The Art Nouveau Dress

[victoriavictrix]

I have been promising myself to make a tutorial about this dress because it is so easy. The trick is getting the right fabric--it has to be fabric that drapes well and has small permanent pleats in it. This is often called crystal pleating. It can be hard to find, it goes in and out of style. If you cannot find some in a fabric store, check lingerie, both in thrift stores and in regular stores.



Once you have selected your fabric, cut two equal sized pieces that measure from the floor to the top of your doll's shoulder. Since Bella does not have any pretty dresses yet, she has consented to be my model even though I warned her I would take her hair off. CAREFULLY measure from the hollow of your doll's throat to the middle of her side.



Mark with a pin that same measurement from what will be the top of the dress.



Sew the two halves together from the bottom to where that pin is and stop.

Now make a hand-rolled hem the rest of the way.




Gather the top of the fabric along the pleats. Pull it as tight as you can and tie it off.




Do the same on the other side.

[victoriavictrix]

Now get your ornament. I used a pair of fancy earrings. You could use any jewelry finding you like. The important part is that it be wide enough to cover the gathered pleats.

Take your ornament and sew it securely to the top of the dress, hiding the raw edge behind it.



Do the same on the back, OR use a smaller, plainer ornament. Either will work.



Now it is time to get out the pliers. Measure just enough chain to fit around the doll's neck like a choker. Put a jump ring on the top of the front ornament and fit the chain through it. Add two clasps, one on either end of the chain. Put TWO jump rings, fitted together, on the top of the ornament at the back. Put the dress on your doll, and fasten the two clasps to the top ring on the back (the reason for two is that so the jump ring will lie flat.) This is how it should look.

Front:



And back:




The dress is now basically finished. You can add chains to it if you like, draping from the ornaments over the arms. You can attach a cord or a chain to the bottom of the ornament so that you can do a cross-tied, Grecian style gown. I just finished mine off for now with a simple piece of matching white cord as a belt.



This is what I did later, adding more chains fastened to the ornament, and making a headdress

[victoriavictrix]

I've done quite a few more of these, most of them sold.













And here it is used as a top

[Eseme]

Love this tutorial! What beautiful dresses and so simple to make.

Eseme

[Greyhaunt]

I had no idea this wasn't already posted here! Did you originally do it in DoA or the old version of this forum? Regardless thank you for refreshing us with it again since this stands as one of the easiest tutorials that results in a truly beautiful dress!

[victoriavictrix]

I had no idea this wasn't already posted here! Did you originally do it in DoA or the old version of this forum? Regardless thank you for refreshing us with it again since this stands as one of the easiest tutorials that results in a truly beautiful dress!

I did it on DoA and never posted it here, not even the old version. I can't think why. Busy making a living, I guess.