Dresses 3, 4 and 5 - Cherry Red

In my previous post, I called my dresses "Pink Elephants on Parade".   Naming dresses is kind of a tradition among my historical costuming friends.   We name our Victorian gowns after colors, animals, food, etc.  The minute I saw the cute line of elephants, I immediately thought of the song from Disney's Dumbo   song video here 

These dresses I call "Cherry Red" from a 1966 song I like.  I have some left over cherry fabric from a blouse I made.  Paired with a cute red with tiny white dots fabric, I made coordinating dresses, big sister/two little sisters.




Dresses Three and Four 

I really wanted to make these about size 7 or 8, but didn't have enough to make them longer, unless I made only one dress.  They are about a size 5/6 according to the DAG chart.   The bias tape length is 36 inches.  I bought two packs of red bias tape, 3 yards to a pack.  This will get you three dresses worth of ties.  Its a good idea to always buy two packs of each color so you are not left with an odd yard of bias tape left over.

The cherry fabric used is the full width, 44 inches.  I added the red to the bottom to make it longer, and it hits about 25 inches long.  I cut the front and back elastic to 7 inches. 

***Divide and reduce pleating method.  Sometimes its difficult to tell how much fabric you need to pleat and attach.  This is the method I use.  First, lay your main fabric out flat and measure.  Then, depending on how full you want your pleats, cut the length of the pleat fabric anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 times the length of your main fabric piece.  (In my case, I was using left over fabric, so did not have a choice how long to cut the pleat fabric, and worked with what I had.)

Hem the pleat fabric.   Now, pin the hemmed pleat fabric to each end of the main fabric.  Your pleat fabric will be a lot longer, and hang loose in the middle.   Find the center of the main fabric and put a pin there.  Do the same with the pleat fabric. Pin them together.  Now, start dividing.  From the center pin on either side, find the middle between the center and edge and pin again.  Keep doing this until you have several equally spaced loops that look like this:

Now, figure out how many pleats you can fit in one section, and all the rest should be the same.   I use French seams, and the pleats went right into it with no problem.





To the right is step 1 of the French seam - sew wrong sides together about 1/4 inch.  Press closed, right sides together, encasing raw edges.  Sew second seam 3/8-1/2 inch to secure raw edges inside. Open and press flat.



Pockets.   This time I tried sewing the pockets on before closing up the back.  On the smaller dresses its hard to sew the pocket on because you have to bunch up the back when its already sewn together.  For this size 5/6, I measured eight inches up from the bottom.  Then I found the center line and spaced the pockets equally apart from the center, then sewed them on the flat dress.   MUCH easier!

The pockets are different on each dress so they wouldn't be exactly the same.  Now, a confession....I am going to start putting the DAG tag over the ugliest corner of the pocket! 😜

 

Helpful Hint:   Use upholstery thread to attach buttons. They will never come off!

Dress Five

Using the yard I had left of the red with tiny white dots,  I made a larger dress.  I added the last of my cherry print around the bottom, and for the pockets.   I tried to break up the red with wide eyelet lace on the pockets. 

I went to Michael's and got some mixed craft buttons to attach as decoration, and also ordered some on Amazon. I topped off the larger dress with heart buttons on the pocket corners and a big red button in the middle.

This is a size 9 on the DAG chart.  Its about 33 inches long, and I used 36 inch ties and 8 inches front and back elastic.

Here they are!