A & E and Little C: Sewing Project #2

While I enjoyed making the little turquoise gingham jon jon for Carson, I have to admit I would have rather sewn a little girl's dress instead just because they seem easier and it seems you have so much more creative flexibility. Of course, I didn't exercise all that creativity yet since I'm still just learning the basics.

So, Google "simple baby dress pattern" and the first result you get is the DIY "Pillowcase" Baby Dress Pattern from Prudent Baby. If you've never seen their blog, Prudent Baby, definitely check it out. I can take NO credit whatsoever on this dress because they laid it out, plain and simple, and even included a set of pattern measurements, one for 0-3 months (which I used) and one for 2T. So, BIG thank you to Prudent Baby for making this so simple! Oh, and please honor their wishes that this pattern only be used for personal use since it was FREE! Thank you! :-)

So now that the credits are out of the way, here's how it went.

Measurements for 0-3 month dress:

So I needed to make the pattern but wasn't sure I had anything big enough (and didn't really want to tape together a bunch of computer paper), but then I remembered we had some left over "wrapping paper" (i.e. Andrew's butcher paper-esque paper they use to cover the tables when people bring in dead ducks after a hunt). Yes, add some red and gold ribbon and you have Christmas wrapping paper. :-) Turns out, it made the perfect pattern paper. So, I just got out my tape measurer and created the image from the computer on the paper.

Fold the pattern in half and place on the fold, pin, cut, repeat.

You should have two identical pieces now. Put the wrong sides (what will be the inside of the dress) together and pin the sides. Sew a 5/8" seam along the sides.

Now for the arm holes. We will finish with single-fold bias tape to give a clean finish. Pin one of the folds like so, then sew along the crease.

Then, fold back over, tucking in the other fold in the tape. Pin and sew.

You now have finished arm holes.

Repeat on the other side. You should now have a garment that looks like this. I left extra bias tape on the ends just in case. Turns out that was unnecessary, so I just cut off.

Now to make the pocket for the ribbon. Fold down and press a 1/4" (pictured on left side below), then fold over another 3/4" (pictured on right side) and sew along bottom edge so there is an ~1" "pocket" for the ribbon. You will do this on both the front and back pieces of the dress. See 2nd picture below for finished pocket with ribbon.

Finished pocket with ribbon. Use a safety pin to feed the ribbon through.

Fold the bottom hem up 1/4", press and then sew in place. If you want to stop here and not add ruffle or a trim, then fold up again, and sew to finish the edge.

Everything to this point was SUPER easy, but then I decided I wanted to add a ruffle since I had the perfect fabric and really no other use for it. I suggest just Googling how to make a ruffle, because I'm pretty sure that from here on out was not proper dressmaking. I pretty much just winged it and will probably do it differently next time. The short version of how to make a ruffle though it so just sew a basting (very loose and wide) stitch and then pull the bobbin thread to gather. I then sewed the two edges together so I had circle of ruffles that I could attach to the bottom of the dress.

I spent the longest amount of time just trying to figure out how to attach the ruffle and not have a rough edge anywhere. I NEED A SERGER.

What it initially looked like before turning up the edges to finish. I'm not really sure how I would even describe what I did. I know there had to be another way...oh well, next time.

It was a mess on the inside (I knew it would be), so I trimmed down the inside rough edge of the ruffle with my pinking shears to that it would cleanly fold up into the hem of the skirt when I rolled it up. Again... I know this makes no sense without very detailed pictures.