It's done finally!!! This has been in my to do list since the first time I saw this post, lucky for me my daughter didn't really know that I wanted to make it for her or she would have pestered me until it was finished. I want her to have a new Easter dress every year (throw backs to my mom and always having a new dress at Easter time.) So I finished this Saturday night late since Easter Sunday we won't be able to go to the church and our church was celebrating it this week. I turned out okay but I don't love the top part. I had to add the purple waistband to make it a little longer so she can wear it longer.
To make it I started with a pattern for the top. I used the dress patern from McCalls 2590. I bought mine at JoAnn's for less then a $1 I think. I only used the top portion and the sleeves. You could use any dress pattern you like and make a pattern from it or use a different pattern top. I had to adapt it my use. Instead of using a zipper I added a couple of inches to make the buttons in the back. For the ruffles I used the width of the fabric rather then doing 1 1/2 times the measurement around the waist. It made it really full by the time I got to the last row. I was being lazy and didn't want to sew the edges, I just used the selvedge edges.
Here is about how I did it.
Row 1: 1 4 Inches high and then the width of fabric (WOF)
Row 2: 2 WOF
Row 3: 3 WOF
Row 4: 5 WOF
Row 5: 8 WOF
For gathering I did a zigzag across a string that wouldn't break. It was a ton of gathering. But it made it so fun to twirl in. . .
Hope you enjoy!!
