This adorable blue dress accented with rick rack just jumped off the page when I was flipping through the pattern book. It looks like there were several stylish options so I picked up the pattern.
I wanted to match the dress displayed in view B exactly so I even picked up the lightweight denim shown. With yards of rick rack in tow, I began to cut and sew. The lightweight denim, while really cute in this application, frays like crazy. You can see from the bodice below, I’ve barely laid out the rick rack and it’s already fraying. All the rick rack work would have been made much easier with the addition of Wonder Tape – why didn’t I discover this stuff sooner?!
The bodice, by far, was the most complex part of this pattern to figure out. I don’t believe you need the front and back facing for this dress – it’s got plenty of structure with just the bodice front and back x2. As you can see this led me to some small sewing calamities because I was paying attention to the other side of the piece. Don’t worry, it was all hidden when I sewed on the second front and back bodice pieces.
As you can see, when I continued to work with the piece – more fraying!
After figuring out the bodice, the skirt was a snap! Just more rick rack and a few panels. There is a lining with tulle and admittedly, I just made the lining with no tulle. The dress has enough volume without the tulle and the lining could probably be omitted as well.
I finished off with a center back zipper (rather than the lapped one recommended) button holes for the straps and a clip on flower from JoAnn’s – pretty darn close to the picture AND Caroline approves.
Pattern Description:
Little’s girl’s sundress bodice and trim variations
Pattern Sizing & Selection
AA 1/2, 1, 2, and 3. I made size 3.
Finished Product As Advertised?
Yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Pretty basic instructions, not too difficult to follow. For the life of me I still can’t figure out why the top of the bodice needed to be reinforced with a front and back facing. I think it could have gone together with just the bodice front and back with lining.
As this pattern calls for not only a zipper, but two button holes as well, I have to rate this a solid medium on the difficulty scale – I don’t think a beginner could tackle it without a bit of help.
Pattern Adjustments:
The extra layers of fabric in the bodice along with the fraying made it difficult to put the zipper in so I switched to a center back zipper rather than a lapped zipper construction. I also omitted the tulle and probably could have omitted the lining as well.
Fabric Used:
Lightweight denim
Conclusion:
Recommended!
HMH Designs 
Adorable. And love the rick rack…reminds me of the 1950’s. Marilyn/Mom 🙂
Soooooo cute! Miss C must be the best dressed girl in her class. You’re really getting the hang of this sewing stuff, sis. You’ll have to teach me one day. 🙂
This is Martta’s handy work 🙂
Oops, sorry! Great job, Mar!!
Cute!!! I’m a little afraid of denim, but I will have to check out the wonder tape! How long did this dress take to make? 🙂
The wonder tape is amazing – also great for installing invisible zippers – no pinning! The longest parts of making this dress was watching it mock me on the “almost finished” project wall because I needed to install the zipper and make the button holes. I’d say the bodice took about a hour and a half, the skirt about an hour (faster if you use the wonder tape!) and then the buttons and zipper took another hour.
as a beginner i tried this dress and it worked out really well i used different fabric and a different design but i found it very easy and didnt need help i was 14 when i completed the dress and gave it to my niece and she loved it and it was unique from what everyone else was wearing
I think its just great! Do you use a serger when finishing the dress?