A few of my favorite things...

Rhinestones & ruffles

Sequins & beads

Satin, organza, and pink puffy sleeves

Little girls floating as if they have wings

These are a few of my favorite things

Project Run and Play's challenge this week involved making something for special occasion.

I'm making this dress for two occasions:

The CMA award show for a daddy/daughter date

and the county fair pageant.

My inspiration started with wanting to make Kai a dressy cloak, since she had outgrown her dress coat.

We're really digging the look of the cloaks right now, probably because it's different than what everybody else around here is wearing.  My kids very much have an input in what they like to wear, and they like to be unique.

This cloak is made from off white Alpine fleece.

I wanted this cloak to have some beading on it and so I used a combination of glass beads, silver plated beads, rhinestones, and sequins.  It took me 12 and a half hours to sew all of this on.  That would have been 12 and a half uninterrupted hours.  But we all know that's not the case when you have kids.  It took me two weeks to complete this outfit.  I spent a total of 15 hours on sewing on beads, sequins and rhinestones on the entire look.  (I'm gonna sleep good tonight. Or tomorrow night considering my house is a complete wreck after 5 weeks of this sewing competition.)  Here is what the front of the cloak looks like.  You will also see the same pattern used on the hand muff and the top of the bodice of the dress.

I wanted a snowflake pattern and so I started with a rhinestone in the center with glass beads going out from it.  In between each snowflake is a silver sequins with a silver plated bead on top of it.   Every bit hand sewn.

I also wanted this cloak to have a nice clasp, so the hunt began.  I combed through all of my costume jewelry and broken jewelry, but found nothing that could be converted to a good clasp.  So I sent my husband out to the craft stores on his lunch break one day.  He came back with a gold hook and loop clasp.  (I wish I had taken a picture of it.)  It was perfect except for the fact that it was gold colored.  Thankfully my awesome husband bought some silver paint the next day. 

This cloak is fully lined with a silver lining.

The muff has beading to match the cloak and dress, and it also has a hidden function....

It doubles as a purse!

Great for keeping a pen and paper so when she gets bored in church, the theater or some place else, doodling is within finger's reach.

Now let's talk about this dress.  Made of satin and organza, this fully lined dress is my proudest creation so far.  We wanted something full length and full skirted.  I made the pattern by starting with a circle skirt and then editing to make a full A-line skirt.  

  The dress skirt is 8 layers of beaded organza and satin alternating.

I put a fishing line hem in each layer for that curly Q ruffly effect.

Puffy sleeves are a favorite thing in this house, so I had to add some princess style sleeves to this dress.

Notice that there are 3 snowflakes on the top of the front of the bodice, made of beads to match the cloak and hand muff.

There is a pink satin sash (another favorite thing) sewn to the dress and tied in the back to make a pretty bow.

And last but not least, you can't forget the matching bow.  Complete with rhinestones and long tails.

The pictures don't show how the glass beads shine, but trust me it all looks great together.

Here's a better picture. 

I can't think of another thing to say about this outfit right now.  But I do have children hanging on me begging for me to hold them, so I may be forgetting something.  I reserve the right to come back and edit if that is the case.
Thank you for looking at my favorite project so far!

P.S.
Someone just asked me about patterns and I forgot to mention a few things.
1) I made the petticoat out of my old Junior prom dress.
2) I made the pattern for the dress.
3) Here is the pattern for the cloak: 

and 4) I will post a tutorial for the hand muff tomorrow, so stay tuned!