New Grandma Wants to Sew!: Ruffled sleeved dresses for winter

The first two Christmas dresses I made this year were to be a 'matching set' for sisters Jane and Ada. As you can see, there is a difference in size. Jane is pushing 5, Ada nearly 18 months old. This also necessitated slight style differences, too, partly because the free PDF patterns I had didn't cater for both sizes. I also made Ada's cuffs and frill much smaller, as she still spends a fair amount of time on the floor!

Although I used two different patterns, there were many similarities of method, and so my 'how to' description below covers both.

First, the fabric I used was a fine needlecord that I'd had in the stash awaiting a project (or two). I had just about 2 metres, so I was hoping to get both sleeved dresses out of it. It was a bit narrower than I'd hoped, so it was a tight squeeze. I spent quite a while playing around with layouts to make sure I could get both dresses out of it. This below may look as if I've succeeded easily, but for one of the dresses, there is only one back, and each has only one sleeve laid out so far. And all those ruffles have to be doubled up. In the end I was slightly short of fabric width for one of the skirt ruffles, but I think you can get away with it when you are gathering. The odd inch or two doesn't matter.

Both dresses were fully lined apart from the sleeves and bottom ruffles. So after cutting out the dress pieces from the needlecord. I used the same pattern pieces to cut out white acetate or polyester lining pieces (not sure what the fabric is other than something synthetic), i.e. the fronts and backs.

Next, I should mention the patterns. The larger one was a free PDF from Sew Much Ado, and is called Free Girl's Ruffle Dress pattern, not to be confused (as I did initially) with her Free Girl's Ruffle Sleeve Dress - similar but not the same. This is theoretically for age 4 years, but I had no trouble at all adapting it to a size nearer 5-6. (Jane IS only 4 going on 5, but she's quite tall. I added a tiny bit at the shoulders and a bit more to the length.) The tutorial is clear and, that's a pattern I can recommend.

The other dress, designed for 12-18 months, also needed some enlargement, as Ada will be 18 months exactly. There are larger sizes available to buy. I did initally have some problems with this pattern, also a free PDF, from Shwin and Shwin, called the Carolina dress. To the extent that I contacted the patterns author, Shauna, and she tried to be as helpful as possible. I love the idea of it with its little gathered front. But mine as made up doesn't look the same as hers (the top and sleeves are much narrower, and I had to make some adjustments to get the sleeves to fit into the armholes. Fortunately I had measured the pattern pieces before cutting. I'll wait and see whether the dress is going to fit comfortably before passing more comment on the pattern or deciding whether to buy it in larger sizes.

Nonetheless, my tutorial would apply to any pattern with sleeves you chose to use . I will try and put up a post in due course (once the girls have tried all their Christmas dresses on) with the best ideas for sleeved dress patterns for little girls.

It goes without saying that I press all seams as soon as I've made them, and I finish any exposed seams with a zigzag stitch. If you have a serger you can use that.

First steps: with the Carolina dress (the little one) there was some preparation needed before the front and backs could be joined together. The centre front has a wider piece at chest level which has to be gathered up into the narrower bit above it (after first sewing the centre seam above the gathering). You can see the wide piece on the pattern.

I didn't photograph this step, but you can see the end result in this picture. Cute!

For the equivalent seam on the lining, instead of gathering the wider bit, I made a flat pleat either side, to reduce its bulk. Again, seen below at a later stage in the process.

As well as preparing the front, I also put the zip in the back seam of the main fabric. You can find an easy way to put in a zip in this post.

For the Ruffle dress, very little preparation really. You can find Abby's tutorial here. All that needs to be done before joining back and front, is to mark the key hole neck at the back, add interfacing and the button loop, and you are ready to join front to back.

I also pressed the hems on the sleeves of the Carolina dress, and the sleeves ruffles of the Ruffle dress (but didn't yet hem them). I gathered and attached the ruffles to the sleeves of the Ruffle dress at this stage, but you could do this later. )

From now on, the method was very similar for both dresses. First, I joined front to back at the shoulder seams, on both the outer fabrics and the linings. (Seen here on the outer fabric of the Carolina dress.)

Note that the side seams of both dresses are still open, they are just joined at the shoulders.

The next step, for both dresses, was to attach the sleeves. Both dresses have sleeves that are symmetrical around the sleeve fold line, so you don't have to worry too much about which sleeve is left and which is right. However, you do need to pin them on right! They should be right sides together, with the sleeve away from the opening and across the rest of the dress - see below. I usually put a pin in the shoulder, a pin either end, and then ease the rest of the sleeve in between. This is on the Carolina dress, but exactly the same process on the Ruffle dress.

Sew the armhole seams, then clip the curves and press the seam up towards the shoulder / body, not towards the sleeve. Once both the sleeves are attached, you'll have something that looks like this.

This is the point at which I like to join the lining to the body of the dress, by pinning the necklines right sides together. You could do this before adding the sleeves if you wished. That's how Abby does it in her tutorial. I just decided to keep the lining out of the way until I was ready - and in any case, I wanted to completely enclose the armhole seam so there would be no complaints about itchiness!

On the Carolina dress, I left a little bit at either end of the neckline open, in order to tuck in round the zip later. (Shauna's version is unlined.)

On the Ruffle dress, it's worth looking at the tutorial if you were using this pattern.

Once you have sewn the seam around the neckline, clip the curves. You can overstitch the seam, as I do, or understitch if you prefer, to hold the seam allowance down.

At this point, I opened up one fold on the hems on the sleeve ruffles, and sewed the side seams of each dress (right sides together of course) from the very end of that first hem fold on the sleeve, down to the bottom of the armhole, and down the side seam to the end of the skirt. I didn't photograph this step. You can then fold the sleeve ruffle hem back up and hem all the way round to finish the sleeves. That way, your raw edges are nicely tucked inside.

I also made the side seams in the linings. And while everything was still loose, I hemmed the lining, by turning up 1/4" and 1/4" and machine sewing. I find the easiest way with narrow hems like these is first to press the full half inch, like this:

And then roll under the 1/4", pressing as I go.

The next task was to attach the linings to the armholes. I find the easiest way is to first clip the curves. You need to just make short little cuts on the lining that don't go beyond the seam line. But it helps with the turning under as it increases the 'give'.. I also try to press with an iron to make sure I have about the same amount being turned in all the way round. Then I pin and hand sew, being sure to push the seam under towards the body (so it is enclosed).

In the case of the Carolina dress, I also pinned the lining round the zip and hand-stitched it to the zip.

Very nearly there! I finished the sleeves of the Carolina dress with fake ruffles. I hemmed the very bottom (1/4" and 1/4") of each sleeve. Then I sewed 14cm of clear stretchy elastic inside the cuffs, about 1"-1 1/4" from the edge. I used a zigzag stitch on the machine, and stretched the elastic as I sewed it to the sleeves, overlapping slightly at the end, so that they would gather up a little.

Finally, just the bottom ruffles to add. (You could add these at an earlier stage, but I couldn't see much advantage in doing so, and it's just more material to heave around on the sewing machine.) The original Carolina dress doesn't have a ruffle, but I thought it would better match Jane's dress (and look cute) so I made a ruffle about half the depth of Jane's (having reduced the length of the Carolina basic dress accordingly).

I made the hems on these first.Then I used the iron to press little creases at the top edge of the ruffle and the bottom edge of the skirt, to mark each into quarters. (Easier than putting pins in.)

Next, I ran a gathering thread round the tops of each ruffle. You are supposed to run two gathering threads all the way round, in case one breaks, and to even out the gathers. I'm very lazy, I've never, ever done that, and I've never, ever had a thread break on me. However, what I do do, is to split my gathering thread in two, just slightly overlapping. This means I can pull up at both ends, which I find much easier with all but the smallest bit of gathering. (Exaggerated in the diagram.)

Then I pinned the ruffle and the dress right sides together, matching my little creases at the quarters, and pulled up the threads till it fitted, pinning it at intervals. After sewing the seam, I oversewed it with a zig zag stitch to finish it.

The finished Carolina Dress: