Sewing Bee Fabrics Tutorial
How To Make A Little Girl's Dress
This little dress made for a lovely 1st birthday present. Here is how I made it.
What you will need:
1/2 - 1 meter cotton depending on the pattern size you make for your dress (available HERE)
Elastic Ribbon (also known as fold over elastic, from HERE) - enough to fit around the waist twice without stretching, and the length of 2 straps.
How to make it:
Firstly comes drafting your pattern. The fit on it doesn't have to be perfect, as it can be quite forgiving so err on the side of caution and make it a little bigger if you like. You will need to measure the waist, the waist to where you want the dress to come up to on the top at the front, and waist to where you want the dress to go down to on the legs.
There are 3 sections to this dress.
For the skirt section, you want the top measurement to be half the waist, plus 10cm. For the bottom, make it 1 1/2 - 2 times that measurement depending on how full you want the skirt to be. Simply draw a line diagonally from top to bottom, spacing them apart as long as you want your skirt part to be (plus 2cm for seam / hem allowance).
The top front should be a rectangle approximately half the waist plus 6cm, with the depth being how far up from the waist you want it to sit near the neck line (plus 1cm for seam allowance). At each end, curve off from 8cm near the edge to reach a depth of 5cm at the edge. This is to curve under the arms. You can adjust your neckline to make a shape if you want. I like a gentle curve inwards in the centre, but straight across looks great too.
The final piece is the back body part. This is simply half the waist plus 6cm by the same depth as the underarm edge of the front piece.
If you have a fabric like mine with obvious patterns or stripes, just be aware of it when you are cutting your pieces. If you can match the patterns up along the seams it will make any dress look far more professional.
How to put it together:
First, hem your 2 skirt pieces, so turn up the bottom edge to fold , then fold again so the raw edge is completely enclosed then sew it down in place. I like to use my quarter inch quilting foot on my sewing machine to guarantee a nice straight line of stitching along the edge (see our sewing machine feet HERE).
First, hem your 2 skirt pieces, so turn up the bottom edge to fold , then fold again so the raw edge is completely enclosed then sew it down in place. I like to use my quarter inch quilting foot on my sewing machine to guarantee a nice straight line of stitching along the edge (see our sewing machine feet HERE).
Next you want to attach the top pieces to a skirt piece each. They are deliberately different widths. This is so you can pin a few little pleats in to give the skirt a bit more shape and movement. The easiest way is to fold the top piece downwards over the top of the skirt with right sides together and the top underneath. Pin the 2 sides together at the top, then make little bunches of gathered fabric evenly along the top as you pin them down together. Sew in place with a quarter inch seam then stitch over the edge (or a zigzag near the edge to stop the edge from fraying.).
Next you will need to attach the front to back sections. You will only be sewing down one side for now. So place them right sides together, pin then again sew a quarter inch seam then an overlock stitch or zigzag at the edge.
Next comes your elastic ribbon. Fold it over the top edge of your dress at the open edge. Sew a few stitches of a straight stitch with backstitching to anchor the elastic in place, then with a gentle stretch and ideally a 3 step zigzag stitch (which allows the most movement of elastic without stitches breaking). I find that a sewing machine binding foot helps me feed this on really quickly. You can do it by hand too, just go slowly to make sure you keep your edge in the centre of the fold over elastic. Keep going until the whole top edge is covered, then again a few straight stitches at the end to help secure it.
Next you want to put elastic ribbon in the centre to cover your seam between the body and dress pieces, only this time use your elastic ribbon laid flat instead of folded over the edge and on full stretch as you sew. You may want to sew along the top and bottom edges of the ribbon to secure in place otherwise the edges can curl in with use. I used my over edge stitch as a guide and used a long stitch length on zigzag.
Now you have your ribbon attached to the dress, you can sew up the other side. This way, the ribbon ends will be hidden in your seam. Repeat this side exactly as you did the other with quarter inch seam allowance and an over edge stitch to finish.
Lastly you just need you straps. I find the easiest way is to try the dress on and using a few safety pins, just pin your 2 elastic ribbon straps where you want them. Fold up the bottom of the elastic so the raw edge is hidden between the elastic and dress and sew on just inside the dress. If you attach these by machine it is more obvious than a hand stitch, so weigh up speed versus appearance!
Lastly you just need you straps. I find the easiest way is to try the dress on and using a few safety pins, just pin your 2 elastic ribbon straps where you want them. Fold up the bottom of the elastic so the raw edge is hidden between the elastic and dress and sew on just inside the dress. If you attach these by machine it is more obvious than a hand stitch, so weigh up speed versus appearance!
And as simple as that, your dress is ready!
We hope you enjoy our tutorials and love hearing what you think so please leave us a comment or send me an email to linda@sewingbeefabrics.co.uk
Happy Sewing!
Happy Sewing!
