Summer Frock

This is a summer frock I made for my daughter two weeks before.

It has yoke and gathers at the top (both at the front and the back), frills at the bottom, and spaghetti straps which can be knotted at the shoulders or can be tied back.

You can find lots of free PDF printable sewing patterns on this page on my blog.

You can also click the Free Sewing Patterns Page at the top of this blog page (under the blog title) to find more free sewing patterns.

Click the below links to browse through all the pattern drafting and sewing tutorials on my blog.

pattern drafting tutorials 

sewing tutorials 

Another Baby Dress

This is another baby dress I made some months ago. This is something like a spaghetti top which could be knotted at the shoulders.

I have attached fabric bells at the end of the straps.

You can find lots of free PDF printable sewing patterns on this page on my blog.

You can also click the Free Sewing Patterns Page at the top of this blog page (under the blog title) to find more free sewing patterns.

Click the below links to browse through all the pattern drafting and sewing tutorials on my blog.

pattern drafting tutorials 

sewing tutorials 

Baby Dress Tutorial---Part 3

Step 6: Join the side seams.

The dress is almost ready now.

Step 7: Join as many strips of bias strips as needed to make a long strip that is long enough to cover the entire center front seam line and the front and back bottom hem line. Attach this strip to the center front and the hem line of the dress. Now we will learn the second method of piping a dress. Let us start from the top left of the center front and join the cross-grain strip to the left part of the center front with the fabrics' right sides facing together, and continue the same at the bottom hem line, as shown in the photo below.

 

Continue this step for the back side and again for the front bottom hem line (right side as you did for the left side) until you reach the top right of the center front. You will have something like this.

Step 8: Now make two folds inward (that is, toward the wrong side), pin it, and then hem as shown in the image below.

Now we are done with the piping except for the neck.

Step 9: We will use the first method of piping to pipe the neck.

Step 10: Make four fabric tubes out of straight grain strips and attach them as shown in here. You can sew buttons and buttonholes instead of this, if you like.

Step 11: This step is optional. I did some embroidery to beautify the dress. However, this is not required if you want to retain the plain look.

Here is the tie-front finished dress.

Please post your valuable comments. I am eager to read and answer them.

Note: I made this dress by hand. I did not use my sewing machine. I don't know why, but sometimes I like (love) to sew by hand.

You can find lots of free PDF printable sewing patterns on this page on my blog.

You can also click the Free Sewing Patterns Page at the top of this blog page (under the blog title) to find more free sewing patterns.

Click the below links to browse through all the pattern drafting and sewing tutorials on my blog.

pattern drafting tutorials 

sewing tutorials 

Baby Dress Tutorial---Part 2

Dear friends,

I am extremely sorry for leaving the baby-dress tutorial incomplete. We will see Step 4 and 5 today.

Step 4:

Now we need to cut some cross-grain strips of contrasting fabric (I have used a pink color fabric) for piping the sleeves, neck, and the center front and bottom hemlines. To cut these strips, draw slanting lines of equal width (1 1/2 inches) as shown in the image below.

Then cut out the strips. The strips will look like these.

Step 5:

We will use two types of piping to finish the raw edges of this dress. For the sleeves we will use the following method. Take a bias strip. Fold it in half and attach it to the right side of the sleeve hemline.

Fold the attached strip inward on the wrong side of the sleeve and hem such that the piping is visible outside, as shown in the image below.

Here is the dress with both the sleeves done.

We will see the next method of piping in the next post.

You can find lots of free PDF printable sewing patterns on this page on my blog.

You can also click the Free Sewing Patterns Page at the top of this blog page (under the blog title) to find more free sewing patterns.

Click the below links to browse through all the pattern drafting and sewing tutorials on my blog.

pattern drafting tutorials 

sewing tutorials 

How to Sew a Baby Dress---Tutorial---Part 1

Today I will show you how to sew the baby dress using the pattern draft I provided in my last post.

Step 1: Draw the pattern on the fabric and cut out. Cut open the center front.

Step 2: We will make a curvy hemline on the center front. Mark A, C, D, and F as shown in the image below where AB=BC=DE=EF=1½ inches. Draw curves connecting A-C and D-F as shown.

Close-up photo:

Step 3: Carefully cut on the curves on both sides of the hemline and remove the excess.

Now it will look like this:

Step 4: To be continued tomorrow.

You can find lots of free PDF printable sewing patterns on this page on my blog.

You can also click the Free Sewing Patterns Page at the top of this blog page (under the blog title) to find more free sewing patterns.

Click the below links to browse through all the pattern drafting and sewing tutorials on my blog.

pattern drafting tutorials 

sewing tutorials 

Baby Dress Pattern Draft

Here is the pattern draft for the baby dress which I promised to post. Sorry for the delay in posting this:

Instructions for drafting:

Both the front and back are same in this dress except that the center front is cut open. I have also listed the measurements I used for my 3-month-old baby.

A-B = full length + 1 inch = 11.5 inches

A-F = 1½ inches

A-K = 1½ inches

I-G = 1 inch

A-G = B-D = (bust/4) + 1 inch = 5 inches

E-D = ¼ inch

B-E = (bust/4) + ¾ inch = 4¾ inches

I-J = (bust/4) + 1 inch = 5 inches

A-C = G-H = (bust/4) - ½ inch = 3½ inches

C-H = (bust/4) + 1 inch = 5 inches

Shape K-F and J-H.

Click the links below to see the step-by-step tutorial on how to sew this baby dress:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3


Please feel free to leave your comments and queries about this baby-dress pattern. Please link back to my blog, if you use this pattern.

You can find lots of free PDF printable sewing patterns on this page on my blog.

You can also click the Free Sewing Patterns Page at the top of this blog page (under the blog title) to find more free sewing patterns.

Click the below links to browse through all the pattern drafting and sewing tutorials on my blog.

pattern drafting tutorials 

sewing tutorials  

Baby Dress

I made this baby dress for my daughter two months before she was born. The tiny bunch of flowers on the right-side was also done by me. I have posted the close-up image of this embroidery in Flora's Colors.

This dress is for babies aged from 0 to 10 months. It can be worn in summer.

A step-by-step sewing tutorial for this dress can be found at the following links on my blog:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

You can find lots of free PDF printable sewing patterns on this page on my blog.

You can also click the Free Sewing Patterns Page at the top of this blog page (under the blog title) to find more free sewing patterns.

Click the below links to browse through all the pattern drafting and sewing tutorials on my blog.

pattern drafting tutorials 

sewing tutorials 

Happy Sewing!

Welcome To My Sewing Blog

Hi everyone,

I am happy to meet you all through my new sewing blog "Frills and Flares." I am a mother of an 1- year-old girl baby. I like sewing dresses for her. In this blog, I will showcase my sewing creations and share what I learn through my sewing experiences. I have another blog, "Flora's Colors," which is about embroidery and drawing.

I love flowers. I like embroidering flower patterns as well as making fabric flowers. When I grew up, I learned the basics of sewing from my mom, who has almost 30 years of experience in sewing. I still often get her help in learning some tricks and techniques. Also, I developed (and still developing) my sewing skills by getting help from books and from my own experience. I have been doing embroidery from my childhood, but rarely do I sew. Recently, especially after my daughter was born, sewing has become an obsession for me, and I am learning new techniques and experimenting with different patterns and creating my own patterns.

I made this dress for my little girl two days ago. This is an A-line dress with two yo-yos attached on the front bodice.


This is the front side of the dress:

Back side of the dress:

Yo-Yos on the front bodice.

Hope you will enjoy learning from my blog.