Speaking of blue dresses, I just made my daughter a new dress. She is currently fascinated by dinosaurs (what almost 4-year-old isn’t?). I found a gorgeous dino dress from Boden (dinos for girls!), but was feeling that I could make something for less than the $35 price tag.

I also liked the idea of another Boden dress with a knit top and woven bottom My daughter has one of these and it’s very twirly. Twirly is all the rage with the 3-year old set.

So I set off with an idea and a plan. I decided to make a tiered bottom, like several Hanna Andersson dresses we have. I took one yard and cut it into six 6-inch WOF strips (fabric was 44″ wide). I cut 2 strips to 42″ wide, then cut two to 22″ and two to 13″. I gathered the tops of each of the lower tiers to match the tier above and sewed them together. These were the skirt front and back.

I then used a modified Kwik Sew pattern for a knit girl’s top (adjusted back length to match the front, adjusted the length for both, and omitted the button in the back).

I gathered the top of top tier of the dress, and serged it to the knit top, inserting clear elastic, then used my serger to sew up the sides of the entire dress. I then hemmed the bottom hem.

When I tried it on my daughter, it was cute, but way too big in the arms and neck. So I made a false button placket in the center and sewed on 3 dinosaur buttons I had purchased not knowing what I’d use them for. I then re-serged down both sides of the entire garment to make it smaller. Worked like a charm and the dress now fits her well. (I’ll post a picture of the finished version later.)

M has reported it is very twirly and one of her favorite dresses. She has worn it 3 times in five days. Silly kid wouldn’t let me take her picture, though. I had to sneak up on her for this one.

Dino dress plus all her necklaces

Save