Lightning McQueen Dresses

My latest sewing project was to make Lightning McQueen dresses for the girls.  They just love the movie Cars but the merchandise, especially clothing, is all geared to boys.  To be fair, boys don't get much merchandise to choose from when it comes to Cinderella.  There was a prince in that movie too!  That's ok, Mom to the rescue!  Gender-equity for Lightning McQueen!

I decided to keep it simple and avoid buttons and zippers.  I got a  new sundress pattern for Gracie that has a halter style top and an elastic waist. She has a dress this style already that I bought for her at Kohls, so I know it will work well.  I measured her and got it all cut out and sewn up fairly quickly.  Somehow, I still managed to get it too big around the middle.  I'll just add ties, I almost put ties on it to begin with but decided not to.  The pattern does not call for a waistband or ties.  I thought the waistband was cute though, because it broke up the busy fabric print a bit.

 

Libby's dress was easy!  I used the same pattern that I had just used on her Tinkerbell sundress so I knew it fit and I knew how to sew it already.  I made a couple of modifications, very slight.  I shortened up the armhole; I thought it was too big on the Tinkerbell dress.  And, I put the straps at the edge of the yoke instead of moving them in a bit.  With the Tink dress, I moved the straps in to be sure that the dress would stay up on her shoulders, and that worked, but, it made the yoke look goofy with the corners sticking out.  So, I shortened the width of the yoke and put the straps on the edge where they belong.  Ta-Da!  I also trimmed up the dress with some plain red to limit the busyness of the fabric print.  Lightning McQueen comes in some very exciting print!

The dresses turned out so cute! The girls were playing and dancing around me while I sewed waiting for me  to finish.  Very distracting! I decided to move my sewing machine to the wide space in the upstairs hallway. The light there is excellent. I can peek over the edge to see the girls downstairs, and I'm closeby to watch them if they are upstairs. Seemed like a good idea in theory.  But the space is small.

I've been sewing for 18 years.  My first machine was a Mother's Day gift in 1992 from my husband. He had no idea if I would even be interested in the slightest, and we sure didn't have the money for it! But he took a chance and it paid off. I love it!  For the first time ever, I got my finger in the way of the needle.  The needle went right down through the very tip of my middle finger.  It hurt!  I've had worse paper cuts, but in the moment I kind of forgot about that. The girls made sure I got a Dora bandaid and some kisses, ahhhh, all better!

I also tried to figure out how to work that serger of mine.  I still can't figure it out. I'm about ready to sell it and get a simpler machine. I wanted top-of-the-line so that I would never have to upgrade, but maybe that wasn't such a good idea.  I'm hoping to find a serger class, but so far I haven't had any luck with that either. I think my problem is tension, but maybe that is just the result of another issue. Hard to say.

In only one weekend, I was able to cut and sew the dresses!  Cute new Cars dresses needed an outing, so on Monday we went to Disneyland and California Adventure!  Highlight (one of many highlights) was seeing Lightning McQueen and Mater!