Children’s Lucy Dress

Place the Main Back pieces face down onto the Main Front (e.g. right sides together). Stitch ¼ inch from the edge on the side seams only.

It’s quite hard to see in this picture but the dress back pieces are on top of the dress front (just like in step 1.2 which you can see easier below).

NOTE – The side seams will be enclosed inside the finished garment, so you do not need to finish them (no need to serge or overlock).

Place the Back Lining pieces face down onto the Front Lining (e.g. right sides together). Stitch ¼ inch from the edge on the side seams only.

NOTE – The side seams will be enclosed inside the finished garment, so you do not need to finish them (no need to serge or overlock).

Fold the Ties both over lengthways with right sides together. Pin and stitch close to the edge (approximately ⅛ inch from the edge) along one end and down the side with the raw edges. Leave the other end open.

Carefully trim the corners off. This will reduce bulk when you turn the Ties right way out in the next step. Make sure not to clip too close to the stitching.

Turn the Ties right way out. Press and pin. Stitch close to the edge along both long edges and the short edge where you stitched (approx. ⅛ inch from the edge of the fabric).

TIP – To get the corners all the way the right way out, you can either tease the fabric out with your fingers or use something to push it out. I find a blunt chopstick is a great tool to do this with. It’s not sharp so it won’t accidentally poke a hole in the fabric, but the point is normally fine enough to get the corners square again.

If you wish to make the dress without the ruffle, skip to step 5. You do not need to hem the dress; the raw edges will be encased when you attach the lining.

Stitch all your Ruffle pieces together using a French seam, so they form one long Ruffle. To do this, place each of the pieces right sides out (wrong sides together) and stitch approx. ¼ inch from the edge.

NOTE – If you cut your Ruffle in one long piece you can skip steps 3.1 to 3.3.

SERGER OPTION – Instead of steps 3.1 to 3.3 you could serge (overlock) the seam. Make sure to place the fabric right sides together if you are going to do this. Then press the seam to one side.

Trim each of the seams which hold your Ruffle together.

Turn your Ruffle pieces each wrong sides out (right sides together), press, pin, and stitch again ¼ inch away from the folded edge.  Press again with the seam to one side.

ROLL HEM OPTION – Roll hem the bottom of the Ruffle. Skip to step 3.6.

SERGER OPTION – Serge or roll hem the bottom of the Ruffle. Skip to step 3.5.

Fold the hem of the Ruffle under approximately ¼ inch towards the wrong side of the fabric, and press.

Fold the hem of the Ruffle under again the same amount (¼ inch), press and stitch close to the edge (approx. ⅛ inch).

Set your sewing machine to a gather stitch. This will be the longest stitch length possible with no locking stitch at the beginning or end. Stitch close to the edge all the way along (approx. ⅛ inch from the edge), leaving long threads at either end for you to gather with later. Repeat approx. ½ inch from the edge so you have two rows of gathering stitches.

TIP – Stitch in the same direction for both rows of stitches. It doesn’t matter which direction so long as both lines of stitches go the same way. It’ll make gathering a lot easier.

TIP – Use a different color thread for the bobbin. The gathering stitches will be pulled out later and discarded so it doesn’t matter what color they are. It’s a great way to use up all those random thread colors you have left over from other projects on bobbins. Plus, if the bobbin thread is a different color from the needle thread, it makes finding the two matching threads to gather later much easier!

Fold your ruffle in half lengthways and mark the center point with a pin.

Make sure you also change your sewing machine back to a normal length stitch now so it’s ready for the following steps.

Fold your dress in half and place a pin at the center front hem.

Place the Ruffle face down onto the dress. Match the two center-front pins up and pin in place.

Keeping the Ruffle face down, pin the end of the ruffle to the dress. Place your pin approximately 1 inch below the back corner (see step 4.7 for a zoomed out view of the dress with the ruffle attached). 

Leave enough ruffle free to later twist the edge around so you can have a curved edge to the end of the Ruffle. Don’t twist & pin it just yet. Leave the end of the Ruffle hanging loose. You will twist it around after you have gathered your Ruffle. All you want to do right now is make sure there’s enough to twist it over to the raw edge of the dress later.

Find the top two threads on the piece of Ruffle. Very gently pull on both threads equally to gather the ruffle. If you used a different color bobbin thread to your top thread, you’ll know you have the top two threads because they’ll be a different color to the bottom two ones.

Continue to gather the Ruffle all the way across the dress until it sits flat on it. Spread the gathering out equally across the front until you are happy with it. Fold the edge of the Ruffle up in line with the edge of the dress. Pin in place. Make sure the leave both ends of the ruffle loose so you can twist them around later as described in step 4.3.

When you get to the corners of the dress, continue with the ruffle straight until the edge, put a diagonal pin through, none of it is caught up in the tangle of pins that can happen in the corner!

Twist the ends of the Ruffle around and pin in place as shown in the photo on step 4.3.

Stitch all the way around the Ruffle between the two rows of gathering stitches (approx. ¼ inch from the edge).

Remove the gathering stitches by gently pulling the ends of gathering thread so that they come all the way through the Ruffle. Find the thread from the underside of the ruffle and pull this out too. 

TIP – You may find the thread snaps if you pull it too hard or your fabric is quite thick. If this happens, just pull the other end and the rest of the thread should come out there.

Pin the end of each Tie down on top of the dress/optional Ruffle.

Fold the rest of the Tie up and pin in the middle of your garment somewhere.  This isn’t strictly necessary but it will keep it out of the way and stop it accidentally getting stitched in the next few steps. 

Stitch close to the edge to hold the tie on (approx. ⅛ inch from the edge)

Next we will stitch the lining and dress together around the neck and arm holes. Place the dress face down onto the lining (right sides together). Match the side seams up and pin these together first. Then pin along the rest of the hem, neck and arm holes.

Leave all the areas marked in pink in the photo open: 

• Leave the dress open above the Tie on one side to give yourself room enough to turn it through in step 6.6 later.
• Also leave the shoulder seams open.

Stitch around the dress ¼ inch from the edge, as in the picture. Do not stitch across the shoulder seams or over the gap you left above the tie on one side.

Trim all the way around the seam you just stitched to tidy the raw edges. You don’t need to go quite as close as the picture shows, just make it tidy. Be very careful to keep the dress and lining out of the way.

Clip the corners to reduce bulk when turning the dress right way out.

Next, we will turn the dress right side out. To make sure the seam sits flat, clip little snips into the seam allowance all the way along the edges you’ve just stitched every ½ to 1 ½ inches. Be careful not to clip through the stitching. If your seam allowance is ¼ inch, then you only want to clip about three quarters of the way in. Clip more often where the seam curves the most and less where it doesn’t.

ALTERNATIVE – If you aren’t a fan of clipping seams like this, another option is to trim the seam to about half the width it currently is using pinking shears. This has a similar effect and will allow the garment to sit nicely when you turn it through in the next step. Just be careful not to trim too closely!

Pull the dress right way out through the hole you left on the side above the tie. Press and pin around the edges. Press the seams under on the edge you left open and pin together, so it matches the other side.  

Stitch all the way around the back and hem close to the edge through all layers (approx. ⅛ inch). Be careful to keep the ruffle free.

Stitch around the neck and arm hole close to the edge (approx. ⅛ inch).  Leave the shoulder seams open still.

Match the shoulder seams up. We’re going to do a French seam here to hide the raw edges. Stitch from the right side of the fabric the seam together leaving a seam allowance of approximately ¼ inch.

Carefully trim the raw edges.

Turn inside out and press. Stitch again approximately ¼ inch from the edge to enclose the raw edges.

Turn right way out again and press the seam towards the back. Pin and stitch close to the edge, making sure to catch the seam allowance so it now permanently sits flat against the fabric.

Your Dress is finished!