"In the Garden" Shirred Twirly Dress

Many times I want to sew something but am too lazy to trace and cut a pattern. This dress is the result of one of those times and I love how it came out.  It is full and twirly and easy to sew. This dress is essentially made out of rectangles of fabric. Perfect for summer and can be made in any size! I'm also going to give you instructions for three different strap options. Keep reading and I will give you the scoop! Wondering where the shirring is....

Cute, right?
Let's get started!

Measurements and Pieces:
Front BodiceFirst you need to know you will be cutting pieces for the front of your bodice and the back of your bodice. The first thing you need to decide is how wide you would like your bodice to be. My daughter is 4 1/2 and the bodice on this dress I wanted to be 4 inches tall. This may be perfect for you or you may want to make it smaller for a toddler or slightly taller for an older child. Whatever you decide add 0.5 inches to this measurement for seam allowances. Now lets determine the length of your front bodice. Measure your child all the way around their chest. My daughter's measurement is 23 inches. Now measure around the chest from armpit to armpit (including the sides of their body) just leaving off their back. For my daughter this measurement is 13 inches. This will be the lenght of the front bodice but we need to add 1 inch for seam allowances.

So, I will cut 2 (the front bodice is lined) pieces 4.5 inches X 14 inches

Back Bodice
For the back section of the bodice we will be cutting one piece. Remember your chest measurement (mine was 23 inches) and remember the front/sides of chest measurement (mine was 13 inches)? take the difference (for me this is 10 inches) and multiply this by 1.75. If your machine does not do tight shirring multiply by 1.5. So for me this is 10X1.75= 17.5 inches. This will be the length of the piece we need to cut. For the height it will be your front bodice height + another .25 inches.

I will cut 1 piece 4.75 inches X 17.5 inches

Skirt Pieces
Measure your child from the top of their chest (where you want the top of the bodice to sit) down to where you want the bottom of the skirt to fall. For me, this measurement was 21 inches. Now subtract what will be the finished height of your bodice (remember for me this is 4 inches). So my skirt portion will then be 17 inches. I want my skirt to have a hem band in a contrasting fabric though. I have decided I want this 3 inches. So, 17-3= 14 inches + 0.5 inches for seam allowances.

For my main skirt I will cut 2 pieces 14.5 inches X the full width of the fabric (I want a very full skirt)

For the contrasting band I am going to cut 2 pieces 6.5 inches X the full width of the fabric (we will be folding this in falf to create a 3 inch hem band that we will not need to hem).

Now all we have left to cut are the straps. I am going to show you three different options.
1. Tie back Option

With this option your straps will go through a buttonhole that you make on the back and tie in a bow as I have done. This option is good because the dress can grow with your child and you don't need to take strap measurements from your child.

Strap thickness is personal preference. I wanted my straps 1 inch wide. Whatever you choose, double this measurement and add 0.5 inches for seam allowances.  
I cut one long strip 2.5 inches X fabric width. I then cut the long strip in half to create two strap pieces that measured approx 2.5 inches X 21 inches.

2. Thicker Non Adjustable Strap Option

Let's pretend you only see my nice photoshopped in red straps!

You will need to measure your child from where you want the top of the bodice to fall on their chest, up over their shoulder, stopping on their back at the same spot you started the measurement. Add 0.5 inches for seam allowance. Whatever you would like your thickness to be multiply by two and add 0.5 inches. You will need to cut two straps!

3. Tie Shoulder Option

This is a nice adjustable option as well and no need to measure your child. You will need to cut 4 straps and you will want them fairly long. I would cut them at least 12 inches long. They will also be easier to tie if they are on the thinner side. For width I would go no wider than 0.75 inches. Whatever you choose for width double this measurement. No need to add seam allowance.

Time to start sewing!

Take your two main skirt pieces and sew them right sides together down the shirt ends. Don't forget to zig zag your seam. You will have one big long tube. Set aside.

Do the same thing with your hem band pieces.

Take your hem band "tube" that you have just sewn and fold it half lengthwise wrong sides together. Press.

I seem to have lost a picture! I think you will understand what I am saying here as this is fairly simple. Grab your main skirt piece and make sure it is right side out. Put your main skirt "tube" inside your hem band "tube". match the side seams and make sure raw edges are together. Sew hem band to skirt piece and zig zag seam. Press seam up towards your skirt and topstitch about 1/8 inch in. The photo is showing topstitching.

Let's work on our straps.
Option 1: Sew each strap in half right sides together lengthwise and sew down long edge and along one short edge. Clip corners on short sewn edge and turn right side out through open end.

Option 2: Sew each strap in half right sides together lengthwise leaving both ends open. Turn right side out and press.

Option 3: Press each strap in half lengthwise. Open up and press each edge inwards to the pressed line. Fold in half along pressed line enclosing raw edges. One one end of each strap press edges in about 1/4 inch

All options: Topstitch edges of straps. For options 1 & 3 you will also be topstitching one short edge.

All options: Take your two front bodice pieces. Mark a center point along the top of one long edge and then mark points 2 inches either side of it (I have made various dresses using this strap placement in little girls sizes from 3-7 and this has always been perfect for me). Put your front bodice pieces right sides together and sandwich your strap pieces between with raw edges of straps aligning with raw edge of bodice. Pin straps at marks. If you are making option 3 for straps- you will have two additional straps set aside. Sew along pinned edge.

Open up your front bodice piece and press side edges in about 1/2 inch.

Give your bodice front a nice press.

Grab your back bodice piece and press one long edge in by 1/4 inch and then in again 1/4 inch enclosing raw edge.

Sew the edge of your bodice back that you have just pressed.

Sandwich your bodice back between the lining of your bodice front. Your front and back pieces should now be the exact same height. Sandwich between by about 1/2 inch.

Sew the back and front bodice together- stitching on the side of the front bodice. One line of stitching about 1/8 inch in and then 1/4 inch in. Now do the last two steps with the other side of the bodice.

Take your bodice and make quarter marks along the raw edge. You want to do this on the front bodice section and the back bodice section. So, do it first with your front section ignoring the back and then do the back section. You don't want the marks the same distance all the way around. You want the marks on your front piece the same distance apart and the marks on your back piece the same distance apart. Do you get me?

Grab your skirt piece and make quarter marks on each panel. You should have 8 marks all the way around if you include your side seams. Now, also make two rows of gathering stitches. If you need additional help with gathering check out my Ruffle Jeans Tutorial.

Put your bodice piece inside your skirt piece right sides together and raw edges aligned. Match side seams and then adjust your gathers pinning all the way around matching quarter marks. take out gathering stitches. Sew along raw edge, and finish with a zig zag.

Press seam up towards bodice and topstitch abou 1/8 inch in.

Now for the shirring! This seems to be such an individual thing and varies from machine to machine. I will tell you how my machine shirrs best. Practice on a scrap before you sew onto your dress if this is the first time you have done it! You can google shirring and a million tutes will come up if my machine settings don't work for you. Shirring is definitely trial and error but once you figure it out for your machine you will want to shir everything!
hand wind the elastic thread onto your bobbin with a slight amount of stretch. Don't wind tight or loose, somwhere in between. I have to set my top tension to about 2.5. Sometimes I leave it normal and it works just fine.
There is no right or wrong to where you shir on the back of your bodice. I started my first line about 1/4 inch from the top. When you shir you sew on the right side of your fabric. Sew the full length of your bodice back. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and ending of your stitching to secure your elastic thread.

Now, if you have chosen option 1 for your straps as I did you will need to add a buttonhold to the middle of your bodice back. I did this after I had shirred a couple of rows. For the record I have decided to do one line of shirring 1/8 inch apart and then 1/4 inch apart. Lots of times I just use the edge of my pressure foot as a guide and do 1/2 inch apart. Whatever strikes your fancy!
For my buttonhole, I did one approx 3/4 inch and placed it directly in the middle of my bodice.

Hard to see my buttonhold now but I continued with my shirring until I got to the bottom of my bodice. When my buttonhole would get in the way I would end my line, jump over it and resume my line.

After you are done your shirring it may not look tight. Take it to your ironing board and steam iron over top and it will shrink up to what it looks like here.

If you have chosen option 2 and 3 for straps now is the time to try your dress on the child and measure strap placement for the other side of your straps (option 2) or where to add your last two straps (option 3). Pin and sew them in place. Don't worry about your sewing lines as the shirring will help to hide that.

Adorable for summer and the perfect amount of twirl for your princess.

My poor sweetpea here has a squinty look. We had a Webkinz accident. My two girls were throwing one from bed to bed (as they were supposed to be sleeping) and the plastic code thing hit my girly straight in the eye. She got a little scratch on the white part of her eye. :( I guess they should listen to me and go to sleep! Maybe that should be the subject of another post!

If you make this dress, you know I would love to see it! If you upload it to our Flickr Group it will also show up on the Flickr stream to the right of this blog post!

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. If you like this dress, show me some love, this tutorial took me forever!! :) The dress was fast and easy but uploading all of these photos was painful!