Keep Calm and Carrion: Mystery Challenge: People and Moments in Time

Wow, this challenge totally stretched my creativity! Hi! And welcome to my May Mystery Challenge post.

The current challenge is Moments and People Throughout History, and the very awesome Tasha from Friends Stitched Together gave me my topic... Mrs. Jackie Kennedy.

I will freely admit, I considered asking for a different subject as I was finding myself less than inspired... but I decided that it was a great chance to get my creative juices working and that I wasn't going to back down. I actually bought fabric three times for this challenge. I started with a pretty black stretch taffeta, but I had no idea what I wanted to do with it, and it was just SO DARK. So then I picked a pretty powder blue satin, but I kept staring at it with no real inspiration, so I tried one more time.... and ended up with a bright coral taffeta AND an idea. That other fabric will find its project soon lol.

Meet my Miss Kennedy:

She may not be *quite* as elegant and graceful...

So Mrs. Kennedy... the picture perfect First Lady. Perfectly put together and inspired a generation of fashion with her iconic looks. So I attempted to create a child friendly version of one of her iconic dresses that has the Kennedy elegance and timeless fashion. Here is where I got my Kennedy Inspiration from... (photo courtesy of the JFK library).

Now, while Mrs. Kennedy is wearing an Oleg Cassini in apricot colored silk... Inara is wearing the slightly more accessible "Calypso" taffeta made into a modified "Jackie" from Muffin Head Patterns. And I paired it with some stretch crushed panne gloves using the Princess Plum Dress Up Gloves from Zuzzy Patterns.

In order to complete the look, we added some *pearls,* white dress shoes, and a little clutch.

And put it all together and we have my silly Miss Kennedy, as I have been referring to her since. She found it a ton of fun to be able to dress up and play the sophisticated girl. She even curtsied to her friends she saw while we were in town.

The pattern had the shape I wanted before even starting, which made the alterations easy. The designer helped me reshape the neckline (I was worried I'd mess it up lol). And then I used the gathered skirt that is part of the pattern and did some big pleats on the back and for the front I did a large pleat in the middle. And then I made a narrow bow to attach to the front, though I only pinned it on, as I was worried it would get ripped off when she wore it to school.

I think that the dress its just a lovely look on Inara and since she is my little fashionista, even though her fashion is a bit ecclectic, I think that a Kennedy look is perfect for her!