Garden Party Frock

This is a (re-post) of the dress I shared on Celebrate the Madness
To play along with the “dress a day” fun I made the Garden Party Frock. It is inspired by the drape and flow you would find on a greek goddess but tailored for the butterfly chasing little girl attending her very own garden party.

We got hit with some constant rain storms so we moved our garden party indoors and had some fun catching pretend butterflies and dancing in falling confetti instead.
Do you want to make your own garden party frock?
Great let’s get started.

I used a tank that fits my little one to create the bodice pattern I made two front pieces.

Then I cut one shoulder off the two front pieces.

Then I cut one back piece. (see how the front pieces over lap)

Now for the crinckle crepe fabric that I used as my overlay I wanted it gathered so I lined up one side and cut it out tracing the under-arm.

Then I moved the piece down on the fabric and cut out the rest.
This makes it much wider than the base.

Start by gathering the overlay to fit the base.
I used a basting stitch then pulled to gather. (this is the back) then sew the overlay to the base at the neckline and underarm.

Same basic idea with the front pieces only you will be doing it to both pieces.

Then turn the pieces right side out and you should have nice finished edges along the neckline and underarm

next gather the bottom of the the overlay so that it matches the base as well.
Just pin it in place for now.

Now we will sew the front and back bodice pieces together. With right sides together sew the shoulders and side seams.

Next make a front and back skirt piece. It should match the whole bodice piece so there will be two front pieces sewn to either side of the back piece. I made mine a bubble skirt to do this I cut the skirt half the length I wanted then I cut one out of the overlay fabric that was twice as wide and tall as the base.

Then Gather the top and bottom of the overlay skirt piece. Sew the gathered piece right sides together to the skirt base then when you flip the seam to the inside and match the top of the overlay with the top of the base you have a nice bubble hem. Then pin the skirt to the bodice. Sew together.

Now you have a wrap dress last thing to do is attach a snap on both sides to secure the wrap in place. (one for the inside of the wrap and one for the outer layer) I used sew on snaps for this so nothing would be visible on the outside. Lastly I added a ribbon tie to the outside closure to fancy it up a bit.