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So 7 weeks ago (thank you pinterest for keeping track of when I pinned something) I happened to see a picture of a cute dress. I thought it would be perfect for Little Missy but I had an idea of how I would change it. Today, after a process that I’ll admit to in my notes below I got it all finished and watching that cute girl run around in it this evening I am SO happy I made the changes I did.
Here she is!
Isn’t she a cutie – even when she’s giving the stink-eye.
So, I didn’t take pictures so I don’t necessarily have a tutorial for you but I am going to walk you through how I made it because I learned a LOT of things that might help you out if you want to make a dress like this.
This is the original dress I saw.
It is of course adorable. It is also $55. As much as I might wish that I had unlimited money to spend on my children’s clothes I do not and so $55 for one cute dress is not just a little but a LOT out of my price range, so I hit up the fabric store and tried to figure out how I wanted to make the dress. I knew I wanted the ruffles but I wasn’t sure if I was going to just make the dress and sew the ruffles onto it or if I was going to have each ruffle be it’s own piece, option #2 won out. So here you go, a pictureless {kind of} tutorial.
For this darling rainbow dress I started with The Brooke Peasant Dress. You can find a lot of free peasant dress patterns and a lot of ways for free that people show you how you can make your own pattern but since I love this style and like being able to quickly have the sizes and measurements I need without having to make it up each time it just made sense for me to buy a pattern and I love that this one comes with all the sleeve options AND the cute doll dress measurements.
So, I figured out my measurements for the size 18 month dress and then figured out how many colors I wanted to use and divided it. I think my overall pattern called for like 22″ in length and so I had my 6 colors and so I gave myself 6 pieces cut to 4″ (it called for 3.6666 but I figured with seam allowance I would want a little extra). I will tell you right now that is not the best way to figure it out! When I did that I ended up with my dress being too long by 1 whole color so I took out the yellow…
This is what it looked like the 1st time I completed the dress {Monday}.
Do you see the problems? To me there are a few – 1. The yellow is missing {cry}. 2. The ruffles don’t come down far enough on top of each other so you can see the fabric between each layer 🙁 not what I was hoping for. I had given myself an inch – the ruffles were an inch wider than the dress piece and it wasn’t enough {in my opinion}.
To fix the problem I took an inch out of each color dress piece – it kept the length of the ruffle but made it hang on top of the next piece more. The problem that created was that it made the dress up there 4″ shorter…not a good look for a dress!
So – what I had to do was take the green and orange pieces apart and add in the yellow ruffle and dress piece. That gave me back just over 2″ so it was long enough but the ruffles still hung over each other so you couldn’t see the dress piece under them.
My recommendations {if you want them} – your ruffle piece should be 2″ longer than your dress piece. My ruffles are also double the width of the dress piece. Her measurements were for the dress to be 16″ wide {2 pieces} so I cut my ruffles 32″ {2 pieces} and just did a LOT of ruffling. My next recommendation would be to figure out exactly how long you want your dress to be and don’t be silly like me and just guess – actually figure out your seam allowance and do the math beforehand…then you won’t like me have to take the dress apart to fix your mistake.
Thankfully, I got lucky and it all worked out and I am SO excited with her cute rainbow dress for St. Patrick’s day and this spring/summer {and I got to try out a new style of headband that I am really liking on her}.
I KNOW without pictures this is not a very helpful post but if you have any questions just comment and I’ll answer them. I will try {sooner than later but no promises on an exact date}to do something like this again and actually take pictures that might {hopefully} better explain what I did this time.
Here are a whole lot more pictures of this little cutie and her new dress. Oh and I just realized that I should probably note that the original dress was $55 {before shipping}, the fabric I bought was $2 a yard and I only needed 1/2 yard of each {with leftovers enough to make what compares to a $14 headband} – so for $6 in material Little Missy now has a $69 {before shipping} outfit – not to shabby right?
Maybe you can tell she was being a total stink?…
I really do hope if you have questions you’ll ask, my brain is a little fried trying to explain it but it’s fun and relatively easy 🙂
Linking up to all these fun parties
and these:
https://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/
https://www.bystephanielynn.com
https://www.nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/
https://733blog.blogspot.com/
https://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/
https://www.mineforthemaking.com/
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She’s adorable! This dress is too cute too. Makes me wish I had a little girl to make one for. 🙂
Erin
takingtimetocreate.blogspot.com
Thank you 🙂 It’s fun to have a little girl to sew for again!
~Jenn
I think you did a fantastic job on the dress and she is adorable… Makes me wish my daughter was still that little… To cute!
Jeanna
dramaqueenseams.com
Funny – I just started a ruffled rainbow skirt for my daughter today. She’s having a rainbow birthday party in a week. Wish I had found this before as I’m flying blind…not really a sewer. This is an adorable dress. Great work.
This is amazing! She looks too cute for words in this dress!! 🙂
I would love for you to share this at Fantabulous Friday going on now!!
http://littlebeckyhomecky.blogspot.com/2012/03/fantabulous-friday-4.html
Hope to see you there!!
This is adorable!!
Shannon
@SewSweetCottage
What a super super cute dress! I am so glad you went with the ruffles as separate pieces. It’s perfect.
Love it. She looks like one of those stacker toys in the photo. The photo of the tiered ruffle dress made me smile.
This is stinkin amazing! You are selling them…for like a lot of money…right? I would be so totally thrilled if you linked up at my party goin on all weekend!
Kim
http://too-much-time.com/2012/03/get-schooled-saturday-14-list-plan-it-giveaway.html
Really cute dress!!!
Truly fun and adorable for such a cute little girl. I like the headband in particular. Does she actually keep it on?
I would love for you to follow my blog too so that we can share ideas!
Your newest follower,
Val @ http://cookcraftcrocheting.blogspot.com/
So adorable! As a mom of 2 girls, I would love to make these for them!! However I’m such a beginner at sewing, I have literally made ONE thing. I need lots of practice 🙂 I have a baby boy on the way so I’m starting simple, maybe a burp cloth? HA
I’m a now a new follower!! Looking forward to more fun sewing projects 🙂 Visiting from Serenity Now!
Such a cutie! I’m pinning this dress. I’m thinking of a rainbow themed first bday for my little miss and this dress would be perfect for it! Thanks for the inspiration.
Oh she is adorable and the dress looks great on her! Love her little headband too, so bright and fun!
thank you thank you everyone!!!! I was so thrilled with how this turned out (even if it did take time to get it right) and am so happy to see it so well received!
You’re all awesome for commenting. If you do decide to make this dress and have any questions don’t hesitate to email me, I am hoping to get another one done SOON with pictures and an actual tutorial! I would LOVE pictures of yours if you make one!! xoxox ~Jenn
I’d love a tutorial!
Absolutely adorable!!! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much!
Stopping by from Transformation Thursday! http://queenofsavings.com
thank you for stopping by!
This is ADORABLE!!! I am so smitten!
thank you so much Amanda!
This dress is darling…and so is the cute little model! Thanks so much for linking up to “Strut Your Stuff Saturday.” We loved having you and hope you’ll join us again next week! -The Sisters
Thank you Sisters! We really appreciate your link up and of course you coming by our site!
Featuring you tomorrow on Fantabulous Friday @ Little Becky Homecky! Be sure to stop by and grab a button!!
How exciting. Thank you thank you I will be over there early grabbing a button!
OH MY GOODNESS! Talk about CUTE! I saw you featured over at delicateconstruction and wanted to stop by to tell you how much i LOVE this dress. And your model is such a doll 🙂 Id love for you to link up to my fashion party called DIY Diva Thursdays. We party every Th-M 🙂
Kara
http://www.mineforthemaking.com
Thank you Kara, I will come over! I appreciate it!
Jenn, this dress is so so adorable!! I would looove one for my daughters rainbow party (she will be 1). Are you selling them?! 🙂
I am not selling them, sorry. I have no idea how much to charge for things like this and I still have to figure out what we’re wearing for Easter! 🙂 Thank you
What a fun dress!! 🙂
She’s such a cutie patootie! It’s so nice that you make cute little dresses for Little Missy. That rainbow dress sure is adorable. I’m glad you were able to fix those ruffles. 🙂
This is DARLING! It definitely helps that she is stinkin cute too! Thanks for entering Blog Wars! Good Luck!
Thank you so much Jonie, I love it, she still actually wears it as a top and I have all the material to make her a new one for this year because I love it so much.
I’m incredibly excited about the Blog Wars….I really hope I am one of the lucky 12!
Have a great day (it’s almost the weekend!)
DO you still have this dress? would you be willing to sell it?
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