dana's test blog

Hello friends!
It's been a while.  I'm here!  Just hanging out with family and friends...enjoying a little vacation time. 

I was going through old photos on the computer and came across these from Christmas 2010.  Sheesh, that's like a decade ago.  The pics must have gotten buried in the 27,000 files of my iPhoto.  So how bout a little Christmas story?....

I'd been asking Lucy for months what she wanted for Christmas and she couldn't think of anything.  (really?  What normal kid can't ramble 20 items off their tongue?)  But then 4 days before Christmas she blurted out, "I really, really want a snow white dress!".
Huh. 

---info that would have been helpful on November 1st when all the Halloween costumes were on uber cheap clearance----

 So....she told Santa about the dress, she reminded me about it multiple times, and she was certain a snow white dress would show up on 12/25.

I checked every Target and Disney store near us for any kind of Snow White dress.  I didn't even care if it was one of those gawdy over-priced ones.  Nothin.  Apparently stores only sell Snow White dresses at Halloween since she's not a very "popular" princess.....cause no girls can mimic her lovely vibrato?
 
Finally on Christmas Even we made a last ditch effort and drove to a far away Toys 'R Us.
And drumroll....they had one!   But.
It was kinky Snow White, with the shortest skirt I'd ever seen (on a Princess that is).

It was such an odd combo.  A four year-old sized top with a tiny poofy bottom.  So I grabbed the dress and just hoped I had supplies to fix it at home.  I did!

With a yard of cheap poly satin, I created a new, long skirt to go under the short one.   

But I was worried about the bulk of the new skirt feeling scratchy at the waist, so first I made a simple lining for the dress from an old thrifted Tee.  To do this, I laid the dress on a few pieces of paper and roughly traced out the shape of the bodice, tank top style with an open back.  Then I attached a long gathered at the end of the lining, so the gathered bunches would be hidden between the poofy outside skirt and the new long skirt.  Then I sewed the lining to the dress at the back closure, the neck, and armholes. 

Totally worked!
We had one very happy girl on Christmas morning.

It's definitely not perfect (hemline) but it's held up for two years so far.

And there you go.  Quick fix.

Have a great day!  Enjoy the 4th!  If you need last minute decor, maybe some patriotic streamers?

And if you're worried I'm going AWOL, you can always follow me on Instagram where I post photos daily. Find me: @danawillard (or follow my photos through Twitter @danawillard).
Bye!