“Come with me
And you’ll be
In a world of pure imagination
Take a look
And you’ll see
Into your imagination” – Willy Wonka

It started with a sweet girl and a birthday. She is a reader and lover of imaginitive stories– the one who made me a Grammy. She owns a very big piece of my heart.

My husband and I dedcided that for our grandchildren, we would like to give experiences instead of just another toy that gets played with and tossed aside. So for Miss E’s birthday, we decided that I would take her to see the musical, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

Her birthday being in January, I always feel bad that she gets warm pant outfits from my sewing machine instead of the twirly summer dresses that her sisters that have summer birthdays do. I decided this year would be different. I set out to make her the dress of her dreams.

We browsed the Internet together for patterns, and when she saw Misthaven by Little Lizard King Patterns, she gasped. I knew that would be the dress for our outing to the theater!

Sewing Misthaven was also a dream. The instructions, like most Little Lizard King patterns, were very clear. To make it even better, I found the fabric at Fabrictopia in San Antonio, a wholesale fabric outlet store, while on vacation. I chose a navy satin and a white organza with silver stars embossed on it. The best part of this dress is the scalloped back.

Scallops are something that many people avoid sewing.  They truly are not difficult.  My tips for handling them is to:

1. Take your time.  Save the sewing of this bodice for when you have the time to go a little slower than normal.

2. Be exact as you can be with your seam allowance and clip the curves.  Clip around each curve with a clip at each “v” point— to the seam without going through.  Having a good pair of small scissors helps greatly here.

3.  Press. Press. Press – as much as the fabric can take.  The satin I used could only take a low temperature, so I used a press cloth that was slightly damp.  Resist the urge to turn up the temperature on the iron if your fabric can’t handle it.  Always test the iron on a scrap of fabric first.   As you press, at first, it will seem as if it’s a big mess.  It will take some time to get everything turned and pressed, but the look is so worth it!

We had a fabulous time, and I hope it is one she will always remember. We laughed. We talked. We ate Chinese food with Papa. We loved the show as well!

Of course Grammy had to dress up as well. I wore the Love Notions Tessa Sheath Dress that I made for my Christmas dress.

The fact is, little girls grow up way too fast…