I purchased a few yards of knit fabric at the Hobby Lobby in Georgia and mixed it with a couple of tank tops from the Carter’s Outlet. I think these are so cute, useful in an everyday kinda way and comfortable. All in all I spent 45 minutes at the most putting them together.
I started out measuring the girls…this was a very unscientific measuring…I simply put the tape measure at their shoulders and tried to see where I would want the fullness of the dress to be. I ended up choosing to place the skirt a bit lower than their waist. I didn’t want the fullness (and the serger stitches) to be too close to their waist where it might feel scratchy. Then I measured from that point to a place below their knees where I wanted the skirt to end. I added one inch to the skirt measurement and started cutting.
I cut the skirt fabric the entire width of the knit, which in this case was approx. 42 inches. Next, I used my new gathering foot and gathered the top of each skirt and then sewed the seam to make a tube of sorts. I also marked the four equal distances of the tube to insure even distribution of the skirt to match up with the center front and back-plus the side seams of the tank tops. First I attached the skirt to the top using a zig-zag stitch, I also stretched the top a bit to make everything fit. Once the skirt was attached and I was happy with it, I serged around the seam.
My Bernina has a visible hem stitch for knits and this is what I used for the hem. The only drawback to this stitch is that once you reach your point of origin on the hem…the stitching shows quite a bit. Next time, I think I will stop the jersey stitch once I make the circumference of the skirt and use a regular straight stitch to finish and secure the hem.
Well, the girls seemed very happy and I was able to get a few photos of them wearing the dresses. I have two more knits from Hobby Lobby to make additional dresses. I hope you try this if you do any sewing for girls. It was super easy, comfortable for the girls- and it is a very quick way to have matching outfits for photos, events or reunions!
Here are my remaining pics:
Thanks for visiting,
Lovely! I’ve made multiple T-shirt dresses for children in Africa…and my MIL, who lives there, has been sewing hundreds each year to hand out to orphans there. It is such a simple dress and you can make it from so little.
Lovely tutorial.
I’m going to make one of these for me! 🙂 Maybe adding a belt or something in the waist, but I love the simpleness! Nice blog btw…
Miss you. . .are you ok?
Connie,
Thanks so much for the comment. I am fine, I just had a crazy, busy summer and then school started. I have a really big couple of jobs at my school this year and was a little overwhelmed at the beginning. I am cleaning up my sewing room and trying to get back on track!