So Labor Day turned into an actual labor day for me!
Marla has been wearing a dress from Ragsland I bought for her last Spring probably 3 to 4 times a week! It came down to me having to hide it if I wanted to wash it!
It now has stains and spots I can't get rid of. so it has become her stay-at-home dress!!!!
And so I thought, it's time to make her another one! So here is my take on Marla's favorite dress!!
This is the original! It's adorable and SO comfortable! It's made out of jersey knit, offering some stretch.
To make this dress, I got a yellow toddler size tee at the Thrift shop, and found 1yd of cotton fabric with pears that I thought would make the perfect fun dress to replace the "old" one!
I started by drafting the pattern I needed from the original Ragsland dress:
This process turns out to be really fun!! Here are the pattern peices I came up with. Hint: always make sure the shoulders align between front and back peices!
Then I had to figure out the measurements I needed to create the skirt. For Marla, I recreated the dress in a 5T and the skirt measurements turned out to be for each panel (one front, one back): 24" wide by 17.5" long.
To create the bodice, I cut the tee shirt on the side seams, folded it in half in the length and cut out my pattern peices on the fold line:
And these are the peices I came up with:
Pin the shoulder straps together like so:
Sew with a straight stitch accross each strap:
For the raw edges, zig-zag stitch them. The curl you end with will only help you out creating a nice hem for the following step!
With your iron, fold inward the hem you just zig-zaged/serged. Press in place:
Sew in place with a straight stitch:
Next, stitch the underarm hems together. First, with a straight stitch, second, go back through with a zig-zag stitch to block any little thread that's sticking out!
Now, let's work on the skirt of your dress. Grad your two panels that you cut earlier.
Stitch them along the sides. Then zig-zag/serge the raw edges like so:
Let's work on the bottom of your skirt first. Fold over by 1/4", press with your iron.
Fold over again at about 3/4". Iron to press into place. Pin and sew.
Stitch all around.
I sewed my hem twice so make it look a bit more "industrial!" This is what I did:
Time to gather the top of your skirt so we can attach it to the bodice. For this step, I set the tension at its tightest and the length of the stitch at the longest! I then stitched all around the top of the skirt. Once you pull on the thread, you should get this:
It's now time to place the bodice to the gathered skirt.
Turn your skirt inside out. Turn your bodice upside down with right side facing you, and insert into skirt. Pin into place starting with the sides and then working the rest of the skirt so that the "gatherness" is spread out fairly equally throughout:
Straight stitch. Then go through again and zig-zag/serge the loose threads.
Turn your dress outside out and admire your work! You are done!!!! It's officially your Tah-Dah moment!
You can add your personal touch too if want to....
and with the help of some heat and bound, you can add a little something extra...
(by the way, the heat and bound is my favorite toy to play with right now!!!! ; ) Admire my pretty pear! I think it adds a little something, doesn't it?
I really think it does!!!! I love it!
Hope you love it too and have a blast making one of those too?! : )
Happy Sewing everyone!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment