Pages

Friday, 28 March 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.

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

    ReplyDelete
  3. That dress is adorable! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  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

    ReplyDelete
  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.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The little dress is adorable. Good stitching!

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

    ReplyDelete
  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!

    ReplyDelete