Mummy I want a 'Poofy' Princess dress

There is nothing like a fetching episode of Sophia the First to influence a five-year-old's clothing selection. Our little Miss has slowly become obsessed with acquiring a princess dress of her own. So when I spotted these fabrics on the sale table at Fabric Vision, there was no getting away from making her a big frothy dress. 

I found this pattern in my mothers vintage stash. I few minor adjustments was all that was needed. These vintage patterns always have a higher level of tailoring and attention to detail than their contemporaries. 

The fabrics I chose were a fine textured, stretchy and soft new with a stitched on ruffle detail, and a cotton knit in a corresponding colour. 

These are the pattern pieces as detailed on the back of the pattern envelope. I used the View 3 pieces and just swapped the seam allowance to the back of the bodice to allow for an invisible zip, increased the width of the front and back skirt pieces by about 20cm per piece to make for lots of gathers, and lengthened the skirt by about 10cm. I constructed as much of it as I could with the overlocker; this allowed for the stretch in both the fabrics. 

One happy little girl. It took huge amounts of little girl patience to wait for the dress to be finished.               Happy sewing!