The Abby Dress

I started making this dress when I was still pregnant with Audrey and as soon as I was done I took one look at it and knew it was way too wide for a newborn. I also suspected by the time she grew into it length-wise, it was going to be way too short. So I put it in her closet with the hem unfinished just waiting for her to get here so I could figure out how to fix it.

I followed this tutorial from Shwin & Shwin. The sizing was supposed to be from newborn to one year but all babies are different and it just didn’t work for my long and lean girl.

The dress fit through the shoulders by the time Audrey was 7 months old. But it was so short her diaper was showing so I needed to add more length. I decided to add a 3″ ruffle to the bottom to fix this problem.

This is lovely fabric isn’t it? Believe it or not the dress is made from 2 pillow cases I picked up at the thrift store! For the ruffle all I did was cut the hemmed side off the pillowcases which measured approximately twice as wide as the dress and about 3 1/2 inches tall and gathered the edge using a gathering foot. If you don’t have a gathering foot, you have to get one! It automatically bunches the fabric up as you sew and you can easily control how tight the gather is by adjusting the tension.

Then I sewed the ruffle to the bottom of the dress with piping in between the dress and ruffle using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, and finished it off by serging all three pieces together. If you don’t have a serger I would recommend zig zagging the edges of your dress and ruffle prior to sewing them together to prevent fraying.

It was the perfect solution and fits Audrey beautifully now.

Would you look at that toothy grin? Cuteness!!!

These pictures were actually taken in late Dec. when Audrey was 7 months old…when she used to SIT STILL for pictures. We took her 11 month photos this weekend and she wouldn’t sit still for a second!

I love the pale blue piping detail on this dress, which brings out the light blue design on the fabric.

My favorite part is the back closure that I accented with a pretty pearl button. It closes with an elastic loop around the button – super easy!

I also made a matching diaper cover using the Perfect Diaper Cover pattern from Made Everyday. I have used this pattern over and over again to make matching diaper covers for almost every dress I’ve made for the girls including Audrey’s Going Home Dress, The Flamingo Dress and the Big Sister – Little Sister Dresses.