Monday, May 10, 2010

Tutorial: Easy Bubble Dress

Just in case you didn't get enough of this cute little model from my last post, I decided to post one more photo and a tutorial on how to make this dress. This is a super easy thing to sew... basically a tube with straps. To get started, you'll need to have a few measurements of the baby for whom you are sewing: Chest circumference, just under arms, and the length from armpit to knee.

Materials:

3/4" elastic to equal chest circumference + one inch

1/4" elastic to equal chest circumference + 4 inches.

Fabric for straps: Two 4" x 22" strips

Fabric for body:
1.5 x (Chest circumference) = width
armpit to knee measurement + 4" = dress length.
My baby's chest measurement was 20 inches and the knee length was 15 inches, so I cut a rectangle 30 inches by 19 inches.
(With a 45" width fabric, you should be able to get the width with some to spare, so when buying your fabric, purchase by your length+4 measurement above.)

I took a lot of photos to go along with the instructions, so I'm going to try posting the tutorial on Flickr. Follow this link for step by step instructions with photos.
This link will take you the first step, then click on the next photo at the right to get through the rest of the tutorial. Please leave your comments and questions if there is anything you think could be made more clear. Thanks and enjoy!

14 comments:

Anne said...

What a cute dress on an absolutely adorable little model!!

I linked to your tutorial on Craft Gossip Sewing:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-bubble-dress-for-toddler-girls/2010/05/12/

--Anne

Jen said...

Oh my goodness! This is way too cute! I'm definitely going to have to make this! Thanks for sharing.

memakingdo said...

That dress is so stinkin cute and your niece is so adorable! Thanks for your comments!

Anonymous said...

what a gorgeous model! ,) and a gorgeous dress too

Heather - Dollarstorecrafts.com said...

Oh my gosh, cutest baby girl ever.

Laura at Ms. Smartie Pants said...

That dress is adorable and I love the fabric, but that baby makes the pic!!!!

Jena Webber said...

Darling!! Wish I had a baby to bubble!

kara schmidt said...

so so cute!

ScrapinFunatic said...

I would love to make this dress but there is only one step to your tutorial posted, it does not included anything else.

Denise
mommiesmemorie@yahoo.com

Christie // lemon squeezy home said...

I think this is adorable! So I'm doing a sewing challenge on my blog and this inspired me to make something (it will be posted in a couple weeks) for the 1910-1919 decade. Stay tuned! I bet you can guess what this dress made me think of when I saw it on Craft Gossip:).

Andrea said...

Love it! The model is precious too!

Christie // lemon squeezy home said...

Hey there, I made your dress and just wanted to share it with you (alemonsqueezyhome.blogspot.com).

Just a heads up that you are missing one step for the french seam:). But it was easy to figure out. I also had to cut my bottom elastic quite a bit shorter (3 inches) to achieve the same look as yours, but maybe that is just because of the elastic I used ???

Regardless, I love it and will most likely be making another one! Thanks for the great tutorial!

~Christie

Citra said...

Hi
I forgot to tell you that your dress was featured on my blog : http://childhood-obsessions.blogspot.com/2010/05/friday-morning-blog-walking.html

Thank you for sharing the tutorial :)

Jen said...

I made a few of these recently. I've gotten so many compliments on it! Again, thanks for sharing the tute.
http://www.thesellers.net/2010/08/bubble-dress/