My red sundress and how I made it.

Since Sunday was such a pretty day, I decided to make myself a sundress. Ironically, making the sundress, kept me indoors all day. In the end, it was time well spent.

Initially, I liked the dress as a strapless, but after wearing it for an hour or so, I came to the conclusion that I needed a bra and not a strapless bra (they always end up at my belly button). Having breastfed 3 babies...... well...... the girls ain't what they used to be. They're tired and very uncooperative. So, I added straps to the dress. Thus, allowing me to wear a bra with it.

(What's up with the hands on hips in all of my pics?! This would explain why my career as a model was so brief. I only had one pose!)

Now we are all happy =) But enough about the girls, lets talk about the dress.

I did not use a pattern, however the ruffle and smocking is inspired by a nightie I saw a couple months back at Anthro. The fabric is part of Robert Kaufman's Kona Cotton Solids and it's called Tomato (link).

~ How I made the dress ~

First off, I'm going to refer to the gathering in the bodice as smocking, but I have heard it referred to as shirring. The smocking was done with elastic thread on my home sewing machine. Simply wind your bobbin (by hand) with the elastic thread, insert your bobbin as you normally would, and away you go. Here are 2 links to online tutorials on how to sheer or smock - Portabellopixie (located on her right side bar under tutorials) and Craftstylish.

As a pattern reference for width and length, I used an older smocked sundress that I already owned. I stretched the fabric on the reference sundress to see how wide I should cut my material. I then measured the length of the reference dress. I made a few adjustments, because the fabric I was working with (non stretch cotton) was different from the reference sundress (stretch cotton). Once I figured out all of the measurements, I cut out the pieces and smocked the dress. Before I sewed the 2 pieces together (front and back), I made the ruffle and buttons.

For the ruffle, I cut a rectangle 5" wide and 13" long, which is longer than the actual length of the smocking. I needed to cut it longer than the desired finished length, because I was going to gather it. I then used a coffee canister as a template to cut the rounded end of the rectangle. Next, I serged the edges with a rolled hem stitch and gathered the ruffle to the bodice and stitched it in place. The buttons were made with scrap fabric. I used a button making kit to make them. You should be able to find a button making kit (inexpensive) at your local fabric or craft store. I then marked and sewed on the buttons. Next, I sewed the front and back pieces together. Lastly, I hemmed the bottom and sewed on a ruffle.
I like ruffles.

This dress makes my eyes feel good. One of my favorite color combinations is red and teal. Or is it turquoise? Whichever. I just know I like it =)

Cheers!

Jamie