Getting Ruffled

For my oldest daughter's Easter dress, I decided to adapt a pattern from Martha Pullen's "Sew Beautiful" magazine.  The Laura A-Line Dress (Jan/Feb 2004) was originally a sleeveless white dress with an optional smocked waistband.  You can see the original here.   I decided to go with a bright floral print instead with a polka-dot batik (thank-you remnant bin!) at the waist for contrast.  I used to skirt pattern as the underlining for a series of cascading flounces and added a simple puffed sleeve.

Using a rotary cutter, I cut a series of 8 1/2 inch strips of fabric to form the flounces.  The lower edge of the tiers were bound with red bias tape.  Starting from the bottom, I attached three rows of ruffled flounces in cascading tiers.

This is the skirt after all the rows were attached.  With the exception of adding the sleeves, no changes were made to the bodice.

The sash/band features horizontal pleats and is attached to the dress.  The dress is finished with buttons in the back.

Here is the final product ready for Easter.

Chemise Dress

About four or five years ago, I got the idea of making my girls all dresses for pioneer day.  It never happened, but I still had the pattern (McCall's M4547) sitting in my closet unused.   While looking through my patterns for a simple summery dress for a bold floral print, I can across it again.  

Although the dress itself was not what I had in mind; the pattern included some pioneer-style underwear.   The chemise up until modern times was a loose shirt-like undergarment (lengths could vary) worn as a bottom layer under dresses, bodices, corsets, etc.  Now it can refer to a simple dress or shirt with straight lines.  The chemise was exactly what I had in mind and in a bold floral print would look nothing like underwear.

This is how it came out.  I was true to the original pattern with nothing altered.  I added some trim in the form of some pink rick-rack above the hemline and used a pink ribbon to gather the neckline.  The pattern is simple - I was able to whip it together in just a few hours.  My daughter loves her new dress; though I wonder what she would think if she knew she was parading around in "underwear."

Emily'S Shirt Dress -- Part Two: Putting it Together

I started out cutting all the pieces from both the fabric and the fusible interfacing, and then ironed all the pieces with a little starch.  During this time I also attached the interfacing. I sewed the front of the dress together first and pressed the seam and the button lap.  I top-stitched along the edges of the lap.

Next, I attached the pockets to the front.  One Emily's dress they are below the waistline.   The pockets are trimmed with narrow double fold bias tape.  I then stitched the side and shoulder seams together.  I attached the collar.

Next were the sleeves.  The quarter-length sleeves are slightly gathered at the top and have a pleat at the lower edge.  Before stitching the pleat I re-checked the fit and placement by having Emily try on the dress.   During this time I also re-checked the placement of the belt loops and made some minor adjustments to the placement.

I attached the belt loops.   I hemmed the dress by finishing the raw edge and then enclosing it in double-fold bias tape.  A second row of bias tape was added above the hemline for decoration.  I finished the dress by sewing the button holes and the buttons.  A piece of ivory ribbon is used as a sash.

Emily in the finished dress.

Emily's Shirt Dress - Part 1: Doing the Math

My oldest daughter has been asking me to make something for her with this teal poly-cotton print (see below); so I decided to make a shirt dress like the ones that she's admired in stores.  Emily is tall for her age and slender, so off-the-rack doesn't always mean a good fit.

The first thing I did was sketch out approximately how I wanted the dress to look. This allows me to determine what pattern pieces will be needed. Next, I took a detailed set of measurements.  Because I made my own pattern for this, the standard set of chest, waist, hip doesn't necessarily ensure a good fit.  In addition to the standard measurements, I also measured her neck-to-waist (front and back), shoulder-to-waist (front and back), across and full front, across and full back, bicep, shoulder, side and waist-to-knee.

 A shirt-dress should be fairly loose, so I added in  a total of 4" of ease to the pattern.  I used the front neck-to-waist measurement and half the across front (plus 1" ease) measurement to begin sketching out the pattern in pencil.  A 5/8 inch seam allowance is also included. The pattern was sketched onto wax paper (which I like because it is transparent and durable) over a gridded cutting mat for quilting.  I used a yardstick as a straightedge.

Using the rest of her measurements, I figured out the correct placement for the shoulder seams, neckline, armhole, waistline, etc.  A French curve ruler was used to draw the armholes and neckline. Total length was determined by adding the waist-to-knee measurement to the front neck-to-waist measurement and including additional length for hemming the dress.  A similar process is used for the back of the dress.  I was careful to ensure that the side seams and shoulder seams matched in length.  I also drew the pieces for the sleeve (puffed), collar and belt loops.  After I was satisfied with the initial pencil drawing, I went over the lines with a permanent marker so that I could see the lines more easily.

I wanted to check the fit of the pattern, so I pinned it together at the seams and tried it on Emily.  This is so that any adjustments can be made before cutting into the fabric.  This picture shows only the front and back pinned together; but I also checked the fit of the sleeve and the collar placement.  After a few adjustments, I am ready to cut the fabric.

Adding Personal Touches to a Basic Pattern

While cleaning out and organized my sewing supplies; I came across a partially finished dress. The original pattern is “Simplicity 2991.”  The material is white and yellow dotted-Swiss cotton.  I have fully lined the dress due to the transparency of the cotton. 

I love the timeless prettiness of dotted-Swiss. Inspired by the vintage feel of fabric, I decided to trim the dress with yellow rick-rack at the neckline and hem. 

Next, I changed the straight sleeve to a short flutter sleeve. 

More yellow rick-rack was used to edge 1" yellow grosgrain ribbon, which I attached at the waistline using the "stitch-in-the ditch" method.  

As a finishing detail, I made rick-rack flowers and attached them at the neckline.

Here is the finished dress modeled by my daughter, Julia.