Friday, March 28, 2014

Making a Dress Pattern from an Old Dress


This little dress cost £2.50 from a charity shop, bought specially so I could cut it up.



It was in good enough condition to be used as a play dress because it wasn't actually falling apart. It had nice flat felled seams at the front of the shoulders,



and a bound neckline with a bit of staining - probably pasta sauce, a great favourite with toddlers.



About three weeks ago I got busy with the scissors and cut it up to make a pattern.



Here is the video showing the whole process.


And here is the finished dress made with the home-made pattern...



... complete with pretty trim around the sleeves...



... and neckline (note no pasta sauce yet)...



... and finally, the most exciting part of all, the first buttonholes I have made with the buttonholer

This has been a really enjoyable project from start to finish.  I used the 1949 Singer 15K hand machine for all the machine stitching, except for the buttonholes, where I used the Singer 201K treadle.

Now I can't wait to make the next little dress.

Linking up with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
and Leanne's blog Devoted Quilter for TGIFF

and Barbara's blog Cat Patches for the March NewFO - meanwhile the February NewFO free motion landscape is proceeding at a far more leisurely pace...

9 comments:

  1. What a sweet dress! I love the daisy fabric. Thanks for linking with TGIFF.

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  2. Adorable! I'd eat pasta in that dress any day!

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  3. That dress is adorable! Great job!

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  4. Fantastic Muv and thanks for sharing with us -- I really have to give this a try with one of my old favorite shirts that has seen better days.... Much appreciated. Karen

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  5. Thank you for showing us how you cut the old dress apart and created a new pattern. I had heard of people doing this but I didn't really understand the process. Now I do! The dress is very cute.

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  6. The little dress is adorable. Good stitching!

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  7. What a sweet little dress. Great tute too!

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  8. Oh my I thought the first little dress was adorable then I saw your new dress with that sweet lace around the neckline and sleeve. Thank you for sharing the process with us. Happy Sewing & Quilting!

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