Another tutorial using Ruffle Fabric – wahoo! This time, a whole dress. It takes longer than the 5 minute skirt, but it’s definitely doable in a naptime. And really, blogging this tutorial took longer than actually making the dress.
I went with light pink because I thought ruffles would be perfect for an Easter Dress. This tutorial is zipper and button free! Ruffle fabric is stretchy, so with the V-neck and the stretch in the fabric, no closures are needed.
This took a lot less fabric than I thought – I was able to get 2 dresses out of 1 1/2 yards of fabric (my girls are 4 and 6). I bought fabric to line the top as well – I used the swim/dancewear stuff (found it at JoAnn’s) since it’s really stretchy, just like the ruffle fabric stuff, so it would stretch over their heads.
Here we go – a tutorial on how to make a ruffle dress. You can do this!
Grab a dress that fits her well – trace around it’s bodice:
But instead of making it a scoop neck, draw a diagonal line down:
Cut 2 and over lap them for the front – see:
Trace a piece for the back as well:
Did you notice that the ruffles on the bodice go diagonal?? – love that little touch – see:
To do that, when you cut the fabric, put the diagonal edge on the edge of the fabric – in the picture below, the ruffles are cascading towards the top of the picture:
Cut the back of the bodice:
And cut the same pieces out of lining:
Lay out your 2 front bodice pieces:
And then put your back bodice piece on top of it, face down. Sew the shoulders – where the white dotted line is – and do the same with the lining pieces.
Now, lay it out flat with the ruffles on top – then lay out your lining. Pin it together. Sew where the black dotted lines are as shown below. Note that on the armholes you stop and start sewing about 1 inch from the edge.
Now, the semi-tricky part. Mainly tricky to explain. First flip the whole contraption right-side out by pulling it through the shoulders. Try to iron where you sewed, but be really careful and use a cool iron. Then, at the bottom of the armhole, find the 2 edges of the lining and sew them right-sides together. Then sew that same spot but on the ruffle, right sides together. After that you’ll notice a small hole in the bottom of the armhole – sew that seam. It’ll make sense (I hope) when you see it.
So that’s it for the top – not too hard, right? Grab your girl and have her try on the bodice – overlap the V-neck and pin it to fit (I think I needed my make my 4 year olds a little tighter – but she kept wiggling, so it was hard to tell!). Then where the 2 pieces overlap, sew them together along the bottom edge.
For the bottom part, cut 2 rectangles and sew up the side seams – I didn’t take pictures of that part. I traced the well-fitting dress again to get the size right. Flip the skirt inside-out. Put the bodice, which is right-side out, upside-down inside the skirt. Pin those edges:
When pinning, I didn’t pin the lining, so it just hangs inside the dress. Oh, and I didn’t line the skirt part – you could if you wanted. Sew it together and you’re done! Great job!
A quick heads up – if you sew a long stitch down the middle of a strip of ruffle fabric, and gather it, you can glue it to a hairclip and it looks great!
More of my models – can you tell it was really cold and windy? ? (that’s why there are a few without my 4 year old – she bailed early) Oh, I forgot to mention I just tied a ribbon around their waist to add a little interest and shape. Super cute – super easy – what more do you need!
See ya!
entering:
Too cute! I just ordered a yard of white with pink edging for a pillow, but hmmm…AG is only 2, I may make a dress. That is just too pretty with the diagonal bodice.
Beautiful!! I want to make one too!
Absolutely adorable!! And yes I can tell by the looks on their faces they are freezing! 🙂 ROFL! 🙂 And I love those black boots!! 🙂
LOVE it! And they look happy with them too! I really need to get me some of that ruffle fabric!
Oh my gosh! This is just adorable!!! I wish I was brave enough to try to sew something like this! I LOVE how it turned out and I always have the hardest time finding an Easter dress for my little girl! This is just too cute!
Ashley
http://www.simplydesigning.blogspot.com
So cute!! I hope you didn’t actually post this at 4:20. Thanks for everything yesterday!!
Those turned out really cute!
Awww would love to have one designed for me 🙂
This is SO stinkin’ cute Mandy!!!
Adorable!! I love those ruffled dresses. I would love it if you would link this up to my Marvelous Mess party!! Each party I pick one project to feature on my sidebar for a week!! Here is the link:
https://marvelouslymessy.blogspot.com/2011/03/marvelous-mess-3.html
So cute!! Where do you get the ruffle fabric?
I love how easy & cute your ruffles stuff is. Definitely going to get some of that fabric to try!
so darling! The girls are so cute too.
i lava it!
http://www.madebyhannahshands.blogspot.com
These dresses are so beautiful! Beautiful girls too, even if they do look cold 🙂
Super cute! Perfect spring dresses!
Thank you so much for linking up to my Make Something Mondays linky party! Hope to see you again next week!
Thank you so much for linking up to my Make Something Mondays linky party! Hope to see you again next week!
I loved this so much and used it as an inspiration to make a dress for my daughters. Linked back to you https://themarzipanmommy.blogspot.com/2011/03/big-and-little-sisters-dresses.html
Thanks for a great tutorial!
Robin 😉
The Marzipan Mommy
Really sweet!
That ruffle fabric looks like so much fun to play with!
THIS IS ADORABLE! That is absolutely the most adorable dress I have seen. Really! I have been searching for a cute “modest” dress for Easter…I’m thinking this is it! Thank you so much!
This is so pretty!! I just got some yellow ruffle fabric to make a dress for my daughter.
I linked to your tutorial on Craft Gossip Sewing:
https://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-easy-ruffle-dress/2011/04/16/
–Anne
Hello friend good night, congratulations for the great work, friend’m creator of tutorials, but am in need of a legal partnership, foreign so I can promote it here in Brazil, is the following tutorial you create a legal and I translate insert on my site, and put the link of your website so that your visitors can access my yours. if you want the partnership will be good for both sides. the credits and the link of the author of the tutorials will be comtemplados by my visitors Portuguese language. in the most hope to have a response from you thank you!
I love this, pinned!!
Super cute, Mandy! Pinning!
HELLO,loved this tutorial . The dress is beautiful. Can’t wait to make for granddaughters,7 of them. Also thinking this would be great dress for when you need something little dressy without the fuss. Thank you. Have a Blessed day, Carol P.