Puppy Fabric Dress

My eldest daughter hates dresses so in order for her to wear one i had to take her to the fabric store and allow her to buy what ever fabric she liked and this one is the one she wanted :-)
I began by measuring her waist which was 23 , measured from her belly button to where i wanted her dress to begin on her chest which was 10" then belly button to top of knees which was 14".

Now to the cutting,

One 32 "x 16" for the skirt part ( what i did was add 10 inches to the waist measurement and 2" for seams from the belly button to the knees measurement)

one 13"x 12'" for the front  i made this decision thinking if she is about 23 inches around her chest well about half of that but a bit more to give her room and seams allowance

one 20" x 12" for the back (which we will shirr soon )

one 30" x 2" for the straps

one 34" x 5" for the waist band

After getting all my cutting done , I decided i would get all my ironing out of the way as well.

Did my bias tape for the straps first:

Grab your 30" x 2" fold it in half and iron

Open That half and fold up to the center line and iron fold, repeat with other outer side.

Then fold in half again and iron

Do this same procedure with you 32" x 5". and that will be you waist band.
(The only difference is the you have to fold in and iron 1/4 inch on both ends )

I went ahead and ironed the bottom and top seams of the top of the dress and the bottom of the skirt part of the dress.

Which i ironed 1/4 inch then folded again 1/4" and iron again . this will give it a clean finish.

.For the top part  of the skirt i folded and ironed 1/4 inch then refolded 5/8" and sewed closest to the inside of the seam

Now to get to some sewing, i grabbed the easiest thing first- the waistband and just sewed all around it with my needle closest to the left (so my stitch would be closest to the out side of the band all around)

After i had done the top part of the skirt i inserted the elastic waist band

On the next one the picture is accidentally sideways but if you look closely   what im showing you is that after i pulled my pin with elastic through i sewed in place the elastic

On this pic  you can notice the pin holding the elastic

Once the elastic is in place i took off the pins, and to close the side of the skirt making it a skirt :-)
(as i do not have a serger ) I put together the 2 wrong side of the fabric and sewed along the side

After sewing along i cut the excess fabric

Now turn the skirt inside out and sew along the seam

This gives it a nice clean inside and prevents fraying ;-)

Now to start Shirring (Grab your 20" x 12" and shirr away )

 

I left about an inch without shirring on the bottom because soon we will attach that part with the skirt

Then i folded the fabric i just shirred in half and cut about 3.5 " off the corners (which will be the arm holes) make sure your cutting off the open area not the center fold

Now do the same with the front of the top

Now to attach your bias tape ( i did not take a picture of this But...) you should start from the inside of the arm hole up

after you have your straps in place you may sew the side of the top of the dress just like you did for the skirt (first wrong sides together, then cut excess fabric, the turn inside out and sew again )

Now to attach the skirt with the top

Put the top inside the skirts wrongs sides against wrong side, sew together right below the elastic waistband .

and tie your fabric waist band around the waist and , congrats were done !!!!

I hope you have enjoyed and understood this free tutorial, as i am a beginner as well if you have any questions please feel free to ask so i could do my best explaning and modify any non understood area , thank you .

same dress only deference, is the  fabric :-)