Summer Dresses

I love things when they turn out quick, easy and as you thought of it in your head, don't you? I was able to wip these three pretties out in about an hour. I wanted something new for the crazythings to wear to a baby shower we were attending later in the day.

If you have a girl and want to wip up a new summer dress and say you made it, this is the dress for you. First measure the width of the chest in inches. I purchased all my fabrics for the dresses at Joann Fabrics. Next, find cute fabric with the gathering at the top and cotton below the gathering. Bonus, it's already hemmed at the bottom. Absolutely no hemming!! Take your cute fabric to the cutting table and get the measured width, plus one inch for the seam. Pick out a coordinating ribbon as ties and thread to sew the dress closed. If you don't have fray stop, pick that up as well.

Once at home, match right sides together and sew dress with a quarter inch seem. Note: you may have to clean up the cutting along the bottom portion of the dress, if it was jaggedly cut. Now you should have a tube. Almost done, isn't that great?!

Here is the back of my three dresses.

Yes, I forgot to take a picture without the ties on, that is the next step. =)

 These two by happy accident matched up the design almost perfectly.

 

Here is a close up of the next step.

   Either eyeball or have your little one try on the dress to find the placement of the ties. I just eyeballed it. I also just eyeballed the length of the ribbon. More is better, you can always cut off if too much, to add more, it involves the frog stitch, rip it rip it. lol =) Sew the ribbon with the right side of the ribbon facing down and the wrong side of the dress facing up. I did two lines across to help with the wear and tear on the ribbon. Also, I sewed a tighter stitch length, closer to 1.75 length then my normal 2.5. I tried my best to stich right in the gathering stiches. Make sure to backstitch at the beginning and end to keep those ties secure. Continue till all four are done. One more step.

Brush on fray stop to all the ends of the ribbon. Including the end that you just stitched to the inside of the dress. I did not brush on the fray stop to the end inside of the dress and boy do I wish I had after washing. Before my crazythings wear them again, I will be doing that step. Step back and smile. You are finished!!!

Ironing the dress maybe necessary before wearing out in public. =) My crazythings loved them. Very light and cool in the hot summer heat.
Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation and Crazy Mom Quilts. (I hope, this is my first blog linky party)
Added Bonus, all three of these fabrics were in my To Do List Pile!

Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who sews