Spinny Dress for Antigone

A bit of a change from my normal Blog.


My daughters Birthday was in March and one of her presents was a "spinny dress" like most little girls, my Antigone LOVES a pretty dress. the main requirements of a pretty dress in the eyes of a 3 yr old are: It has to spin- REALLY spin, and it has to have some frilly bits and it has to be pink. I had a look online for inspiration

(especially  here  (Love these dresses!)
                        but also this one
which i might also give a go one day.)

and created this:



Now for those of you who want to know how i made it... I'll give explaining it a go.  (please excuse the hastily drawn up images and bad photos!)

Notes: 

-measurements fit Tiggy- so are about a size 3.
-measurements allow 1cm for seams and 2cm for hem.
-I would probably make the bodice a bit longer and the waist a bit bigger- don't make the elastic too tight. (it would still look good as a loose fit around the bodice)

Bodice:

-sew lining to the arch on the front and the top of the back then sew sides.
-sew a wide piece of elastic into the back
-sew button holes

Skirt:

Just because it might be helpful, this is what the skirt looks like fully spread out.

-fold material A (pink) into 4 and cut along lines as shown in pic. (measure around waist generously, work out radius and add 1-2 cm for the inner cut. - you can see how well it fits and cut more if necessary before sewing) I wish I'd made it slightly bigger.

- Fold material of contrasting colour B (and any other colours you want), according to how many panels you want on the B section. use 'A' folded the appropriate amount of times to obtain the curve, cut, allowing an extra cm for seams.





OK this might look a bit odd- and I'm sure most people would be able to do this "properly" but this is what i did...

-sew panels together except last seam (unless your measurements are very exact)- so you have 2 pieces 'A' and 'B' as shown.

-sew 'B' onto 'A' except for right at the ends, sew last seam so 'B' is a correct fit ( its a bit fiddly but i do it this way- just in case 'B' is a bit too long- If your sewing and cutting are accurate you should be able to do it the 'normal' way.)




-cut the 3rd colour 'C'- at least 5m long, gather, match the middle of 'C' to the center front of 'B' and sew from there to back- once again just because it is otherwise really hard to get the length and gathers perfectly accurate.

Finishing

-Sew bodice to skirt, stretching bodice at back as much as needed so the skirt gathers at back as needed. (the skirt is not gathered at the front at all.)
- hem
- make straps (about 50cm) and sash.