Tea dresses, and panda pancakes!

I have added a new title image(i am sure you noticed) and i know exactly what you are thinking, "I want some piggy shaped pancakes too!!!" well let me assure you they tasted more like pig than they did pancake(and i'm not talking bacon), i had ran out of vanilla, so opted to make them anyways, and they tasted like salt and backing soda. The kids ate them up anyways, River thought they looked like panda's, and though i explained to her that they were in fact pigs she insisted on having panda shaped pancakes.... so her pigs were actually Panda pancakes! We also made an homage to angry birds Pancake:

                                             its so realistic i want to shoot birds at it!!

River was to attend a tea party today, so naturally i had to make her a dress appropriate for such a cordial occasion! As i had mentioned before, I've been wanting to smock up some dresses and skirts, so this morning i hopped to it. I shall provide a quick tutorial on how i made the dress on a machine with a drop in bobbin .  From what i have read you need a machine with a bobbin case to stretch the elastic thread enough, but that is not the case.

FOIST: Pick out some cute, very light weight material. In my case i used some pin stripe seer sucker. Cut the material, chest width times about 3, and start byt making a tiny rolled hem at the top of the dress. If you have a serger, serg the edge and then fold over about a quarter of an inch, and stitch in place. 
THEN:You need some elastic thread... found at joanns. The color of the thread is not so detrimental because it will not be seen.

You can wind it with you regular machine bobbin winder. Then insert it as per you machines directions into the bobbin.

 Now you must tighten the bobbin tension. This is really the tricky part, if you have an older Singer machine you will have to use a penny to turn a dial at the back of you machine, but the newer singer machines have a teensy little screw on the bobbin case itself: the green screw

Use your little screwdriver,  put it in the provided notch and turn it till the spring is tightened almost completely. 

You must also increase the top thread tension to between 7-9, and thread it with coordinating all purpose thread(or whatever thread you have that matches)

NOW: Sew your first smock or shirred line just under the rolled hem, then each subsequent line 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch under the previous. You will need to stretch you material as you sew to get the desired effect.

This is the back side of your fabric:

AFTER you have sewn 4-5 inches of shirring, you can sew the seam up the back, and hem up the bottom. Remember to readjust your bobbin tension.  I used a wide hem.

SLEEVES: you can now add ribbon, for a quick strap or you can make gathered sleeves. I cut four inch strips, and made a small rolled hem along both long sides(again if you have a serger you can do it the easy way)  Then loosened my top tension to 0 and sewed about a quarter inch from the edge each short side of the sleeve. Then you pull the top thread so that the fabric bunches. Put the dress on your little model or guestimate and pin straps to the inside on your dress and sew on the top seam so as to hide you line. 

Finally: let you little lady of society wear her new dress proudly!! Couple it with a stately hat to polish off her tea party look :)

I also made my skirt, but i havent taken pictures of it yet, so it will have to wait for another post. I hope you enjoyed my tutorial!! TTFN