So Adorable & very Clever!

Isn't this little girl just adorable?  And she has a mom who's been very clever and creative in sewing this 'dress'.  Actually, mom, who's name is Samara, took a ready made man's shirt, her daughter's SFD Children's Kit pattern, cut the shirt all up, and sewed it back together.  I'm including her instructions so you'll get the total picture of what she did.

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'To make the bodice, I took a man's shirt with all the buttons buttoned up.  I flattened and straightened it as much as possible.  Then I took my daughter's front bodice pattern (from the Children's Kit), laid it over top, and line the center front up with the middle of the buttons.  I matched the pattern's shoulder seam (not seam allowance) with the shoulder of the shirt.  Then, with a pencil, I traced around the armhole, side and bottom of the pattern.  I did that on right and left sides, then flipped the shirt over and did the same with the back bodice pattern.

Then I cut on the drawn lines...of course, the collar and shoulders of the shirt were still intact.

Next, I cut the sleeves from the original shirt and laid my daughter's sleeve pattern over top.  Because I wanted a few more gathers in the sleeve, I first slashed and spread it open to make it a bit fuller.  I matched my desired hem level with the pre-hemmed shirt sleeve - meaning I didn't need to do any hemming at all.

Next, I set the sleeve in and then sewed the entire side and sleeve length...similar to how one would do a raglan sleeve.  I do this with smaller clothing because it's a little easier to sew in the sleeve when the side seams are still open.

For the contrasting tie/belt, I stitched two large buttonholes an inch apart in 4 separate places on the bodice (8 buttonholes in total).

For the skirt, I left the shirt hem intact, measured how long I wanted the skirt, cut straight across the man's shirt and then gathered and sewed it to the bodice.

The collar, sleeve and skirt hems and CF buttons were already done.  I loved that!  The entire dress probably took about 1 hour from start to finish.  All the sewing I needed to do was to set in the sleeve, sew the sides and add the skirt.  And of course, with her SFD pattern laid over top, I knew it was all going to fit.

Oh...and the tie...I also made bloomers from the tie fabric just because I couldn't resist.'

Samara...cute, cute, cute...and so clever and creative!

Not too many ladies share their children's sewing projects with me. Thanks so much and also for giving permission to share your experience with all my readers.
Kindly,
Glenda