May 2016


Summer is almost here, and we've got the pattern you need!

As we head into Memorial Day weekend — the traditional start of summer vacation — we are thrilled to present our latest pattern, #1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18" Dolls.

It's grey and cool outside the Lee & Pearl™ workroom this morning, but we don't mind. For weeks now, we've had nothing but sunshine inside the workroom as we worked on this beautiful, seasonal pattern.

Introducing Lee & Pearl Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18 Inch Dolls. Get your American Girl dolls summer-ready with gauzy MAXI DRESSES and loose floaty TOPS, draped in beautiful folds from a flattering bias tape-bound halter neckline. Then complete your girl's boho look with the perfect handmade BEADED CHOKER. Find this pattern in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

Your 18 inch dolls will be festival-ready in these gauzy MAXI DRESSES and loose floaty TOPS, draped in beautiful folds from a flattering — and easy-to-sew — bias tape-bound halter neckline. Then complete your doll's boho look with the perfect handmade BEADED CHOKER.

The Desert Sunrise pattern provides a ton of style for a very small outlay of time and effort. There are only two pattern pieces — the dress or top and an internal yoke lining. That's it. Just those two pattern pieces and a few easy seams between them. You won't believe how quick and easy the halter top and dress are to put together.

Our American Girl Ivy loves her boho-fabulous halter top, made using Lee & Pearl Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18 Inch Dolls. Sew out of your comfort zone with gauzy fabrics, silkies and jerseys, while still enjoying the ease of pinning and stitching to the sturdy cotton internal yoke that holds everything together. Find this pattern in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

Best of all, because of that stabilizing internal yoke of ordinary cotton fabric, you can try out those fabrics you never get to use for the dress or top — all the fluttery silkies and liquid-smooth jerseys you've admired in the fabric store, but put back on the shelf as too hard to sew.

Avoid those beauties no longer! This pattern is your chance to sew out of your comfort zone while still enjoying the ease of pinning and stitching to the quilting cotton or muslin internal yoke that holds everything together.

Introducing Lee & Pearl Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18 Inch Dolls. Get your American Girl dolls summer-ready with gauzy MAXI DRESSES and loose floaty TOPS, draped in beautiful folds from a flattering bias tape-bound halter neckline. Then complete your girl's boho look with the perfect handmade BEADED CHOKER. Find this pattern in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

That internal yoke also acts as a built-in camisole, so you can use lace or sheer fabrics, like the embellished mesh we used for our Ana's halter top, below.

Introducing Lee & Pearl Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18 Inch Dolls. Get summer festival style with only two pattern pieces and a few quick seams. Sew out of your comfort zone with gauzy fabrics, silkies and jerseys, while enjoying the ease of pinning and stitching to the sturdy cotton internal yoke that holds everything together. Find this pattern in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

Wondering what to do with all the time you'll save because this pattern is so easy? Make beaded chokers, of course! Teen Vogue calls them "neck candy," and InStyle magazine says they're "this summer's wear-with-everything staple."

Introducing Lee & Pearl Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18 Inch Dolls. Get your American Girl dolls summer-ready with gauzy MAXI DRESSES and loose floaty TOPS, draped in beautiful folds from a flattering bias tape-bound halter neckline. Then complete your girl's boho look with the perfect handmade BEADED CHOKER. Find this pattern in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

We've included detailed, photo-illustrated directions in this pattern for a simple daisy chain choker, and pattern directions for a few more advanced chokers too.

Make your 18 inch doll a trendy boho dress — and the perfect beaded jewelry to go with it. And then make a few chokers for yourself, as well. The tools and techniques are exactly the same.

Introducing Lee & Pearl Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18 Inch Dolls. Get your American Girl dolls summer-ready with gauzy MAXI DRESSES and loose floaty TOPS, draped in beautiful folds from a flattering bias tape-bound halter neckline. Then complete your girl's boho look with the perfect handmade BEADED CHOKER. Find this pattern in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

With a loose, floaty fit, fully adjustable neck ties and a generously sized internal yoke, this dress and top are wonderfully flexible — perfect for those who sew for a variety of 18 inch dolls. Every doll looks great in this dress!

Introducing Lee & Pearl Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18 Inch Dolls. Our American Girl doll Caroline is summer beach-ready in her Hawaiian print MAXI DRESS, draped in beautiful folds from a flattering — and easy-to-sew — bias tape-bound halter neckline. Find this pattern in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

The HALTER TOP and MAXI DRESS are rated EASY/INTERMEDIATE.

The construction steps involved in this pattern are genuinely easy. We've even broken down couture-level techniques like bias-to-bias seams and understitching into simple steps that anyone can follow.

But depending on your fabric choice, this pattern might be considered intermediate. We have made the seams as easy as possible regardless of the material you use, but hemming certain materials can be difficult — as can laying out and cutting.

The BEADED CHOKER is rated Easy. We've laid out exactly the supplies you'll need and included step-by-step, photo-illustrated directions to get you started making boho-fabulous necklaces for your doll — and for yourself as well.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO PATTERN 1032: DESERT SUNRISE MAXI DRESS, HALTER TOP AND BEADED CHOKERS FOR 18" DOLLS IN OUR ETSY STORE

You may have noticed a few other Lee & Pearl patterns in our model shots, including easy-breezy summer coordinates like Pattern 1041: Slim Skirts for 18" Dolls and Pattern 1006: Patrol Cap for 18" Dolls.

And what about that cute blue-and-yellow sun hat Grace is wearing with her gold halter top, and the denim hat Caroline is wearing on the beach? Those are prototypes of our COMING SOON Pattern 1017: California Girl Sun Hat for 18" Dolls. Watch your email inbox carefully for this pattern. It has already received a big thumbs-up from our testers and will be available in our Etsy store soon!

 

These are the fabrics you are looking for — Coachella and Palm Springs Maxi Dress Fabric & Trim Kits from Lee & Pearl™

Since we posted the first teaser picture of our Lea doll in that amazing multicolored Indian print maxi dress on our pattern cover, people have been asking us about that fabric.

The Lee & Pearl COACHELLA Maxi Dress Fabric & Trim Kit is all about BOHEMIAN STYLE, with generous cuts of an Indian Print poly georgette and an Aztec print poly challis. Find this kit for 18 inch dolls in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397809429/coachella-maxi-dress-fabric-trim-kit-for? — and get Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18" Dolls at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

It's gorgeous fabric. It's so gorgeous that we went back to the Downtown Los Angeles supplier and bought more. And we got some other gorgeous fabrics, too — enough to make a whole new set of Lee & Pearl™ Fabric & Trim Kits, designed to work with our new Maxi Dress pattern!

Though one can find ordinary quilting cottons and home decorating fabrics in the Los Angeles fashion, fabric and trim district, the real backbone of the industry there are the specialized garment-weight fabrics that you rarely see in local fabric stores.

These marvelous fabrics — gauzy, drapey materials like poly georgette, challis and jersey — are exactly the kind of fabric that we recommend for our Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress and Halter Tops, and also our stylishly vintage Pattern 1031: Classic Wrap Dress for 18" Dolls.

Introducing the Coachella Maxi Dress Fabric & Trim Kit, which keys off the laid-back, bohemian vibe of the famous desert music festival, and the Palm Springs Maxi Dress Fabric & Trim Kit, which takes its cue from the combined Hollywood glamour and retro, tiki style of the posh desert resort.

The Lee & Pearl COACHELLA Maxi Dress Fabric & Trim Kit is all about BOHEMIAN STYLE, with generous cuts of an Indian Print poly georgette and an Aztec print poly challis. Find this kit for 18 inch dolls in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397809429/coachella-maxi-dress-fabric-trim-kit-for? — and get Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18" Dolls at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

The Lee & Pearl PALM SPRINGS Maxi Dress Fabric & Trim Kit is all about VINTAGE GLAMOUR, with generous cuts of a Hawaiian print poly challis and a subtle shimmering gold jersey lamé. Find this kit for 18 inch dolls in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/384311464/palm-springs-maxi-dress-fabric-trim-kit? — and get Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18" Dolls at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

Putting these Maxi Dress kits together was a dream come true. Every fabric style we wanted was available. And every price per yard was lower than we had budgeted. We are THRILLED to be able to pass our good fortune on to you.

We are offering these kits at a new low price — one that we may never be able to match again. Each kit is only $19.99, a price made even more remarkable as it includes Priority Mail shipping in the U.S.

Each kit contains TWO 2/3 yard pieces of 60" fabric, plus a fat quarter of coordinating lightweight cotton for linings, facings, bias binding and accessories, PLUS a fun extra — a pair of brightly colored acrylic beads, perfect for mod earrings or pendants.

We test every piece of fabric and trim that goes into a Lee & Pearl™ kit, and hand package them right here in our workroom in VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES. Once one of our kits sells out, it's likely sold out for good — so don't wait too long to get your favorites!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE COACHELLA MAXI DRESS FABRIC & TRIM KIT IN OUR ETSY STORE

The Lee & Pearl COACHELLA Maxi Dress Fabric & Trim Kit is all about BOHEMIAN STYLE, with generous cuts of an Indian Print poly georgette and an Aztec print poly challis. Find this kit for 18 inch dolls in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397809429/coachella-maxi-dress-fabric-trim-kit-for? — and get Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18" Dolls at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PALM SPRINGS MAXI DRESS FABRIC & TRIM KIT IN OUR ETSY STORE

The Lee & Pearl PALM SPRINGS Maxi Dress Fabric & Trim Kit is all about VINTAGE GLAMOUR, with generous cuts of a Hawaiian print poly challis and a subtle shimmering gold jersey lamé. Find this kit for 18 inch dolls in our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/listing/384311464/palm-springs-maxi-dress-fabric-trim-kit? — and get Pattern 1032: Desert Sunrise Maxi Dress, Halter Top and Beaded Chokers for 18" Dolls at https://www.etsy.com/listing/397805083/lp-1032-desert-sunrise-maxi-dress-halter

See you next month...

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