Easy sew dress for kids

This easy sew dress is made from a pre-made denim shirt and fabric.  The fabric is from friend and artist, Heidi Boyd.  She creates the most adorable things.  You can see her work on her website.  Her style is adorable and happy.  When Heidi asked me to work with her fabric I was more than happy to oblige because I knew my daughter would love anything I made from it.  Can you tell that miss sassy pants loves her “dress”? To make the easy sew dress I added a skirt to an existing denim shirt.  My daughter is tall and the shirt no longer fit in the arms or the length and she loved the shirt.  So I added the skirt to the top.  It is not that difficult and I did not use a pattern.

Supplies needed for easy sew dress:

• Sewing machine and coordinating thread
• Serger and thread (optional)
• Needle and thread
• Straight pins
• Iron
• Button
• Scissors and ruler or tape measure
• Fabric I used a 1/2 yard for the skirt, two 6 inch strips for the ruffle and a 3 inch strip for the sash.

 

Instructions for easy sew dress:

This is how I made the skirting.  It is not the only way to do it.  In all likelihood it is not the best way or the easiest.  BUT it works for me. You will need to measure the person wearing to get accurate measurements.

1. Iron the material.  Yes, just do it,  Your results will be better.  PROMISE.
2. Serge the edges of the skirt material to form a tube.
3. Cut two 6 inch strips. Serge or sew the two strips together. I serged mine on ruffle setting to give it a little more ruffle. (Gigi does not like ruffles so I kept it to a minimum.)  Fold the strip in half and iron the strips.
4. Pin the strip to the tube. Right sides together.  Serge or sew together. Iron the seam flat.
5. Pin the skirt piece to the denim shirt.  You can leave the edge raw because it will be covered by the sash.  Sew the skirt to the shirt.
6. Cut a strip of the polka dot fabric to around 3 inches.  Tun the fabric wrong sides together and sew the edge to form a tube.  Turn the tube right side out.  Iron flat with the seam in the back middle.
7. Sew the pieces to the dress to cover the raw edge of the skirt.  I used a 1/16 seam allowance on each side.   Leave the edges loose so you can form a bow.
8. Hand sew the bow into place and add a decorative button to the center.