Here's how I made the dresses in case you're interested. While I was making them I thought "I should take pictures of each step in case anyone asks." Oh well. I did go back and take a few pictures with some scraps just to give you an idea. I'll try my best to explain! I didn't really follow a pattern or tutorial. I just looked at the same dress a friend of mine had (and asked my mom a lot of questions) and made it up as I went. It really was way easy though!
Materials:
Fabric for dress : 22" x 36" depending on the size of your child. -Width - Measure your child around the chest and multiply that number by 1.5-1.75. For both of my girls it was about 1 yard which worked out great! -Length - This just depends on how long you want the length to be. You end up folding about 3 inches of it over the top and you have a 4 inch band at the bottom so you kind of go from there. For Lilly it was 22" and for Sophia it was about 25".
Fabric for bottom band: 9"x 36" again, depending on the size of your child and what the width ends up being.
Elastic: Chest measurement minus about 1". Again for my girls this was about 20-21" and 22-23".
Ribbon for straps: 2 yards/dress (you cut each yard in half for a total of 4 18" pieces.
Cute buttons or other embellishments to put on the front. 1. Match the upper raw edges of the band (blue) and dress fabric (pink) with the band fabric underneath. Both fabrics are right side up. You want to do this so that you end up sewing along the width of the fabric (the 36" side). Pin in place. 
2. Roll the dress fabric toward the upper edge stopping a few inches away from the raw edges. Bring the band fabric up and over the rolled dress fabric. Line up the edges and re-pin to secure. 
3. Sew along the raw edges using a 1/2" seam allowance. 4. Pull the dress fabric our of the tube you've just formed. You should now have a piece that looks like one side of a pillowcase. 
5. Fold down the other raw edge of the dress fabric about 1/4" - 1/2" and sew across to create a hem. 
6. And here's where the pictures end because it's easier to explain than to take a picture. Fold the hem over to the back of the fabric and bring down about 3 1/2". You now have wrong sides together. Sew across the hem line you just created.
2. Roll the dress fabric toward the upper edge stopping a few inches away from the raw edges. Bring the band fabric up and over the rolled dress fabric. Line up the edges and re-pin to secure. 3. Sew along the raw edges using a 1/2" seam allowance. 4. Pull the dress fabric our of the tube you've just formed. You should now have a piece that looks like one side of a pillowcase. 5. Fold down the other raw edge of the dress fabric about 1/4" - 1/2" and sew across to create a hem. 6. And here's where the pictures end because it's easier to explain than to take a picture. Fold the hem over to the back of the fabric and bring down about 3 1/2". You now have wrong sides together. Sew across the hem line you just created.7. Sew another line about 1 - 1 1/2" (depending on the width of your elastic) to above that line. This creates a casing for the elastic.
8. Bring the elastic through the casing and sew the elastic to the raw edges on both sides. Your fabric should now be gathered around the elastic.
9. Bring the raw edges together with right sides together and sew up the side.
10. I then sewed the straps on about 2" from the side on top of the elastic. I promise this really is the last picture (almost).
11. Add the buttons to the front and you should be good to go! 
2 comments:
Those are really cute. I love fun little summer dresses for girls. Especially the easy ones to make.
Look at you with a full blown tutorial on your blog! You should start a crafty blog! I love the dresses. They turned out awesome. Have fun with your sister.....we are almost there!
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