Sunday, June 6, 2010

Dress from Butterick 3477 #1

I'm making dresses for each of my three girls this week.


Here's the dress for my 2yo almost finished except for the hem.

I used Butterick's #3477 pattern.

I found the pattern mostly easy to follow. There were only 4 pattern pieces for this dress, but the directions seem to be lacking a bit. It was a big time consuming, but I'm also not a frequent sewer and it took me a bit to run back and forth till I had everything out of the storage cabinet I needed.

I didn't get the shoulder ties exactly perfect. I thought I marked the reference circles exactly right, but a tie on one corner appears to be off it's mark. Also they seem kind of narrow to me. The next dress I make from this pattern I think I will go with a 1/2" seam for the straps.

The bodice/skirt seam was a little tricky for me. Dresses with gathered skirts are adorable on little girls, but definitely time consuming for an intermediate novice like myself. Here's a good tutorial at Jump up and Down on How to Make Ruffles that can be used for gathering skirts as well.

The instructions call for a slip stitch to cover the skirt/bodice seam allowance with the bodice lining, but I must of messed up somewhere because there wasn't enough of the lining seam allowance to cover the skirt seam allowance. The result I thought left seam look a little raggedy and messy on the inside. But then I found a Hong Kong finish at Gigi Sews and used it to cover the seam allowance.



I think it really helped to clean up the look on the inside.

Overall I like this pattern. It took me most of an evening and a few hours this afternoon to get it cut out, assembled, and finished. But the result is a very cute dress.

This is why I don't sew as often as I'd like. My kitchen gets taken over, and my laundry is neglected. I know my hubby loves me because he puts up with this for a few days at a time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love it! You did a great job. Your girls will be thrilled and proud to wear the dresses you are making them.