For our ‘white sheet challenge’, we decided to go for a simple, clean, and classic look with emphasis on details and handwork. Nursery rhymes were a staple in our house while growing up, and our sister has continued that tradition with our nieces. So, what better theme to center this challenge around than some good ol’ nursery rhymes? And, not wanting one of the girls to feel slighted, we opted to complete a nursery rhyme pair for the girls….

Our starting point was the nursery rhyme, Ring Around the Roses, for EA. We had just completed an Oliver + S Family Reunion dress, and decided this pattern would be perfect for our nursery rhyme vision. Since the challenge was all about using a white sheet for the majority of the outfit, we wanted to keep it as authentic as possible. So we opted to dye a portion of the sheet cocoa brown for piping and bias tape accents. This was our first dyeing experience and thought we were ‘oh so smart’ for not tackling a large dyeing process for our first time. WRONG! We dyed it, rinsed it, set it with vinegar, washed, and dried it. Then, we assembled the dress, and decided to set the color overnight one more time before the embroidery details were added. At 4:30 AM the next morning, it was discovered….”HOUSTON, we have a problem!!” Yes, the precious outfit was stained through and through.

Even Voldemort had left his curse on it!!! No amount of scrubbing or elbow grease would fix this problem.

If this hadn’t been our favorite outfit planned for Season 5 of Project Run and Play, we would have ‘thrown in the white sheet’, so to speak, and moved to another week’s challenge. But, no, no, no. We wanted to make this work! And, like Harry Potter, we survived the curse….and….

Played the “Glad Game” with our recent failure.

Here’s all the things we were thankful for with our “Dummy (and we do mean ‘dummy’) Project”:
1. Buttonholes were a little small….adjustments could be made.
2. Lost a little blood (sweat too, but no tears) on the garment. Happy for a re-do.
3. Embroidery had not been completed. HALLELUJAH!
4. The deadline was not upon us. We had time!
5. Our model could try on the “Dummy Version” (see photos above), giving us the opportunity to double check fit, length, etc.
6. A king-size sheet gave ample material for a re-do outfit (and many, many more)!
7. We forgot our labels in the 1st version, and could get them in the 2nd attempt.

A trip to Hobby Lobby ensued for the brown accent fabric. A few other ‘necessities’ jumped into the cart. Let’s just say, we ate our worries away that evening while cutting more brown bias, as well as another white sheet outfit.

Then, we sewed like mad….before and after our ‘paying jobs’…any time we could find a few spare moments. When we made the deadline, let’s just say there was some toe-touching going on!

We stuck to the Oliver + S Family Reunion pattern, with minimal changes. We used the 12-18 months pattern, but used the 18-24 months length. And, the final outcome was this:

We have a fondness of piping details on garments, and did a first on this outfit: double piping around the hem.

We also added brown single piping around the yoke and button area of the dress. Then, we added a brown bias strip to finish the dress, instead of using the hem facing instructions in the Family Reunion pattern.

TWENTY handstitched, multi-cultural children joined together for a friendly chant of “Ring Around the Roses.” 

We had seen No Big Dill’s paper doll skirt, and had wanted to do something similar to it using handwork/embroidery. We had previously tried some straight stitching, hand embroidery on an outfit after seeing Gail’s {probably actually} sweet skirt. But, no shapes or figures… UNTIL NOW!

EA counted and made sure everyone was present before the “Ring Around the Roses” chant began! 

Although we love hand embroidered details, we do not pride ourselves in our embroidery work, nor do we claim speed as an asset in doing handwork. The handwork alone on this dress took approximately 15-18 hours. 

So, yes, we are S.L.O.W. Redoing the dress was not in our original time frame, and another white dress was waiting in the wings….making a frantic week!!

I have a feeling once this project is completed, “we’ll all fall down” just like those children. 

But wait…..Little Bo Peep is still looking for her sheet sheep!!! But that, my friends, is “Part II” of THE saga….

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