This dress was inspired by two things, my 3 year old Niomi, who loves all things princess related and a kind gesture by a true princess and beautiful sister Andrea Patterson. This dress is actually not completed, it was meant to be a play princess dress for Niomi, but she refused to put it on for me to alter it (I think accidently sticking her with a pin when I was first draping the material really was the end of playing dress up with mommy.) I decided to post it anyway, because just like my beautiful Niomi, this dress is a work in progress. Niomi at the tender age of 3 has several regal tendencies. The way she sits with her legs crossed in her car seat, how she needs to be escorted to the bathroom at home but then tells you to step outside or how she does not want her feet to touch the floor in the house so she wears slippers at all times. She insist on picking out what shoes she wears or even what pjs or house clothes she wears so that she can look like a pretty princess. I have made many efforts to tell her that she is a princess regardless of what she wears and that her royalty is based on who she is. That sort of fell on deaf ears until one night a few months ago we watched a movie together “The Princess Protection Program.” I liked this movie because what ended up making this princess so regal was the kindness in her heart and her ability to uplift others. This reminded me of how I lost one of my earrings at a friend’s house during a women’s fellowship sleep over. Not only did Andrea drop my earring in the mail to me, but she took the time to write a sweet note that put a smile on my face. As beautiful and special as Andrea is when you are in her presence she always has a kind word to say about you, and you leave feeling loved. Now that is true princess power. I think Niomi is coming into her true royalty too. She was the last one dropped off on her 3rd day of pre-school; most of the kids were on the far side of the room playing but there was one little girl in the middle of the room head down and teary eyed. Niomi walked right up to her, put her hand on her shoulders looked her in the eyes and asked her name. I thought aaaaaaah how sweet, then I thought, there it is, princess power. So I could have made a pink dress but that was to light weight for what I thought a true princess would exude. The earring returned was actually an ethnic looking gold earring and I wanted the dress to have that same feel.
