Bookmark and Share

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Girls Dress from a Ladies Blouse


When I pulled the blouse from my closet I had originally thought of doing a Tim Burton themed dress, but as I plan on donating it to Dress A Girl Around The World and I didn't want to scare little the little gals that may not understand the reference so I decided to decorate with a cheery flower instead.

This size 4-6 slim girls dress was made using a free pattern and instructions by Dana from "Made" using a women's size 10 blouse, around 1/3 yd of contrasting fabric, green ribbon and a sequin embellishment.

The only variations on this dress is I added I cut two pieces for the front and the back that were 3 inches tall and the width of the top of the pattern and stitched it to the dress to thread the drawstring through to make it easier to adjust and added a flower embellishment on one side.

Items used:

  • Free pattern and instructions from Dana from "Made"
  • Women's blouse (I used a size 10)
  • 2 pieces of fabric 2 1/2 inches by 26 inch fabric for bow
  • 2 pieces of fabric to sew to the top of the dress
  • Printer and paper
  • Black fabric paint
  • Scissors
  • Iron
  • Sewing machine and matching thread 
  • Straight pins
I followed the instructions up to cutting out and stitching armholes and gather stitching to each side and I made it about 2 inches longer than the pattern.


For the flower, I folded a three inch square into quarters and cut the shape to the right and zigzagged  the top of the flower leaving the bottom open on the front of the dress







I then cut two six inch pieces of ribbon and another around 10 inches.  I folded the two six inch pieces in half and pinned them to the back of the long piece to represent leaves and pinned the top piece underneath the flower and zigzagged the stem piece down.

I then finished zigzagging the bottom of the flower down.


For the embellishment in center I used a sequined start I had gotten in a notions grab bag from Michael's and stitched in down using the machine, but a button could be used instead.

I also top stitched near the buttons to keep them closed (they are more for decorative purposes now).

As indicated above, sewed the 3 inch tall pieces (pink polka dotted) to the front and the back using 1/2 inch seams, pressed under 1/2 inch and then top stitched down.

Right sides together, I stitched the sides  then stitched the long bow piece together and used a safety pin to thread through the shoulder on one side then tie in a bow on the other side.


Linking up to:

4 comments:

  1. A fabulous refashion, Kathryn!!! I just LOVE the large appliquéd flower. It really makes the dress!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Kathryn, I've featured your girls dress today...
    http://threadingmyway.blogspot.com/2012/08/threading-your-way-features.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for explaining all that. I was wondering.I think this is wonderful I truly appreciate the informations shared in this post I am going to bookmark this!
    Buy Girls Clothing India

    ReplyDelete