Ready for the first Garment Friday? Oh it’s not Friday? Yeah that day seemed to come and go things have been crazy with school starting (tomorrow is the little dude’s first day) Also my parents came into town for a 3 week visit. So time is flying by. However I wanted to share the dress I made using one of the lessons taught last week. Darts. I love darts. THey give such a feminine shape to any garment. This is true even for little ones. This dress today however could be made following the same steps in any size even for an adult and the shaping would be very flattering.
It is actually a knock off. I don’t typically do straight knock off’s but occasionally I will see something that I love so much and refuse to pay for when I could make it myself. This dress from crew cuts was just that. I loved the simple lines the hint of structure and the big bow. The original does have a zipper on the back, and while I love it I decided to use the buttons from the men’s dress shirt that I used to construct the dress. You could do a zipper. So would you like to make one for yourself?
Great let’s get started.
You will want to make a bodice piece pattern. Do this by tracing the bodice of any top that fits nicely. Trace the shoulder and arm opening. I traced mine on a fold since I like my pattern to be cut on a fold. Then you should have a pattern piece that looks a bit like the one above. You will need to make a few alterations so it works for this dress. First you will add width in the shoulder as to add a bit of a cap sleeve. (shown in the white line) Then for the back bodice piece you will extend the side. For this I cut the bodice piece (2 pieces for the back not on a fold) I lined up the edge with the button flaps of the shirt. That way the button flaps were the extended edge and they would overlap to fit to size.
You will also want to add a dart at this point. You can see how you would do that in this post on darts.
Once you have a bodice piece with a dart drawn in making the skirt with a dart is easy. Simply place your bodice piece face down upside down and trace the top line. This way your skirt piece will be the same width and have the dart in the same place as the bodice piece. Mark the darts in the same place as the bodice.
I made my skirt piece a slight A-line. That means the edge not cut on the fold has a slight angle outward. It will have a bubble hem so you don’t want to flare it out too wide. Then you will cut one on the fold and two not on the the fold.
I used this man’s dress shirt to cut out all my pieces except the bodice facing and the skirt lining. For the skirt lining simply choose a fabric and cut the same 1 on the fold and two off the fold skirt pieces only you will make them 3-4 inches shorter than the outer skirt pieces.
Then out of the same light weight fabric as the skirt lining I cut out my facing pieces. To make the facing pattern simply cut it away from the bodice pattern. Cut one on the fold and two not on the fold.
Next for the sewing. You will start by sewing the darts. You can sew all the darts at the same time. If you need help sewing darts you can check this post out here. Sew them on the bodice front (as shown) two back pieces and the skirt pieces, front and back pieces and the lining pieces as well.
Then you will sew the front and back bodice pieces together at the shoulder seams. (need help with seams?)
Then do the same with the facing pieces.
Next with the right sides together sew the facing to the bodice. Sew the inside of the arm opening and the neckline. To help with the curves and save time off notching use pinking shears to trim the seams.
Then turn the facing to the back and the top right side out.
Next match up the side seams and sew them together facing and bodice.
Moving on the skirt. You will be sewing the lining to the skirt right sides together along the bottom hem.
Do the same with the two back pieces.
Then with right sides together line up the front and back skirt pieces and sew down the two sides.
Then turn the skirt so the lining is on the inside and the lining and skirt pieces meet at the top. This should create a nice bubble hem.
Next Sew the bodice to the skirt piece. Line up side seams, darts and have the back pieces overlap, so the buttons line up with the button holes.
Now you have a very basic dress with darts all matched up and pretty.
Next I added extra buttons and button holes to the back of the dress to fill in some of the gaps.
I added a small cluster of french knots up at the shoulder for a little interest. (need help with french knots?)
Lastly I made a belt. To do this I cut long and wide strips from the sleeves of the shirt sewed the two strips together and then folded them and sewed the edge to create a long tube. I turned it right side out and there I had a belt. Tie it in a knot and it is ready for wear.
It looks cute as can be on a studious little girl. (she is in love with these fake glasses lately. I laugh because they are Shwin’s they have gotten tossed around in several different boxes from several different moves. Somehow while we were splitting belongings after we were no longer roommates I ended up with the ugly fake glasses… which Abbey loves. go figure)
I just love the wide belt, bubble hem and buttons down the back. In the fall this will be great layered with some leggings, boots and a cardigan, but for now we are loving the last bit of summer.
This has to be my faveorite dress you have made so far!!
This is so cute! I just added yet another dress to my to-do list.
cutest little thing!!! and the dress isn't bad either! '-><br /><br />i have 3 grandgirlies (ages 4, 5, & 6), much sewing will commence! thank you!
Beautiful dress, and with tutorial and everything! Great job! You're so talented!!!
Thanks so much for sharing. Very Cute. I hope to have a go at this dress some time very soon.
Super cute!! Love your knock-off!
So cute. I can't wait to give this a try. I've never done darts but you make them look so easy.
This is GORGEOUS! Wishing I had a daughter right about now! Maybe I'll make it for me> LOVE! Pinning!
LOvely dress! I like your tutorial 🙂
I think Your dress is much prietter than the one from J.Crew
INCREDIBLE. What an amazing job you did. So inventive, resourceful, adorable! And, yes, I agree: your dress is even cuter (waaay cuter!) than the one from J.Crew.
Great post…thanks for the reminder to blog about the everyday things that people want to read. As a real estate agent, I too struggle with what to blog about. Thanks!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.razzamatazz.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">Fancy dress</a>
Pinning this- I so need to make one!!
This is so cute and I have never before seen armholes and beck facing cut out in one piece like this. Genius! I'll definitely remember this technique the next time I sew for my princesses.
very cute!
I’d be happy to make one for my daughter. Your style is more beautiful than the dress that came from J Crew. Great job on providing the tutorial!<br />[email protected]<a href="http://www.suitauthority.com/suits/womens-suits/gcode_WOMENS-SUITS" rel="nofollow">Sweet Women's Camel Inset Waist Skirt Suit</a>
I love this! I can't believe it was only $3! Looks better than the original. I just featured it here: http://www.eleganceandelephants.com/2012/10/inspiring-knock-offs.html
This is my favorite up-cycled project out there. Thank you!
This comment has been removed by the author.
putting my pieces together and looking ahead… it seems taht the back bodice would be 1" or so wider than the back skirt portion, so Im not sure how its going to line up. Or do you use the the wider bodice piece to cut the 2 back skirt pieces. ?
hi, Hope you are doing well. Actually I just stuck here because of that baby <a href="http://buywholesaletees.com/other.accessories" rel="nofollow">dress</a>. Love the blue colour.
I am kind of hopeless when it comes to following simple instructions on drafting and cutting out pattern pieces…do you also include the measurements for the extended side (button flap) on the front bodice piece? Or is that extended part just for the back pieces?
This comment has been removed by the author.
Your little girl looks gorgeous! I love yours, electric blue is wonderful!
Okay I skipped the backing stuff ive never sewn before until a few weeks ago. My bigest ughh is the neckline and armpit holes. Not pretty upclose. I used a blue too. I lack buttons n holes and sash. Oh I got my fabric for 99 cent per yard by 6 ft. 😉
At what point should you sew the two back skirt pieces together?
I clicked over from Pintrest. I love so many things about this dress. I think yours is cuter than the J Crew one. The french knots especially were inspired. Thank for sharing. My hubby has a lot of button downs he no longer likes or wears that I've been trying to figure out how to use. I'm pretty sure one will wind up looking a lot like this.
I clicked over from Pintrest. I love so many things about this dress. I think yours is cuter than the J Crew one. The french knots especially were inspired. Thank for sharing. My hubby has a lot of button downs he no longer likes or wears that I've been trying to figure out how to use. I'm pretty sure one will wind up looking a lot like this.
its really beautiful..n i appreciate using an old shirt refashion !!
not really expecting a response ….<br /><br />But when you cut the skirt pieces, (1 on the fold, 2 off the fold) wouldn't the back/off-the-fold pieces be smaller than the front by the Seam Allowance x 2?<br />Do you do that to account for the button flap overlap in the back? (BTW, I'm totally perplexed by your instructions about the extra overlap, a picture would help how you lined up
Very nice! Love it 🙂
This is soo adorable! I have a big stack of dress shirts my husband wanted to get rid of that I have been saving for a fun project. I LOVE the bead work you did. So cute!
Lovely work and cute as pie. Very thrifty move using that lovely blue shirt . It’s a gorgeous colour…..unfortunately no little girl grandchildren…there’s some adorable little boys though:)
Alexa from Sydney, Australia
http://www.Alexa-asimplelife.com
I really like this dress and would like to make two for my granddaughters 7 and 10 yrs old. How can I get the pattern please?
Pauline
You make your own pattern using the directions provided.
I would love to make one for a friend’s daughter for her b-day. I don’t have children. Where can I find the sewing pattern?
Sorry I don’t have an actual pattern you can download for this particular dress, only the instructions for how to create your own.
Hi dear,
This is a grt dress. And the lil one is a super model. Very cute.
Would it be possible to share the pattern for this dress. I am a beginner, would love if the pattern could be available.
Regards,
Prachi