really take my time to make the lining perfect. So as I already mentioned the dress is fully lined, I topstitched 1/8 inch all around the arm holes and neckline, then I also hand stitched the lining to the back of the invisible zipper. I wanted to share with you photos of the inside to show that it is just as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. CP shared photos of the insides of her creations during Season 4 (so I'm stealing her idea) and I really appreciated seeing the effort she put into the details that you don't see from the outside, not mention her awesome sewing skills!

 The faux mink pullover, is A-line, has 3/4 length raglan sleeves, a funnel collar, and is lined. This is the first time I have ever worked with faux fur. I took extra care to match up the lines with the the sleeves to the front and back pieces. I also sewed by hand the hem on the bottom of the pullover as well as the hem on the sleeves. I cannot believe I made this entire pullover out of only a half yard of fabric!

The large pink bow in front off center on the mink pullover was made out of a thrifted pink wool sweater that I wet felted (hot water washer, then hot dryer) then cut and assembled. The pink bow is removable giving versatility so the pullover can have more than one look. Besides sewing I also knit (do you knit, too? I'm saganaga @ Ravelry). I have worked with wet felting knitted wool before and thought this type of material and  texture would work really well with outerwear. What's really great is that when knitted wool is wet felted it become really thick & sturdy, also the edges don't fray.

 Wouldn't every little girl love a pink gum ball purse? To get the gum ball look I attached about 350 little pink pompoms onto a purse. I also replaced the purse strap with pink grosgrain ribbon. A fun little girly accessory.

 And lastly, for the vintage button cuff bracelet, I sewed on by hand lots and lots of vintage buttons from my vintage button stash.

 Whew, I just realized that there was a lot of hand sewing for this look!! Things have been very busy here in my nest full of eggs studio :)

 Two of the things that I really love about this look are the soft pastel color palette and the mix of textures and I hope that you do, too.

 Fast facts
 :: Fun fact: You know what is funny? I've never seen an Audrey Hepburn movie! Any suggestions as to which one I should watch first?
:: Inspiration: Audrey Hepburn and The Little Black Dress (sleeveless sheath dress ~ check, mink pullover ~ check, hair in bun on top of head ~ check, big dark sun glasses ~ check, flats for shoes ~ check)
:: Detail inspiration: mixing textures, everything looks so soft, it just makes you want to reach out and touch it!
:: Photo shoot location: white hallways inside the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis
:: Font: Sabrina in Tiffany blue

PS Well, auf Wiedersehen to me... although I was eliminated after week #1, for the remaining challenges I am still playing along with the sew-along group and speaking of which be sure to check out all the other Fashion Icon looks in the flickr pool, they are awesome! I think the Fashion Icon challenge has been my favorite one ever!!
Also I just quickly wanted to mention that I will be back with  more details about my PR&P season 5 looks & some tutorials when season 5 is all done.