Super Secret Birthday Project

Before I get to the cause of all my hair-pulling details of my latest project, here is a neat quick little something I put together the other night. I don't remember where I saw it, but I think it was on another blog. They are bottle cap pincushions, using pop caps as the base.
I did made one extra, so if somebody out there is sewing or knows a new sewer and wants it, please let me know. They were sew easy to put together {something I desperately needed after some of the more "involved" projects}. Speaking of involved projects, I got the idea to make my almost-6-year-old a princess-like ballgown for her birthday. I figured it would be something totally out of the ordinary to receive as a gift & she really doesn't need any more toys that will get only occasional play. She actually picked out the pattern which you can see here. The one I picked is the style of the lavender dress at the bottom. {Somehow I feel like I've talked about this in a previous post. If I have, sorry, we'll just blame it on the pregnancy hormones.} She loves to look at the dresses on the outside & tell me which one she would pick for herself and which one she would pick for her little sis. Little does she know......Here is my progress so far:

The right picture is a close-up of the waistline. There is a sheer sash that goes around the waist and will tie into a big bow at the back. I completed the matching bolero in the third picture long ago, but still plan to add a rosette to the front for a little decor. Hubs took the kids to his parents today giving me the perfect opportunity to finish the task, but alas, it wasn't in the cards. I realized after wrestling like a mad-woman with 6 layers of fabric that I need a heavier-duty needle. Now my plan is to give the dress to her on Friday night, the evening before our family party. I was feeling really discouraged, like I undertook a project that is more advanced than my skills and is taking so much longer than my short-attention-span-personality can tolerate. After relaxing for a bit and seeing it on the hanger to take these blog photos, I am calmer and realize that I am so excited for my sweet daughter and hope she appreciates all the work that went into it. I hope she will feel like the princess that she is when she finally gets to wear it......