(tutorial) Petal Dress (Finally!)

After many requests...

It is finally here.

The tutorial for the Petal Dress 

we made for Project Run & Play last fall.

So this tutorial is a little bare bones...I pulled up the pics I took as I made it, and there aren't tons.  I also improvised as I went along, and I remember being in a HUGE hurry to finish for the deadline.  So there may be better ways to do things than I did.  So here goes!

Materials:
-Fabric...(I used most of a queen sized sheet)  Maybe 4-5 yds depending on size???
(Sorry I didn't keep track!)
-Contrasting ribbon for sash
-zipper

Bodice
Use tutorial (and size 5 pattern, if you wish) for Winter Rose Dress bodice here.  With the Petal dress, I put the sleeves in before I sewed the side seams, and didn't need to gather the top of the sleeves.  A little puff would be cute too, depending on what you want.

Skirt
1. Cut/Tear a rectangle of fabric: Width: double your child's waist
Length: as long as you want it plus about 3."

2. Cut out the petal shapes.  They are uploaded here (Scribd) or here (GoogleDocs).  This is for the size 5 dress.  I made them a little bigger than I used above, because when I was making it, I wished they were a bit bigger.  I think these could be used for size 3-6.  If larger/smaller, I would add/remove 1/2" all the way around per size

Sash

Next we sewed two ribbon stripes all the way down the sash.  We used 5/8" ribbon. I also tacked down the sash onto the bodice to hold one side in place.  You could do belt loops too.

Skirt Construction
Using a 1/4" seam allowance,

*You have cut out 20 of each size, and after you sew pairs together, you will have 10 completed petals of each size.
**Don't forget to press the petals after you turn them right side out.

*Make sure the skirt and bodice are right sides together!

 **You could do your stitch lines and even stitch the petals on before you sew your skirt onto the bodice...it might be easier and more accurate.  I just didn't think of it at the time.

Because my petals were a bit smaller than I would have liked (the ones I uploaded are larger) I ended up having to do a lot of hand stitching the petals together.

Sorry this tutorial isn't one of my best... feel free to email me/leave a comment if you have any questions.  I will make sure to answer them in the comments.

Have Fun!  

AND if you do make it, would love to see pics!