Goober & Bodkins: Fall Frock Part 1

Well today I am going to show you the first part of making the fall frock...

1. You need to make your pattern.

My pattern making supplies. I use freezer paper to draw out my patterns because it's cheap and easy to find at Walmart.:) My yard stick is my best friend. It makes the nice straight edges that I would NEVER EVER be able to freehand.

Now the pattern to this dress is super simple. It is made up of 2 pieces. 1 dress piece and 1 sleeve piece. The measurements on this pattern are for a 4T-6. I made this dress for my almost 3 year old who is very tall and big for her age. I actually used the same measurements for the dress for my 5 1/2 year old. It fit them about the same.

Measurements:

1. Length: Measure from your child's collar bone to desired length. I made these dresses a little shorter. I usually measure down to their mid knee. This time I measured to the top of their knee cap. Then you need to add 1 inch to that measurement (for seam allowances).

2. Top to Bottom: As you can tell in the picture above the for the top part of the dress I made it 7 inches wide. I added 4 inches in width at the bottom of the dress to give it extra body and flow. Then with my yard stick I connected the top to the bottom.

3. Sleeve: From the picture you can tell that the sleeve looks like a mini version of the dress. The only difference is that it is the exact opposite of the dress. The top is larger than the bottom. The length is measured for a 3/4 length sleeve. If you want the sleeve longer than you need to add a few more inches for the length.

The dress measures 7" at the top with 11" at the bottom for width. It is 25" long.

The sleeve measures 7" at the top with 5" inches for width at the bottom. It is 10" long.

After you finish cutting your pattern pin the pieces to your fabric. Don't forget to pin the pieces on the fold. This will make your dress nice and seamless on the front and back of your dress.

Cut 2 of each piece.

All cut out.

Line up the side of the sleeve with the side of the dress. You need to have all 4 layers stacked up (4 layers-2 sleeves and 2 dress cut outs).

Now you need to cut out the armhole. Start at the top and cut out a "J" shape like shown above. This will be where the dress and the arm meet.

Edit: I don't have a picture of this but, to measure how deep to cut the "J" shaped armhole you need to measure an existing dress armhole. So, measure from shoulder to armpit and then 1 inch (for seam allowance). Then trace that onto the fabric and cut away.