baptism dress

my daughter got baptized on sat

(...you can read more about my church here)

and i wanted a white dress......

yeah. easier said than done..

i found all sorts of cute ones..

none white...

(these are found at old navy..banana republic, children's place, the gap and jcrew)

 and then I did find some white ones i liked....

 but didn't have an extra $200 to buy them.

 dear j. crew.  do you have any kids? do you know how long a 200 dollar white dress will stay white?
about the same amount of time a $10 white dress would.  sincerely, a real mom.

then i saw all the dresses had a similar theme...

ruffles...

and then i remember the most awesome company...

i contacted them and got me a yard and half of white 2 inch ruffles...

(p.s....look at these other ones i want..so cool)

now..disclaimer:

i am a fly by the edge of my seat sewer.

i don't really do patterns (although i should)

so this is kinda a random basic tutorial!

took a shirt and used it to cut a copy around it

(ruffle fabric has stretch to it...so i didn't put in a zipper...or buttons. it can be pulled right over her head)

i connected the top and the sides..(see the pins) and now...her's another advantage of ruffle fabric...no fraying. that's right. i did not finish around the collar or the arm holes!

I took a big huge rectangle for the bottom..ran a large stitch (without backstitching) and then pulled it to gather it (and are you ready for the awesomeness of ruffle fabric number 3...it gathers so easy...best material)

then i pinned the bottom to the top

a word of advice: when sewing with ruffle fabric...you have to make sure all the ruffles are pointing in the same direction...

I took some satin fabric...and added it around the middle over the seam

I also made some satin binding around the collar...and a big satin bow....

for the back: I only sewed about 8 inches down...

then i took some white cotton fabric...and made a tube...(make sure it's a little bit shorter than the dress)

then i took some tulle (it's stiffer than normal tulle) cut off a 14 in piece (this is doubled)

folded it over

and added a loose stitch and gathered it...

then i just sewed it onto the cotton...

i added a few more layers and cut the tulle a little bit shorter each time..

after i got them all sewed on...

I added some elastic and sewed it onto the dress...

and now for the finished product:

oh..and i might have forgotten to mention that i made some flowers and ahem...hot glued them to the dress.....

you betcha that i told everyone i sewed all those ruffles on by hand.

make sure to check out ruffle fabric!it's one of my favoritest things ever!