My Dress Banner (My Dress #1)

 This dress pattern was the first one I chose for my dress banner.  It is not necessarily my favorite.  ")  But, I remember so many dresses from my childhood similar to it.  (Anybody else remember those starched pinafores? LOL)  Striped pinafores seemed to be so popular during that time....usually combined with a floral dress.  But I love this window-pane check done in blue and white.  I thought it made a great combo.  Of course, I had to add the little pocket....I think my mother thought I'd carry a little hankie if I had a pocket.  ")  I added a white color and the black Nail Heads for the buttons.  I have a small pice of this lovely lace and used it to trim off the bottom of the dress.  My embellishment for the  piece was this "sweet" Sweet Peas faux flower seed packet.  I added the date to the ribbon banner at the bottom of the packet.  I attached  the bird and stamped the sentiment "be happy" .  I added the blue grosgrain ribbon at the waist.

I used a text-printed paper for the back.  I absolutely love text in my artwork and wanted that to show in this piece.  I purchased a pack of silohette cards from StampDiva and chose this one to put on the back.  Making silohettes of children's faces was a very popular thing to do during my childhood.  I cut the card into two pieces and attached it to the back of the dress.

My Dress #2

 This dress is another one I remember from my childhood.  Floral material was so popular for little girls at that time.....and tons of pink!  ")  My mom was creative and would altar a pattern and was therefore able to come up with so many different looks.  (She actually did not have to use a pattern most times).  I used a combination of pink and floral for this dress.  I used a scalloped collar and pearl buttons on it and pink trim for the cuffs.  The apron has flowers at each scallop.  I cut the flowers from the same paper as the dress.  I had this little girl on a label in my stash and thought she was perfect for this dress.  I added the little bird to the left side.  Then I added the phrase "Dream with your eyes wide open."

I love this paper I used on the back.  I thought it looked like something from my era.  I used part of a small bingo card for the back and cut out a tiny stamped doll (from B-Line Designs) to add next to it.  The label I used for the signature is actually part of the card from which I cut my phrase for the front.

My Dress #3

 This is the third dress I made to go on my banner.  This is another style my mother often made for me.  I love polka dots and just had to use this paper for this dress.  I used white for the collar and trim on the sleeves and trimmed it with with red ribbon.  The I added white paper strips to mimic ribbon across the bottom of the dress.  When I was looking through my stash to find something to decorate the dress, I found this Fashionista tag from 7gypsies and had that "Aha!" moment.  I printed out the "celebrate life" to add to the front.

For the back of this dress I chose this paper because it just looked so old fashioned to me.  Once again I found a 7gypsies tag to add to it.  I think of my girls in dresses similar to this when they were little and always thought they looked like such little princesses.  I cut a round card in half and attached it to the top and used it as my signature label.  I incorporated the card because cards are another one of my addictions.  ")

Dress from Pat

 This darling dress is from Pat.  I love the combinations of the striped paper with the floral paper.  The aqua with the pink is so very delicate and feminine.  Pat has made the collar and the apron of the dress from the aqua strip.  The dress of from the beautiful pink rose paper.  She has used paper lace underneath the collar and added an overlay to the collar of a script paper and then sewn two buttons on top of it.  The apron also has an under lay of papers lace and a punched lace edging along the bottom of the dress.  She as added a white paper scallop across the apron with "such a lovely day" stamped on it.  She then added the two birds to the top of the scalloped piece.  The burgundy ribbon really sets this dress off.  A final touch is the aqua velvet flower with a pearl center.

The back has a light pink gingham check top with a floral circle that covers the threads from the buttons.  The skirt is dark pink with white polka dots.  The label is made from a text paper with a dark pink center and pat has added a white label to sign her name.  Beautiful!  Thank you Pat!