Ruffle Dress Tutorial

It has taken me longer to get this up. But here is how I made the ruffle dress. I say it is a semi-tutorial, because I did not take pictures of every step. Enjoy!

First, you will need to get your material:

 

For my daughter's dress, I bought 3 yards of the pink (which was WAY too much!), a yard and a half of the cream, a yard of lace, buttons, and elastic for the arm bands. 

Then you will need to cut our you pieces. This is where you can go to the June Bug dress over at Craftiness is Not Optional. She has a free pattern for a dress in a size 2/3t. (The dress I made was for a sew along, where I had to remix the June Bug dress pattern.)

If you want to make your own pattern, take a dress that already fits your daughter, and trace it. 

You will need two pieces for the front, and two pieces for the back. As you can see, the bottom pieces overlap in the middle. I cut one side to be longer than the other, so that I would be able to sew on the buttons, and button holes. 

Next, I made my sleeves. Just trace your sleeve, as I did. It doesn't have to be perfect, sleeves are very giving. Make sure that all the edges are sharp, with straight lines. 

Now cut out two sleeves. 

Take the bodice front, and pin it together. Only sew the top and curves (where pinned). Leave the bottom and sides unsewn for now. 

Now sew!

Take your piece and turn it right side out. Now Press with the iron. 

Do the same with your back bodice pieces. Make sure to sew the top, side curves and down the middles. Leave the bottoms, and sides unsewn. Then turn both pieces right side out, and press with the iron.

This is what your pieces should look like now.

Now, take your pieces, and put them together, right sides together. You are going to pin and sew the tops. 

Now press with the iron. This is what you should have now. 

Now we will move on, to the sleeves. Take the curve part of your sleeve , and ruffle it. Only ruffle the top. 

Now take your ruffled sleeves, and pin them, right sides together, to the dress arm openings. Then sew!

This is what you should have. Once you have both dress sleeves on, lay your back bodice piece on the top bodice, right sides together. Then pin the sides, and sew them! All the way to the sleeve, closing off the bottom of the sleeve. (Sorry, I wish I had a picture of this part)

This is what you should have once you have sewn the sides, and bottom of the sleeves. Everything should be sewn, except for the bottom of the bodice. You can new serge the bottom. 

SKIRT part of the dress:

Take your skirt fabric, and measure out lines. These lines are for the ruffles. I measured mine 4'' apart.

Once you mark each side of your fabric, connect the dots, and draw your lines. You will need a straight edge to do this. 

 

(I am showing this in white, because I had to go back and take pictures of this part. When making the skirt, make sure you use the same color as your ruffles.)

Now, refold your fabric in half. You will have your lines on the front and the back. I then made my skirt piece into a slight a line by measuring the top to fit her waist, and then adding a few inches to the width of the bottom. 

Now cut your layers. I cut mine at 5.5''

Hem the bottom of all 4 pieces, as well as your skirt hem, and serge the top of each layer.

Now ruffle each piece,

Pin the layers to the skirt. I pined mine to the line, with the top of the ruffle piece, facing the top the skirt, wrong side of ruffle to right side of skirt. Hope that isn't too confusing! Then sew. Do this to each layer.

Here is your skirt. 

Now pin your top to your skirt. Right sides together. Make sure to find the center fronts on the skirt and bodice front and match them up before pining. 

Overlap the back where you will be adding the buttons, and button holes. 

Sew all the way around, connecting the bodice to the skirt. Then zig zap stitch the overlap piece down. I hope you can see where I zig zagged in the picture. 

This is what you should have when you are done. Now we will move on to finishing the sleeves.

Cut your elastic. I measured my daughters arm, and added about an inch or so. 

Create a casing along the sleeve, and insert the elastic. Sew the elastic together, then close your casing.

Measure out your buttons and match up the holes. Attach buttons, and make the buttons holes. If you do not know how to make button holes, you can watch this YouTube video.

And that is all! I went on and added a front flap and some lace.