Little Mermaid Princess Inspired Wardrobe

The Little Mermaid has to have one of the most imaginative fairytales out there, I don't know any grown girl who didn't fantasize about being a mermaid at some point in her childhood! So I was super excited when I was approached to design some dresses inspired by the mermaid story. The awesome mom who wanted these dresses for her little princess asked only for short sleeves and not floor-length skirts, so I came up with what I thought were two sweet inspired-by dresses!

 

 

I went with a heart-shaped yoke that was inspired by days spent exploring the land with her new beau. I added the shoulder straps with little ruffles to keep everything up, and tied them together into a big bow at the back waistline. There are ruffles everywhere, gotta love the ruffles!

I went more romantic with the sweet puff sleeves of this pink ball gown dress, but I also added extra details. I put ruffles on the two skirt hemlines, and I made the sash extra long so it can wrap around the back to tie at the front into a big bow.



 



 

. 

 

I love the way the blue day dress turned out, I can see any little girl tromping around in it and having the best time. I decided to add both dresses to my Etsy shop, I just think they're that cute so I want to share it with everyone!The pink ballgown turned out amazing and so girly! The ruffles and two-tone pinks are just too sweet for words. I had so much fun with these custom orders, I probably wouldn't have made them if it weren't for my lovely buyer! I hope her little princess has a ball wearing them!

Officially Launched

Can I get an "Amen"?! Color Me Ruffled by Papoose Clothing, the first ever Spring/ Summer collection, is officially for sale! Yaybers!

This is such a huge accomplishment for me, and it has been such a long road! I feel like I haven't done anything in weeks except eat, breathe, and sleep this collection. Especially lately with trying to coordinate the photo shoots and get everything organized. I am super excited about how everything turned out!

Seeing everything pulled together and done sets butterflies loose in my stomach. I remember being at the fabric store and fretting for hours about the right choices. Having it all come out how I envisioned it makes me the happiest little sewer on the planet!

I feel a bit disappointed though that I don't have that creative outlet anymore. I'm still getting inspired and have ideas swirling around in my head. If this is my original Spring/ Summer Collection, is there such a thing as a Spring/ Summer 1.5 Collection where I release a coordinating design sporadically throughout the season. I could do that, right?

If anything, I now have the leisure time to sew orders without having to stay up late every night, which is lovely! I am so grateful for this opportunity, and I hope people love it as much as I do! And as a little "Thank you" promotion, I will being having a special giveaway!

Up for grabs is the Double Ruffle Houndstooth Shorts! These darling little shorts are available in sizes 2T-6T.

 

These shorts from the Spring Summer 2013 Collection are so easy and comfortable to wear, she will want to wear them everyday!

These sweet little shorts are cut from a fabulous houndstooth print cotton material in a teal color. The waist and legs both have elastic gathering for that "bubble" effect with extra room in the seat area. The elastic is held below the waistline and above the hemline for a double ruffled look, very sweet and sassy!

The shorts are pictured with the Reversible A-line Crossback Tunic, but it is not included. This giveaway is for the shorts only. You must be following our blog to win, all entries will be verified. The giveaway ends on March 22, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Photo Shoot Outtakes

This weekend has been so busy with mini photo shoots. I came down to Montgomery to finish taking pictures for the Spring Summer 2013 collection, and we chose the Alabama Shakespeare Festival as one of the sites. It helps to break up the shoots so my little model doesn't get too tired. Even then, we have mini meltdowns now and then (she is 2, after all), so I thought it would be cute to share a few pictures that, for some reason or another, won't be making the cut!

 

Poor thing didn't want to sit still in her cute little rocker, so we eventually gave her a purple butterfly catcher that helped do the trick. Most of the pictures I have are with that finger sticking out!

It was really windy today, too. I think I should call this picture, "Mommy, it's windy!"

 

And this one is called, "Sassy britches wants to go feed the ducks. NOW."

 

As much as I love these glasses, they just didn't work. I immediately thought, "Elton John alert!" Maybe with a less dramatic outfit...

 

 

Mommy got caught trying to fix a falling shoulder strap!



 

We were trying to get her to smile and look at the camera by asking her where mommy was (behind the camera). This obviously backfired when she eventually head-butted the camera, but look how happy that face is!

 

This was taken on our way back to the car, we had to say goodbye to all of the ducks along the way. By the end of the shoot, they were all "my friends!" Sweet girl!

Princess Nightgowns

About a month ago I was asked to make two nightgowns for a special little princess, and since I hadn't made any before, I jumped at the opportunity! The goal was to make Wendy Darling's nightgown pretty straightforward and classic, but I was given the chance to create something unique based for Cinderella's nightgown. I wasn't too worried about Wendy Darling's because it seemed simple enough to capture, but I was a bit nervous about Cinderella's. I had to make sure they were different while bringing some extra princess-ness to Cinderella's gown.

I mean, come on, you don't want to wear Cinderella's nightgown when she's still a servant, right, you want to wear the one when she's a princess! So I imagined certain elements of her nightgown that I knew I wanted to keep, like the front bow and the long sleeves. To me, they were the main points that differentiated her nightgown from Wendy's. I added ruffles, ruffles, ruffles to Cinderella's nightgown, and it took forever to gather them all and sew! I added a keyhole neckline to the front of the dress with a sweet little bow to tie it together. Both dresses buttoned up at the back.

After getting approval and the all-clear, I started out constructing everything! I ended up using the same fabric for both gowns, but I used a darker blue for Cinderella's front bow. Wendy's sash was a gorgeous light blue fabric I had extra on hand that worked out beautifully!

Wendy Darling

I think Wendy's dress turned out so prim and proper, just like her! It just screams good English manners. I can see her drinking hot tea in this dress right before bed while sitting on her windowseat and looking out for Peter Pan!

 Cinderella

I also love the way Cinderella's dress turned out, especially with all the ruffles! They were a painstaking job, but they look amazing and really help enliven the dress up. I think the nightgown definitely turned out fit for a princess!