Say THAT title 10 times fast!

So {Sew} Today I have a full tutorial that looks a bit complicated but I promise you is not! If you can sew a straight line & pull some string you can do this.

I call this (my first original design-YAY!!) the

Sweet Summer Bubble Dress

I have overly labeled the photos and this post will be LONG.

Sorry ahead of time but seriously…..

How. ADORABLE. Is This?

Yes, that is my little Miss E at our vow renewal last Saturday <3!

The reasons I like this version of the dress is that the bodice is fully lined and because of the way I did the ‘bubble’ hem the skirt is fully lined. Plus I don’t have the measure and make a ‘perfect’ folded hem. Win-Win-Win in my book!

Here is the tutorial for the:

“Sweet Summer Bubble Dress”

I used a vintage pillowcase I found at Goodwill ($1) for the bottom of the dress and some white satin I got for free from Freecycle (9 yds for free people!) for the bodice.

Make your bodice according to the bodice part of this tutorial. (If you follow the directions for her dress and then make my dress as well you have two cute dresses- sort of like Buy One Get One! hehe)

Take the chest measurement you used in the bodice and double it because you will be gathering. Then measure how long you want the dress to be and again, double it because you will be folding it in half towards the end of the tutorial. I always take all measurements and add at least 1- 1.5 inches just to be on the safe side. You can ALWAYS take the dress in but you can’t make it bigger usually.

Since this is a pillowcase dress for me (the bottom is the pillow case fabric) here is how I cut my pillow case so it would work for me: I cut down the side seam & cut off one end after it was opened (shown by the yellow line. The red line is the seam from where the pillowcase was folded in half) to get the desired chest measurement (doubled)

Next I ran two gathering stitches along what would become the ‘top’ of the skirt portion of the dress.

One at about 1/4-1/2 inch away from the raw edge and one about 1-2 inches below that (see blue lines in picture below). I also ran one gathering stitch at the bottom of the ‘dress’ but you can do that later if you wish.

Take the very top gathering stitch and pulling on the top thread only (gently!!! Take your time!) until you have gathered the whole top of the dress. (Leave the other two gathering stitches alone for now)

Lay the outside of your bodice piece face down on the outside of your dress piece lining up the raw edges of bodice with raw edges of gathered piece. Pin in place & sew carefully.

This view shows the whole dress with the gathering stitches at the bottom:

After sewing flip the bodice up and locate the 2nd strip of gathering stitches: (they are in blue below)

Gently & Slowly pull either the bobbin or the top thread to gather the fabric at that point. Once gathered work your way along the line and pull up the fabric between the bodice seam and the gathering line then pin the 2nd gathering line to the bodice seam. This creates a folded ‘paperbag waist’ look.

Here is what that looks like when you get it pinned all across

Now sew along your pin line and lay out your dress:

Locate your gathering stitch that runs across the bottom of the dress (or sew one if you didn’t do it at the beginning).

Again- SLOWLY & Gently pull the thread to gather the fabric. You do not want to break the gathering stitch-then it won’t work!

Here it is gathered with the outside facing up:

Here it is gathered with the inside facing up:

Next you want to take the edge you just gathered (& with the inside of the dress facing up) and pull it up to meet the bodice/skirt seam. (This is basically folding the length of the skirt in half).

Take the raw edge and fold it under to the gathering stitch line then pin it into the bodice/skirt seam.

In this view below I talk about how before I gathered the bottom part I measured and discovered I didn’t have enough to make the dress long enough. So I pieced together some other fabric from the pillow case and then gathered that edge. Keep that in mind if you end up a little short. No one will see the inside so don’t worry about it

Now that the bubble hem is all sewn up by the bodice all you should have left is two raw edges. Fold the dress in half with the right sides together, pin the back seam & sew.

Turn dress right side out and slip on baby!

OOOO & Ahhh appropriately

Have a happy day,

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Anything you make resulting from viewing this tutorial is for PERSONAL USE ONLY. Please do not sell my ideas, designs or items made from my ideas or designs without express written permission from me, Kristi, first. THANK YOU!!

The post Sew Summer Saturday 4 | {Faux Paperbag Waist, Bubble Hem, Pillowcase Dress} appeared first on Creative Kristi.