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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Ruffle dress

Ruffle dresses are so trendy right now.  I see them all of the time in stores, but can't get myself to buy one for $30 from Baby Gap when I know I could make one for much cheaper.

 So I did...I made one.  I used the pattern I had made for Lily's summer dress to make a white dress out of jersey material.  I didn't add sleeves to this one since I knew I wanted to add a cardigan I picked up on sale at Children's place to give it a splash of color.

After I sewed the dress, I pinned the lace on one row at a time.  For the top rows I kept them closer together. I would pin 3 rows on and then sew them on using a zig-zag stitch to secure until I got to the bottom of the arm holes.

Once I got past the arm holes I just wrapped the lace around and around pinning into place, making sure to keep the rows evenly spaced.  I sewed the rows onto the dress using a zig-zag stitch.  The finished product looks complicated but it was actually pretty easy.  The whole thing took me about 2 hours from start to finish.

 Here is the finished product!  A view of the front and then the back.  It would be totally fine as a sleeveless dress but I prefer the cardigan over - I think it's the perfect touch.
 I had a really hard time getting a decent picture of Lily once she had her dress on.  Eventually I let her read one of the board books I made to keep her still for a second.
 Isn't it adorable?  I made it a little long so it will fit her all spring and hopefully the summer too.
For this project, I used 3/4 yd of jersey knit fabric, 13 yards of lace, and 1 button.  The total cost was just $12.30 but I already had the button.

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Questions I have received about this project:

1.  Did you cut each piece that goes around or do you have one continuous row that goes around and around?  For the pieces above the arm holes I pinned it in place and cut each piece (leaving it a little bit longer on each side) when it got to the arm hole.  After I got past those arm holes I just went around and around.

2.  How do you attach it at the neck and arm holes?
At the neck, my lace had about 1/2 an inch of lace at the top that looked different than the bottom half which is the part I sewed to attach it to the dress.  I folded that top part to the inside of the dress at the neck and then pinned into place. (pictured below)

  
I then sewed along the neck line using a 1/8 inch seam allowance (to the inside of the presser foot) (pictured below)

At the arm holes, I folded the remaining lace I had left extra at the arm hole inside of the arm hole and pinned. (Pictured below)

I then sewed around the arm hole using a 1/8 inch seam allowance (to the inside of the presser foot)  (pictured below)


Have any more questions?  Just email me and ask!

21 comments:

  1. Absolutely gorgeous - and Lilly is looking so so grown-up and precious!1

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  2. How simply adorable!!! I have an 18 month old named Lillie also. I'd like to make one of these for her!! Beautiful!!

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  3. Dress or not she's a little doll! Thanks for the idea, the dress is really adorable! I'm going to make a skirt for my 6 year old using the same technique with a wide elastic waistband. I have a huge bag of lace from a thrift store that I got for $1.00 that would probably make 10 or more of these.

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  4. The dress is wonderful and looks fabulous on your little girl!

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  5. That is such a cute little dress!!!

    cinsarah.blogspot.com

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  6. Beautiful! You make it look so easy!

    I'd love it if you share at my weekly party: http://itssewforyou.blogspot.com/2011/04/its-sew-fun-tuesday-7.html

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  7. aw this is adorable! love it!

    I'd love for you to link this up to my new link party, Your Whims Wednesday! http://mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/2011/04/your-whims-wednesday-1.html

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  8. That is a fantastic dress. The ruffles are absolutly adorable. Visiting from Show and Tell at Blue Cricket.
    ~Kimberlee
    {$15 Amazon GC Giveaway} 

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  9. Oh my that is so dang cute!! Love it!
    Visiting from Justsewsassy.com

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  10. Jess it's gorgeous! Lily is such a lucky little girl :)

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  11. I'm going to feature this on our blog tomorrow! it's beautiful, great job!
    Justsewsassy.com

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  12. Great job!! I'd love for you to link up at Wow Me Wednesdays!

    http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/2011/04/wow-me-wednesday-4.html

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  13. Very beautiful!! I love all those lacy ruffles!

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  14. OM goodness, so adorable and sweet--oh and I like the dress too :)! Thanks so much for linking up to Beyond The Picket Fence.

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  15. I have a grand-daughter, Lilly, that I will have to make one of these for! Great idea...thanks for sharing!

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  16. Just an adorable project. The model is adorable too.

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  17. So cute! Thanks for the inspiration.

    I am your newest follower via Home Maker on a Dime Blog Hop. Hope you will follow me back @ Adithis Amma Sews which has Sewing Tutorials on board

    My blog's Title is Cute Confessions of a Sew Addict and i share all of my sewing expeditions i undertake while revamping my 4 year old Daughter's and my dear Sister's wardrobe, once in a while i sneak in my wardrobe too !

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  18. Your girl is so adorable in that cute ruffled dress! Thank you so much for sharing this with us at the Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop :)

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  19. Oh my gosh, that is beautiful!!!! Nice work!

    Thanks so much for sharing this at For the Kids Friday at Sun Scholars!!! :)

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  20. So cute! Now I want to make one of these for my toddler. She'd love it! Like you, I can't see spending that much on a dress I could make for less.
    Feisty Mom

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