Sew an Easy Valentine Dress with Ruffle Fabric

Valentine's Day is around the corner, and my girls (and hubby!) and I are really excited to celebrate it this year. I love my little family, and any chance I can get to show them how much I love them is worth spending some time on!

I recently ordered another big pile of fabric from my favourite online place to get it from (fabric.com), and when it arrived via the UPS man (or the "GPS man", as Little C calls him) I instantly ripped it open and ogled over all of the lovely textiles. This pre-ruffled red fabric was among my treasure. I asked Little C which fabric she wanted a Valentine's Day dress made out of, and without hesitation she pointed to the red ruffly one. Success!

I made this DIY dress in under a couple of hours. The pre-ruffled fabric made it really easy to get a boutique look with little time involved! The heart applique is optional, so you could save even more time there. The stretchy, ruffly fabric is comfy for a baby or young child to wear (it's so soft!) and it looks so adorable!

Materials:

• 1 yard ruffle knit fabric (I used Stretch Ruffle Knit Red)
• ¼ yard contrasting knit fabric for heart applique if desired
• ¼" elastic

Directions:

Find a pattern for a slim-fitted peasant dress that is your child's size (I drafted my own, but you could use this free one) and cut out two main dress pieces and two sleeves. Try to arrange the pattern on your ruffle fabric so that there is a full ruffle on the bottom of each piece (the hem of the dress and the bottom of the sleeve) - be careful not to cut that ruffle off!

Sew down the side seams of the dress, and the underarm seam of the sleeves (I used a serger, but you could also use a regular machine - this fabric doesn't fray). Sew the sleeves to the dress.

Serge the raw edges of the neckline and sleeves (optional), and then turn each under about ½" and sew to leave a ¼" casing. Leave an opening. Thread elastic through the casing (measure your child's upper arm and where you want the neckline to fall to get the size of elastic you need) and then sew the holes shut.

If you want, you can add a heart applique to the chest of the dress by cutting out a heart shape from a contrasting fabric, pinning it like crazy to the dress, and zig-zagging it in place.

And, there you are! A simple little Valentine's Day dress that looks much more complicated than it actually is to make. My little ruffle-lover has worn hers for two days straight.

Have you ever sewn with ruffle fabric? What are your tips?

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