For Easter this year, I made this little dress for my little girl. I liked it so much that I thought to myself, “I want to make one for myself” and so I did.
This dress only took a little over a yard to make.
This is how I made it:
1) I took two pieces of fabric and cut them into rectangles. Mine were about 22×33 inches. The 22 inches wide about 8 inches wider than me, the shirring will make it smaller.
2) Next I cut two strips of fabric that were 4×45″ and two strips of back fabric that were 2×45″
3) I hemmed the edges of the fabric.
4) Then using elastic thread in my bobbin and my longest straight stitch, I sewed on the side that wasn’t hemmed of the strip to make a ruffle.
5) I then did a zig zag stitch on the edges of the black fabric and then sewed down the middle with the elastic thread to make the ruffle.
6) I pinned and sewed the ruffle to the bottom of the dress.
7) Then I pinned and sewed the black ruffle onto the seam of the bottom ruffle.
8) I did that for both pieces of fabric and then I pinned the two of them together with fronts facing each other and sewed the sides together.
9) Next I hemmed the very top of the dress.
So this is what the dress looks like right now, not much of a dress with very little shape, just a rectangle.
10) Now for the fun part, the shirring. With the elastic thread in the bobbin and with my longest straight stitch, I sewed rows onto the top of the dress.
11) I kept on doing that until I had 20 rows. It definitely starts to get a little crowded once you get that many rows. Make sure that the fabric was flat when I was sewing it.
12) Once I finished the top, I put a couple of pleats in the back for a little bit of shape. I also took in the sides a little bit in the waist.
13) I then added some back ruffle strips to the top for straps. This was really for decoration, they weren’t holding the dress up at all.
And just like that, I made my very first dress for myself. It’s not the most flattering dress in the world and it’s much cuter on my little girl than me but it was still fun to make 🙂
Life in Rehab
Your daughter is already way too cute, and now we have matching outfits?!?!?! Cute overload!
Tanya
Cute! It gets hard holding the fabric straight after a while. I made a shirred top for myself last week (check it out!) and LOVE it (although my hands were sore after all the shirring). So comfortable, and it reminds me of the sundresses I had as a child.
Misty @Creative Itch
Cute dress Kaysi!! Thanks for linking @'Sew Cute Tuesday'!
Jen
Very cool dress! My mom made us matching dresses once and I remember thinking it was so cool that we matched. Not that your little girl would know yet.
laxsupermom
So cute! The shirring makes me all nostalgic for the sundresses my mom used to make for me as a little girl. Love that you have matching dresses now. Thanks for sharing.
Tiff @ Making The World Cuter
It is super cute! Love it! hugs-Tiff