MacKenzie Childs inspired baby girl dress stands

Welcome back everyone! So lately I've been extremely inspired and almost obsessed by Mackenzie Childs. During this newly obsessed time I had been working on the baby shower for our daughter. I had seen a picture on Pinterest of some little dress stands that I thought were just absolutely adorable so I shared that picture with my husband and he made the stands for me. Then it was time to put my newly inspired obsession to work!

So if you know anything about MacKenzie childs you know that one of the things that she's most notorious for in the home decor world is her Courtly check patterns. So since I didn't feel that black or royal blue check would be appropriate for a little girl baby shower I used the colors that were appropriate. I started off my taping off my wood platforms using 1" painters tape and started working. This was a bit time consuming because after you had taped and painted one way...you had to take that off and tape and paint the opposite way. For someone in a bit of a rush to churn out as many baby shower projects as I had on my list at the time......it turned out to be more time that I could allow for and you'll see in following pictures. But back to this...working my way up the stand. I knew that I wanted some kind of floral design. Again, time restraint played a part of this. So I looked in my stash of pretty paper napkins for pink florals and I believe that it was just meant for me to use these on this project. A little decoupaging and the poles of the stands were complete in no time at all. And since MacKenzie Childs loves to mix and match patterns, I knew that I would be doing the same. So polka dots came into play for the wood cross bar that held these little dresses on. I'll talk more about the "finials" in a moment. But lets move on the stand number two for now.

 So here you will see that there isn't a check at all....but jagged stripes instead. That's because first and foremost, I was working on these at the wee hours of the morning and when I removed the first tape that I had laid out...I don't know how but I re-taped and painted and when I revealed the "masterpiece" this is what I saw. LOL I went to bed shortly after this big reveal to myself knowing that sleep was crucial....obviously. But when I woke with a fresh new perspective on the "situation" I found that I really liked it! It gave it yet another pattern in the overall scheme of things. So I just proceeded on.

In this last dress stand. You'll see that I left the base different as well. Instead of a full connecting check, I only taped and painted one time and called it done. By placing the jagged stripes in the middle it really gave them all their own little personalities. Or at least that's how I was looking at them. 

So now lets talk about the little finials on top of each of the posts. Need I remind you yet again that this is MacKenzie Childs inspired.....to me she is to home decor as Betsy Johnson is to the fashion industry. They are both bold and quirky. I personally think they would be great friends because they both seem to have the same style and taste. Who knows maybe they are.....but I digress....back to the finials.....since we were in the middle of a nationwide lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, I had to use what I already had in my stash. So starting from the bottom of the finial and working my way up. The black and white striped part is actually a wooden drawer pull that I turned upside down. The next one, the green one, is actually a wooden bead that I painted a shade of the green from the decoupaged napkins. Then the one on the very top is a wooden ball that already had been cut to have a flat surface. I had only a few of those leftover from a project I did last Christmas and so I put them to good use. I simply glued them all together using wood glue, let them dry overnight and then glued them to the tops of the stands which I let dry overnight as well. I think that they made the perfect addition of quirky whimsy to the little dress stands. 

If you're wondering how I kept my little shoes and accessories in the position that you're seeing them in here in the photos as well as the last picture of them at the baby shower...here is my tip. I used glue dots! Zots glue dots actually. I used those for almost everything that I hung for the baby shower..as a matter of fact, I used every last one that I had! But they are amazing and don't damage things when you pull them off. Of course the final step after painting these little dress stands was for me to spray them with some clear acrylic paint to protect them and that helped to keep things from sticking permanently to them. 

This last picture is how I used them as not only a gift but as decor as well at the baby shower. The whiskey barrels made them look even more sweet and precious I think. Of course these belonged to the venue but I knew immediately how I was going to utilize them. 

These were lined up right at the door on the left hand side to act as a barrier of sorts. On the right hand side, the registration table was set up long ways and just helped guide people into the venue. 

I hope that you enjoyed seeing these little dress stands. They were one of my favorite things that I made for the entire shower. My hope is that our granddaughter will use these for many years in her room....and YES they are signed on the bottom for her....her Papa built them and her Gigi painted them.