GBSB Baby Girls Dress

I have to share show off my latest achievement. I am so in love with it, I can hardly believe I actually made it! I think it’s so adorable. My little model is just a little happy with it too!

I couldn’t resist the darling elephant print fabric when I spotted it in my local fabric shop. It was crying out to be made into something for my toddler.
So when I spotted the cute ‘Baby Dress and Knickers’ pattern in the Great British Sewing Bee ‘Sew Your Own Wardrobe’ book, I knew it was going to have to be a that!

The pattern is quite basic. It just needs one front piece with a little pleat in the middle, two back pieces, and four collar pieces. I love the little collar. I followed the instructions at the beginning but after binding the armholes I used the idea of my friend Becky (over at Handmade Blossom Tree) to bind the edges of the collar instead of following their instructions. This makes them stand out more, since I wanted it all in the same fabric.

There came my first little mistake. My stitching was even along the bias tape on the right side up, but it didn’t run along in the right place all the way underneath. This would have been ok but the thing is I put both collars through the same way, so one needed flipping over. Hence one has a neat stitch line and one has a scruffy one. Oh well, you can’t really see… Handmade with love!!

After that debacle I stitched the collar in place and took my time stitching binding around all the edges besides the hem (mainly because I didn’t have enough… This was left over from when I made my baby towel). I learned from my mistake and made sure I topstitched on the right side!

 

Then all that was left to do was add six buttons and buttonholes… I used the machine for the buttons which was fun, and the buttonholes went in OK, once I unpicked the one I did before remembering to pull the buttonhole lever down…

Job done! I hope to make more of these.

As you can see in the image of the book, the pattern actually came with some little knickers too. I’m having problems with these though… I can’t figure out how I’m supposed to make the casing around the leg holes. The knickers are one piece, which makes it difficult to fold the fabric up around the leg holes as it’s all curved. I can fold once a few mm’s but not twice to make a casing. If you have any tips please get in touch! I’d really like to have the knickers to match!

Beth x