Adventures and Road Trips - Part 4

When I graduated from high school one of the books I received was Oh, the Places You'll Go!  It's an inspiring book that tells us of life's ups and downs.  Slip ups happen and we have to find success within ourselves.  It's a book that is great for any age.  Moving up to any grade is nerve racking and exciting all at the same time.  But before you move onto your next adventure in life you have to survive the summer.  You can recreate yourself.  How many people have you met that come back from summer vacation a different person?  My 3 year old daughter at the beginning of last summer was a bit socially awkward when it came to playing with other children.  She would stand on the side lines, watching, wanting to join in but didn't know how.  But after a summer playing with cousins she was able to learn to play with others.  On and on you will hike.  And I know you'll hike far, and face up your problems, whatever they are. 
Enjoy your summer!  Improve who you are.  And will you succeed?  Yes!  You will, indeed!  (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

I decided the best way to start a fresh summer was with a new dress.  My girls love dresses, especially my 2 year old.  When I put pants or shorts on her she says "ouch!"  They love to dance and twirl.  It's so much fun for me to watch them love something i have made.

My daughter wears 2T-3T.

I'm going to call the large purple piece the main piece.

The purple strip I will call the ruffle.

The orange strip I will call the strap.

And the Orange piece I will call the bust.

Take your 4 bust pieces and sew 2 of them together, matching the right sides together.  Now you should have 2 bust pieces.  Turn right side out.  (like pictured below.)

Then match those 2 pieces together and sew along the sides, leaving the top, under arm, and bottom open.  See picture below.

I did not take a picture of this, but I sewed the main piece together by matching right sides together and sewing, making a tube.  Across the top sew a gathering stitch and gather the main piece until it is the same size as the bust.  Pin them right sides together and sew (pictured below). 

Here is how your dress should look so far.

Now take your strap and fold it in half, iron, and open it back up.  Fold one side in to the crease, iron (pictured below), then fold over the other side to the crease and iron.

Do this for both straps.

Sew a gathering stitch along your "ruffle" after folding it in half and gather it until it is the length of the strap.

Place the ruffle inside the strap (like a hot dog in a bun).  Pin and sew along the edge.  I found this to be very difficult and if I make this dress again I would try to sew this differently.  You have to make sure the ruffle doesn't slip out from the strap.  I found it was easier to hold it in versus pinning.

Fold the top part of the bust in.  I folded the back piece in a little further than the front piece.  I don't really know how to explain this but I hope it makes sense.  It is pictured below but it is hard to see.

Place the straps inside the front piece, pin and then put the into the back piece and pin.  Try the dress on your little model and adjust the straps as necessary.  Sew a top stitch across the top.  Hem the bottom and you're done!

My measurements went as followed.

I measured just under her arms (20").

For the main piece width I added 8 inches to the bust=28" and for the length I measured from that same spot I measured under her arms to my desired length.  Which was 20".  So the main piece was 28"x20"

The bust I took her bust measurement (20") and added 2".  For length I think I cut it 5 inches.  It just depends on how big you want that bust piece.  At this point it was a 22"x5".  Then I cut it in half making it 11"x5"  To make the under arm area I folded the 11" piece in half and made a tiny cut 2" on the side and 2" from the top and then cut in a curve.  You can skip this step.

I didn't really measure the straps or ruffle but I think the ruffle was somewhere around 3"x16"  I think the strap was somewhere around 1.5"x10" (in the photo the strap is wider than what I ended up using).

Enjoy!

I also made a purse bag, I'll add that tutorial later.  It's my birthday so I'm going to go enjoy the rest of my day by relaxing by the pool!