The Perfect Party Dress Transformed As Perfect Maxi Dress! - A Tie Dye Diva Pattern Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to new hoppers! :)

I feel very honored when Kathy from Handmade Dress Heaven invited me to join this wonderful blog hop that she is hosting. We are to sew a dress using the Perfect Party Dress pattern by Tie Dye Diva (affiliate link) and we were asked to show variations or modification, big or small of the pattern. Today is the final round and I had so much fun reading other participants entries.

Now, I am a big fan of any pattern designed by Jen, the genius behind Tie Dye Diva (TDD), I have bought almost all of her patterns and have sewn many of them with much success! So I know that the Perfect Party Dress Pattern is indeed a great pattern used as is.

However, my intention during this blog hop is to show you how with a perfect bodice pattern block you can use it to transform the pattern into any dress you like. For instance, a maxi dress!

Yep, I did that plus empire waist and long sleeves! And my little princess is beaming, it was worth the effort :D

I managed to snap a few photos on how I modified the bodice pattern. I made a size 7/8 for my 7 yo girl. Here's how I do it :

Now you have altered front and back patterns. Note the changes I made on the fabrics to cut. I eliminated the lining and sash pieces to turn this into no-sash, empire cut dress :)

For the sleeves, you can actually use any sleeves pattern in your girl size from any of your existing pattern collection. I actually used TDD sleeve pattern from her Chelsea dress! I wanted a bit of a puff on the sleeves so I cut a bit wider on top and gathered as in photos below :

The sleeves were sewn to the lined bodice before the sides of the bodice are sewn. If you have sewn a dress before this is really not difficult at all! :)

To turn this into a maxi I just measured my girl from her chest down and add a 1 inch seam allowance. I did not put a sash. The dress has an invisible zipper closure. It is my favorite go to closure, so easy! There are many tutorials on the web for invisible zipper. I also added a dainty lace trim to pretty it up but still keeping everything else simple.

We went by the lake to take photos. My princess had her moments of tantrums (she hates mummy giving her "princess pose" orders lol)...but I kept telling her how pretty and poised a princess she is so I managed to snap some good ones I guess.

I love the background here...just like a real castle lol

Princess pose done right haha

Princess in her garden...

By the beautiful lake...

Of all the photos this is the one that I love most. My little princess in her perfect maxi dress!

I hope you can try and transform a dress from the Perfect Party Dress pattern too! You can be your own designer with this pattern. Try your design on a muslin first if you need to see if it works. I did! I tested the pattern on a muslin bodice and sleeves before I cut into my good fabric to test the fit. Trust me, you'd have so much fun! :)

Thank you for reading and don't forget to visit everyone's blogs in the blog hop!