Little White Dress Tutorial

Yay! So here's part 1 (EDIT: part two is here, and part three is here) of my tutorial on how to make this sweet little white dress. I was going to make this one long post, but I have 87 pictures and I don't feel like crashing any servers. :) I'm breaking this puppy up into a few Illiad-length posts vs. one biblical-length post. Either way, get your comfy pants on.

Anywhoodle, I think this is a great project for beginners so I hope you guys like the tutorial. As always, click on any picture to enlarge and email me or leave a comment if you have any questions on anything. Remember, there are no silly questions! Ask away!

Supplies needed for this dress:

• 1 yard of 90" wide white muslin (I highly recommend getting the 90" wide white muslin that way you only need a yard. If you go with 45" wide that's OK too, but you'll need at least 1 1/4 yard, possibly more depending on your size.)
• 4 yards flat eyelet trim
• 1/4" wide elastic
• White thread, 70/10 sewing needle, scissors
• Hem Gauge
• Measuring Tape

Let's sew!

Measure your high bust and write that number down. For length, I took the tape and measured from my high bust to right above my knees like so:

Croquis via Threads.com

 Then I added 1" for the top and bottom seam allowance, and added 2" so that the bodice would have a little poofy bodice. My total length was 32.5". Measure that length (again, 32.5 on my dress) along the selvage edge (the edge that they didn't cut when you bought your fabric), snip your fabric, and then just tear it. Being a woven fabric, muslin will just rip right down giving you a straight line. :)

Snip & rip. Gotta love it!

Now for the width you do the same basic thing. Take your widest measurement (for this dress it was my hips) and add 4" for ease and 1" for your seam allowance. My measurement ended up being 46". Measure, snip, and rip.

Now you have the body of your dress. Mine was 32.5" long by 46" wide.

Get your iron and hem gauge (the slide ruler thingy), and make a narrow hem along the bottom of your dress (the 46" wide part). Measure 1/2"

and press until you go all the way across the length of your dress.

Now take the raw edge and fold it in so that it's enclosed

and rub side to side to finger press it

then press with the iron.

That's your narrow hem!

Now for the pin tucks, get your hem gauge and set the slider at 1/4". Place your hem at the 1" mark on the ruler and fold your pin tuck over to meet the 1/4" guide.

Using your sweet new finger pressing expertise, finger press the 1/4" pin tuck all the way across.

Press with the iron.

Pin tuck #1 is done!

For pin tuck #2, do the same exact thing, only now you measure 1 1/2" from the hem.

Let's sew these guys down.

Sew your hem.

Then sew on your lace.

Now to sew your pin tucks. Sew along the lines illustrated so that the pin tucks keep their shape.

And here we are all sewn up!

Now let's sew up the back seam. Right sides together, pin the edges & try to line up the hem and pin tucks as much as possible.

I apologize for my blurry-ness

They may not line up perfectly but no one will notice!

Zig zag the edge to finish.

And that's enough for today. Parts 2 & 3 are coming this week. :)

xoxo,