I am currently taking part in the
Elsie Marley Kids Clothes Week Challenge and just wanted to share a quick tutorial on how I created this easy to sew, comfy to wear dress. It might be heading into winter here in Australia but this dress will still work perfectly with a long sleeve shirt underneath (or even start with a long sleeve top instead of a singlet) topped off with a denim jacket.
Start with your new singlet (mine are organic cotton) and work out where you want the bodice to sit by measuring against your child. You may want to choose a higher waistline like I have but you could choose anywhere from A-Line to drop waisted depending on the finished look you want.
Using a ruler cut off the bottom of your singlet, leaving a 1/2" seam allowance.
Measure and take note of the (unstretched) width across the bottom of your bodice.
We will call this measurement A.
Next decide where you want the hem of the skirt to sit and measure the distance from the planned waistline of the dress to the hem.
Use this measurement to figure out your sections. For my skirts the top tier is about 2/3 of the total measurement and the bottom two tiers make up the remaining third.
For example, your finished skirt will be 21"
make the top tier 14"
middle tier 4" and
bottom tier 3"
NB: For cutting you will need to add your preferred seam allowances, because I am overlocking I add 1" to the finished width of each strip.
Once you have decided on your tier widths write out your cutting plan.
For your top tier cut 2 rectangles of your desired width + seam allowance and length = 2xA + 5"
For your second tier cut 2 strips of your desired width + seam allowance and length = 2xA + 9"
For the bottom tier cut 2 strips of your desired width + seam allowance and length 2xA + 13"
If you would like your dress to be 'frillier' at the bottom feel free to add extra length to your strips for the bottom tier.
With right sides together join the sides of each tier strip together to create three circles .
Using your longest stitch length run a gathering stitch approximately 1/4" from the top edge of each tier
Gather and pin the top tier to the bottom of your bodice.
Gather and pin the bottom tier to the middle tier
Sew your pinned pieces together. I have a 4 thread overlocker (serger) so I ran each piece through. If you don't have one join the pieces together using a straight stitch then finish the edges with a zigzag stitch.
Once you have stitched these sections together gather and pin the middle tier to the top tier.
Sew the tiers together.
Finally hem your dress and topstitch each of the tiers.
I have topstiched by ironing the seams toward the non-gathered fabric and stitching.
Happy days!
Hope that you enjoyed the very first Green Dandelion tutorial...make sure to leave us a link when you give this a go, we would love to see your finished product! please dont hesitate to ask me any questions.
For those who would rather just buy a dress, the playtime stripe dress will be coming to the store very soon!
Tatum
