*Guest Blogger* Deidre from A Craft a Day

I am so excited to share this tutorial with you! I asked Deidre from A Craft a Day to help me out this week because its my Spring Break and its been a little hectic to say the least! She created this lovely tutorial just to share with yall, but she has some other great ones that are on my "MUST MAKE NOW!" list, like:

Anthropologie inspired Frame

Romantic Picnic Tote and Blanket

I am so thankful that she put in the time to make this tutorial for me (and a super cute dress for her daughter) because as a busy mom of 4, I have no idea where she found the time!  So without further ado, here is her lovely tutorial! (PS: Welcome if you're visiting from A Craft a Day!)

Summery, Breezy Girl's Dress from Deidre

I recently saw a dress that babyGAP is going to be introducing in a few weeks for their new spring line and I fell in love!  But lets face it... the dress is going to run around $30 once it hits stores.  Not my idea of a good buy.  So instead, I made one and I'm pleased.

What you need:

1.5 yards - Cotton Fabric (preshrunk)

2.5 yards Eyelet Trim

fabric dye in the color of your choice

1/4 inch Elastic

These are the dimensions I used to make a dress for my almost 5 year old.

  

If you are using pattern pieces, remember that you need to cut two of these, but one of the pieces in reverse.  Otherwise, one side will be inside out and the other will be right side out.  No need for that!

  

 Once you have them cut, sew the side seams and the top of the strap together.

To add the eyelet trim to the neckline, pin and sew the trim with the right side facing the backside of the dress.  That way, when you flip the trim over, the right side of the trim and the right side of the dress will be facing out.  After you sew it, iron it down and run a top stitch a little more than a 1/4 inch from the top edge.

My plan was to sew the arm holes with a simple hem, but I didn't add enough seam allowance... so, the next best thing... bias tape!  Sew one side of the bias tape around the arm hole.

Flip the bias tape over the top edge of your armhole. 

Top stitch the bias tape.

With your seam ripper, rip out some of the stitches you made when you top stitched your eyelet trim down.  This is where you will insert and attach the elastic. 

Place the dress on your child and measure how long the elastic should be.  Insert your elastic with a safety pin.  Pin the elastic on both ends, flip down the eyelet trim and top stitch your elastic down.  Then, trim your elastic.

Run a zig zag stitch or your serger along the hem of the dress.  Top stitch more eyelet trim to the hem of your dress. 

You should have something like this.

Grab your rit dye and dye your fabric as directed on the package.  I use my washing machine and have never had problems with it dying my machine or ruining future washes.  

Grab some ribbon from your stash and tie it around your child's waist.  Alanna is wearing her dress with jeans which looked super cute.  Maybe even some capri leggings this summer?