Spring in UAE seems a misnomer to me. It probably just alludes to the oncoming heat of the summer.
Saying that, it is still pleasant in the evening though the daytime has become rather hot. We are not great fans of summer, being outdoor people. But two good things about summer is we can pack away our winter woollens and get more closet space and I can sew cute summer clothes for my little daughter :)
I thought that my daughter deserved a cute little cotton frock to welcome the change in temperature. I love the way this beautiful dress turned out and it looks amazing on my daughter.
So here is a tutorial, of a fully lined, sleeveless, embellished, lightweight cotton frock with button enclosures at the back. The in detail steps of drafting the bodice and skirt pieces and the basic sewing steps are here: DIY Girls Dress Part 1 and DIY Girls Dress Part 2.
Some things I really love about this dress:
STEP 1: IDEA, FABRIC, EMBELLISHMENTS, and BUTTONS.
This idea of multiple colors colliding and complementing each other on a neutral backdrop was looming in my head for a long time. Finally I got some free time to get things going. I went to my local sewing supply store and picked up some cute and colorful stuff, yokes, trims, ribbons, buttons and an embossed cotton fabric in white. I thought that the embossed floral pattern provided a pretty little detail to the white fabric.
STEP 2: PATTERN, BODICE and SKIRT PIECES, LINING
Went about with the same way of drafting the pattern for both the bodice and skirt part as in my tutorial DIY dress part 1 and DIY dress part 2.The tutorials for the little additions like adding the yoke, the button placket, and the sash are up here.
The only change is, in the front bodice and lining fabric the neck has not been cut. We will be doing this as we place the yoke, so that it matches.
STEP 3: YOKE, SHOULDER SEAMS
1.Place the yoke on the bodice and lining fabric and mark and cut off the neck following the curve of the yoke applique, leaving 1 cm as a seam allowance.
2.Separate the bodice fabric and attach the yoke to it following the pattern and simply sewing it down using a straight stitch.
3. Join the shoulder seams of the bodice fabric. Join the shoulder seams of the lining fabric separately.
STEP 4: BODICE, NECK and ARM HOLE
Keeping the right sides of the bodice and lining fabric together, sew along the neckline matching up with the yoke. Sew along the arm holes too. Turn the bodice inside out through one of the shoulder straps.
STEP 5: TIE-BACK, EMBELLISHMENTS and BODICE SIDE SEAMS
1. Attach the side seams of bodice and lining individually. The tie-back will be attached to the bodice fabric at the side seams.I hand sewed the pom-pom trim around the arm hole, leaving the lower end where the arms meet the body. The stitches all lie only on the main fabric and are completely hidden from the inside of the bodice.
2. This shows a clearer picture how the tie-back (here I've used multi-color ribbons) is attached on the bodice fabric alone at the side seams.
3. This is the finished bodice with lining. It has no seams or sewing showing on the inside. Completely soft on the delicate skin of children!
STEP 6: ATTACHING MAIN SKIRT FABRIC TO THE TOP BODICE FABRIC ALONE
Gather the main fabric for the skirt, and sew it to the bodice fabric. Do not join it to the bodice lining.
STEP 7: SASH
Attach the sash at the bodice and skirt joint of the main fabric only. In this case I had to hand sew the entire thing down as the pompoms wouldn't feed well through the sewing machine. But in simpler sashes machine sewing would do.
STEP 8: ATTACHING THE LINING SKIRT TO BODICE LINING
Now gather the lining fabric for the skirt and sew it to the bodice lining, such that the seams lie towards the main fabric. The whole idea is to have all the rough seams ( neck, armholes, waist) in between the main fabric of the frock and its lining. Also the yoke, tie-back, sash and any other embellishment are added to the main fabric of the bodice, so that none of the sewing shows through the inside of the dress. The dress turns out pretty smooth and comfortable in the sweaty months to come.
STEP 9: FAUX BUTTON PLACKET, BUTTON HOLES and BUTTONS
1. At the back seams for the button, double fold inside for about half an inch and sew down on both edges, till the length the button plackets are needed. Repeat same on the other side.
2.Now overlap the edges and sew them together at the lower end till where the buttons are required. Mimic the stitching that is usually seen on button plackets 'X'.
3. Attach the skirt seams together sewing all four layers - two layers of bodice and two layers of lining together.
STEP 10: BUTTON HOLES, BUTTONS
Mark the button holes, and sew the button hole openings. Align and attach buttons on the other side.
There you go this was the perfect end result.
I promise to get better with the photos :) Those taken a little later in the day have turned orangey:/
I would love to hear your opinion on the dress.
Cheers to spring and the spring inspired dress!
Happy Sewing.
FARZ
This post has been linked to
Threading my way
Sew cute Tuesday-47
Craftastic Monday @Sewcando
Wake up Wednesday-Linky party-64
Hand Made Tuesdays @LadyBug Blessings.com
Sew+Show #25 @straight-grain.com
The Best of the Blogosphere
Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party 55
Merry Monday Link Party 51
An amazing experience to be featured at Threading my way by Pam, yet again..
I would suggest if you are into sewing or designing anything, please do hop over to her blog. She has got amazingly huge collection of tutorials for almost anything under the sun in her ongoing linky party.
Saying that, it is still pleasant in the evening though the daytime has become rather hot. We are not great fans of summer, being outdoor people. But two good things about summer is we can pack away our winter woollens and get more closet space and I can sew cute summer clothes for my little daughter :)
I thought that my daughter deserved a cute little cotton frock to welcome the change in temperature. I love the way this beautiful dress turned out and it looks amazing on my daughter.
So here is a tutorial, of a fully lined, sleeveless, embellished, lightweight cotton frock with button enclosures at the back. The in detail steps of drafting the bodice and skirt pieces and the basic sewing steps are here: DIY Girls Dress Part 1 and DIY Girls Dress Part 2.
Some things I really love about this dress:
- Light-weight and fully lined
- The pop of color against a white background
- The detail of the embossed cotton fabric
- Completely soft and smooth on the inside. Even the trims have been stopped short of the full arm hole, to prevent discomfort as the little one moved her hands. I had to really work hard on this, because of my daughter. She is fussy and would refuse to wear any prickly and poky dress, no matter how much she loved it. There was even a stage where I was picking off tags from store bought dresses. This was one of the reasons I was motivated to start sewing cute little dresses for my daughter, keeping her preferences, needs and liking in mind.
- The yoke- lovely blast of color
- The pom-pom- such a cute little thing
- The assorted buttons
- The gathered ribbon tie-back
- The lining of the skirt short of the main fabric revealing the embossed pattern on the main fabric beautifully
STEP 1: IDEA, FABRIC, EMBELLISHMENTS, and BUTTONS.
This idea of multiple colors colliding and complementing each other on a neutral backdrop was looming in my head for a long time. Finally I got some free time to get things going. I went to my local sewing supply store and picked up some cute and colorful stuff, yokes, trims, ribbons, buttons and an embossed cotton fabric in white. I thought that the embossed floral pattern provided a pretty little detail to the white fabric.
STEP 2: PATTERN, BODICE and SKIRT PIECES, LINING
Went about with the same way of drafting the pattern for both the bodice and skirt part as in my tutorial DIY dress part 1 and DIY dress part 2.The tutorials for the little additions like adding the yoke, the button placket, and the sash are up here.
The only change is, in the front bodice and lining fabric the neck has not been cut. We will be doing this as we place the yoke, so that it matches.
STEP 3: YOKE, SHOULDER SEAMS
1.Place the yoke on the bodice and lining fabric and mark and cut off the neck following the curve of the yoke applique, leaving 1 cm as a seam allowance.
2.Separate the bodice fabric and attach the yoke to it following the pattern and simply sewing it down using a straight stitch.
3. Join the shoulder seams of the bodice fabric. Join the shoulder seams of the lining fabric separately.
STEP 4: BODICE, NECK and ARM HOLE
Keeping the right sides of the bodice and lining fabric together, sew along the neckline matching up with the yoke. Sew along the arm holes too. Turn the bodice inside out through one of the shoulder straps.
STEP 5: TIE-BACK, EMBELLISHMENTS and BODICE SIDE SEAMS
1. Attach the side seams of bodice and lining individually. The tie-back will be attached to the bodice fabric at the side seams.I hand sewed the pom-pom trim around the arm hole, leaving the lower end where the arms meet the body. The stitches all lie only on the main fabric and are completely hidden from the inside of the bodice.
2. This shows a clearer picture how the tie-back (here I've used multi-color ribbons) is attached on the bodice fabric alone at the side seams.
3. This is the finished bodice with lining. It has no seams or sewing showing on the inside. Completely soft on the delicate skin of children!
STEP 6: ATTACHING MAIN SKIRT FABRIC TO THE TOP BODICE FABRIC ALONE
Gather the main fabric for the skirt, and sew it to the bodice fabric. Do not join it to the bodice lining.
STEP 7: SASH
Attach the sash at the bodice and skirt joint of the main fabric only. In this case I had to hand sew the entire thing down as the pompoms wouldn't feed well through the sewing machine. But in simpler sashes machine sewing would do.
STEP 8: ATTACHING THE LINING SKIRT TO BODICE LINING
Now gather the lining fabric for the skirt and sew it to the bodice lining, such that the seams lie towards the main fabric. The whole idea is to have all the rough seams ( neck, armholes, waist) in between the main fabric of the frock and its lining. Also the yoke, tie-back, sash and any other embellishment are added to the main fabric of the bodice, so that none of the sewing shows through the inside of the dress. The dress turns out pretty smooth and comfortable in the sweaty months to come.
STEP 9: FAUX BUTTON PLACKET, BUTTON HOLES and BUTTONS
1. At the back seams for the button, double fold inside for about half an inch and sew down on both edges, till the length the button plackets are needed. Repeat same on the other side.
2.Now overlap the edges and sew them together at the lower end till where the buttons are required. Mimic the stitching that is usually seen on button plackets 'X'.
3. Attach the skirt seams together sewing all four layers - two layers of bodice and two layers of lining together.
STEP 10: BUTTON HOLES, BUTTONS
Mark the button holes, and sew the button hole openings. Align and attach buttons on the other side.
There you go this was the perfect end result.
I promise to get better with the photos :) Those taken a little later in the day have turned orangey:/
I would love to hear your opinion on the dress.
Cheers to spring and the spring inspired dress!
Happy Sewing.
FARZ
This post has been linked to
Threading my way
Sew cute Tuesday-47
Craftastic Monday @Sewcando
Wake up Wednesday-Linky party-64
Hand Made Tuesdays @LadyBug Blessings.com
Sew+Show #25 @straight-grain.com
The Best of the Blogosphere
Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party 55
Merry Monday Link Party 51
An amazing experience to be featured at Threading my way by Pam, yet again..
I would suggest if you are into sewing or designing anything, please do hop over to her blog. She has got amazingly huge collection of tutorials for almost anything under the sun in her ongoing linky party.
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