Another week has passed and the weather here has been glorious, it’s been 22’C most days and we’ve had many picnics in the garden. Last night after the girls were put to bed I decided to make Elsie another dress using some lovely Cath Kidston fabric I’d bought back in February.

Elsie loves animals so I thought she’d love this doggy design.  Again this dress is made from my own pattern, I used last weeks pink play dress as a basic template and made some alterations. This time I thought I’d make a pull on dress with an elasticated neck and slightly capped shoulders.

The template is used for both the front and the back of the dress. Fold the template in half and place it on the folded fabric (this way you get perfect symmetry when it’s cut out) and cut the fabric giving a 1cm seam allowance. This procedure is repeated again for the back of the dress.

When the front and the back have been cut out, place the right sides of the fabric together and sew up the sides and  the shoulders. Use a rolled hem to neaten up the bottom hem and the arm holes.

Sew a 1 cm channel on the neckline most of the way around the neck (leaving a 2 cm gap – preferably at the back of the dress). Attach a safety pin to a piece of elastic and feed it through the channel. Hold the 2 ends of the elastic and sew together then sew the 2 cm gap closed.

The dress is now complete however if you want to embellish it you can do like I did.

I wanted to continue the doggy theme with a piece of applique so I found a drawing of a terrier online and printed it off.

Cut round your chosen motif and draw round it onto some paper backed fusible web. The fusible web is used for 2 reasons: it stops the cut fabric from fraying and it sticks the cut fabric to the main piece of fabric holding it stable for sewing on more securely.

The fusible web should be ironed onto the contrasting fabric (glue side down) – I used some of the leftover pink cotton from the last project.

The motif is cut out, the cut edges now being secure thanks to the glue. The paper should be peeled off the motif and then this new glued side placed onto the dress and ironed into position. For extra security the inner edge of the motif should be sewn around.

So here is my finished dress…

a close up of the applique dog…

 

Miss E enjoying her dress.

Poppy asked me when I was going to make her a dress, I suppose I really should make her one soon. I told her that we’ll have a look for some fabric together online and that she could help me make it. The above dress is so simple to make that it should be OK for her to help me with…shouldn’t it?

Jean