The Ladybug Summer Dress

With a fabulous juvenile fabric collection at Jo Ann's I just can't refrain from making girls' dresses. This one I made for a 12-18 month old with a chest measurement of 18 and length 17 inches. I intended the chest to be 20 but the finished chest measures only 18, guess I went wrong with the seam allowances.

The straps are adjustable as there is buttons. The best part is one can wear this dress both sides, i.e there is no front or back of the dress. The white bias-tape work on the neckline and arm holes was the most taxing, otherwise the dress was simple to make.

When I sewed on the bottom part of the dress I forgot to add the bias tape so worked in the ric-rac on it and it kinda looked great so went on and indulged in the hemline as well. The box pleats also were kind of accidental. I cut the bottom more than the top part and had to adjust the width so did the pleats....now I think that is what ate up 2 inches off my chest, better design ahead next time.

I am very satisfied with the way the dress turned out. I had actually cut out a different material for the bottom but at the last minute decided to stick to the same pattern. And am I happy I did that. It wouldn't look half as bautiful as it does now with the green seersucker I had chosen.