Garden Wedding Flower Girl Dresses

Are you still dying to find out what my huge shirring project was?

I had to make about a million and a half of these:

Okay, not really a million and a half, but aren’t they adorable?  They were really easy to make, too.

For this dress, you need:

• 1 yard of fabric
• elastic thread
• ribbon for the sash
• lace for the hem
• 1/4 inch elastic for the top
• a cute little girl to wear the dress.

The one I’ll show you how to make is size 18 months.  You can adjust your measurements if you need it smaller or larger.

Cut two pieces of fabric 18 inches high by 22 1/2 inches long.

Place the two pieces on top of each other with the right sides together.  Cut it at a slight angle so that the dress pieces are now A-line shaped.  The shorter width is the top.

Now, with the right sides together, sew the side seams together.

Serge or zig-zag stitch the raw edges.

Sorry for the picture quality.  The lighting at my sewing table isn’t great. 

Serge or hem around the top and bottom of the dress.  Sew the hem lace to the bottom right side of the dress.

Once the lace is sewn on, turn it over and topstitch it into place.

There.  The hem is done.  Now, for the top, you need to sew a casing fir the 1/4 inch elastic--just like I did with this tiered skirt.

Is the casing done?  We’ll thread the elastic through later.  Now let’s shirr the top of the dress, just like I did with this shirred sundress.  When it’s shirred, be sure you add the elastic to the casing, close the opening, then steam press the shirring to shrink it down.

Dress shirred?  Pressed?  Awesome.  Let’s work on the sleeves now.

For the sleeves, I cut two 6” x 7.5” rectangles and serged around the edges.

Hem the 7.5” sides of the sleeves.

Sew three pleats in both the tops and bottoms of the sleeves.  Need help with pleats?  I used pleats on the flouncy bag.  (you’ll have to scroll down a bit)

The pleats should look like this:

This is what the sleeves should look like now:

Press the pleats flat--unless you want a more puffed sleeve.  If that’s what you want, then skip the pressing.  If you go for the puffed sleeve, this is what it will look like:

I pressed the pleats, and this is how my sleeves turned out:

Backside…

…and front side.

Now we need to attach the sleeves to the dress.

With the dress and sleeves inside out, measure one inch in from the sides of the dress.  Pin the sleeves down and sew into place.

Do the same thing on the other side--with the same one inch measurement.

Turn the dress right side out.

How about we make a sash now?  Oh, do lets!

Measure how long you want the sash and cut the ribbon to the desired length. 

Take the ends and fold them in half.  Make one diagonal snip so that the ends of the sash are forked--like a snake’s tongue.  (Why, yes!  I am the mother of all boys!  Why do you ask?!)

Anyway…once the ribbon looks like a snake’s tongue, you need to heat seal the edges so it won’t fray.  To heat seal the forked edges, just fold it in half again, then hold the raw edges in the heat wave above a flame.

…fold it…

…and seal it.  Perfect.

Now sew the sash to the sides of the dress. 

The tricky part about this was attaching it so that the sash wasn’t too loose or too tight around the waist.  Only sew it to the side seams so that the ribbon won’t have stitching around it.

Make sure it ties nicely in the back and looks good in the front.  If not, pick it out and try again. 

Once the sash is sewn on, that lovely little dress is finished!  :)

Take a step back and admire your handiwork!

I just love that lace edging on the hem.  Actually, I love everything about this dress…especially what it looks like on the little flower girls!

See?  This little gal loves the dress, too! 

…and for funzies, here’s the happy couple:

…not looking at me, of course!

pssssttt…how about that veil and bouquet?  Nice, huh?!  ;)