Turquoise Hearts

Two years and two months! That is how long it took me to get around to making this dress and skirt out of knit jersey from Girl Charlee.

The width was really generous, about 150cm, so I easily got both out of just a 1 yard length. The dress, for the 6 year old, actually fits the 8 year old better, but it was a gift, so it's owner must wear it first.

For the dress, I tried Simplicity 1584 again, attempting to make a drop waist dress that pulls over the head. I cut a size 5 and lengthened the shoulder seams to make a sleeve cap. I didn't realise how much I would have to lower the underarm so she could get her arm in. I had to unpick loads of the side seam to make it happen. I added a ribbon to stabilise the shoulder seam and made a neck band on the straight grain. I was planning on making a sleeve band, but I just hemmed it with a twin needle in the end.

The fabric was better at not skipping stitches this time. The spots and hearts are painted on, so that adds significant stability and thickness to the knit. I used my walking foot and I had no problems with skipped stitches. I didn't use a stretch stitch at the neckline, so I had to add a single button and loop closure at the top of the centre back seam. The skirt is cut from a continuous length of fabric and hemmed with two rows of stitching. My twin needle was not co-operating.

The skirt was made from the remnants of the dress. I had a decent size piece left over, at the side of my yard. Once I cut it into two 1/2 yard pieces, they were slightly different widths, so the two side seams are not actually on each side, more like 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock. The 1/2 yard length was getting a little short, so I used some 20mm wide turquoise elastic as the waistband. I actually think the skirt has come out nicer than the dress, but that probably has a lot to do with the fit.

Costs (both)
Fabric: £5.13
Button: stash
Thread: £2.12
Elastic: £2.00
Pattern: used previously
Total: £4.63 each