John Wayne Shirt Dress Pattern and Tutorial

I got my inspiration for making this dress from a blog page called Project Run and Play.

Basically they have contests where they give you a theme and you are to come up with a clothing design and make it.  I've been watching a lot of western movies lately so when I saw this dress I immediately thought of John Wayne's signature shirt with the bib across the front and how he sometimes lets part of it flap down.

This weeks theme was the June Bug dress remix.  Inspired by this dress you make your own dress, or something else.  The pattern and tutorial for making the June Bug dress is located HERE. 

I did use 2 of the pattern pieces provided in that link, but I also made several of the pattern pieces for this dress too, so I'll be sharing all of them here. 


  MY PATTERN IS HERE!!!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mV3LDzaidZh_9Ig1SQwalLU-w4vY3fQVEArbggLnoUs/edit?hl=en_US

You will need to tape together the sleeve pattern and the instructions should be easy to follow.

The skirt is simply 2 lengths of fabric cut 14" X 23".

This is a size 18 month dress, using a 5/8" seam allowance.

  

What you'll need:

1.  A yard of fabric
2. 5 buttons
3. 3 inches of elastic thread.  (For looping around the button on the back of the dress.)
4. Thread

1.  First, after cutting out all of your pieces, you want to stay stitch your neck lines on all pieces.  That means, your bodice front, bodice sides, bodice back and bib sections. For the dress and the facing pieces. (facing pieces are the inside of the dress.  Like a liner.) This is where you just put a regular stitch about 1/2" from the edge of the neckline.  This reinforces the seam.

2.  Next you are going to place your back pieces together, right sides together, and stitch 1 1/4" from the bottom.  Your back should look like this.

3.  Now sew the bodice front and back sections together at the shoulders, like so.  You are seeing my facing sections.  You will also be doing this to both the facing and the dress bodice.

4.  On all of your seams you want to pink the fabric left over.  This is a quick and easy way to make sure that your fabric will not fray and have to deal with strings hanging off every time you wash the garment.  Going forward you want to do that.

5.  You also want to press the seams open.  This makes for a nicer looking seam in addition to being easier to manage when hemming or sewing additional pieces on.

6.  Now with right sides together you want to sew the front bodice section to each of the side bodice sections.  I wanted to have a little image behind the bib so that as it's folded down the image looks like it's peeking out.  I cut a piece of fabric that had a cupcake with a heart on top of it to fit this section.  You might would rather applique something on a piece of fabric.  If so, do that before this step.

7.  Now,place your dress bodice and dress facing pieces together making sure to match up shoulder seams, front seams and side edges.  Pin in place then stitch around the neckline and the slit in the back of the bodice.

8.  Now you need to fold under the bottom of the facing sections, front and back and press.  Here you can see I stitched it into place using a 1/2" hem by folding the fabric over two times 1/4" a piece.  That is more work than I should have done.  Just fold the fabric under about 1/2" and press.

9.  Gathering the skirt:  Mark the center of your skirt piece and mark the center of the front bodice.  The back bodice center is of course where your seam is.  Now you want to baste the top of the skirt.  That means you are simply going to set your stitch on the longest setting and 1/2" from the edge of the fabric (at the top of the skirt) all the way down the length of the fabric. Then, with right sides together, pin the center of the skirt to the center of the bodice.  Pin the sides of the skirt to the sides of the bodice.  Now use your basting stitch to gather the extra fabric along until it fits within the parameters of the bodice and pin all of that into place.  Next, stitch.  If you are a new sewer you want to make sure to remove your pins as you are going or you are likely to break a needle, or bend your straight pins.
The back of the front of your garment should now look like this:

10.  Now lay your facing down so that the folded edge lays on top of the gathered edge of the skirt and pin it into place.  You want to put your pins on the top side of your garment because you will be stitching from that side.  Here is what it will look like when you are done, from the right side and the wrong side.

11.  Let's move over to the sleeve section.  First thing you need to do is hem the bottom of the sleeve.  I folded my fabric over 1/4" twice and stitched.

12.  Mark the center of the top of your sleeve.  Now to gather the sleeves you are going to put a baste stitch going around the top of the sleeve, from one dot to the other.  Pin the center of the top of the sleeve to the shoulder seam, right sides together.  Pin the sides of the top of the sleeve to the sides of the shoulder until you get to the dots.  Then draw the basting stitch up to make the sleeve fit the shoulder and pin it into place before stitching it all around.  When you are done it should look like this:

13.  Now with right sides together, fold the sleeve in half and stitch down the length of the sleeve and the garment.  Like this:

14.  Now hem the bottom of the dress 1 1/4".  First fold the fabric under 1/4" then 1 inch and stitch.

15.  Now for the bib section:  Put the bib pieces, right sides together and stitch all the way around leaving a gap large enough to turn the bib right side out at the bottom of the bib.  Once you get it turned right side out fold the gap in and stitch.

16.  In the above photo you can see that I have placed the bib on the front of the dress matching the centers of the bib to the center of the front of the dress.  Pin the bottom of the bib in place and stitch through all the gathers in that section.  You are stitching over the stitching you just did when you sewed the gap shut.

17.  Now to sew the buttons on.  I didn't do button holes because I don't want my bib to be removable.  So I placed my buttons where I wanted them and stitched them through all the fabric on the front of the dress.

Fold the flap down and put a little stitch in it the same color as the fabric so that it looks like it's just laying down.

18.  One more thing, you need to sew a button on the back top of the slit on one side.  On the other side, you are going to make a loop with your piece of elastic.  Tye a knot in it and stitch it on the inside of the back of the slit, so that the loop sticks out and can loop over the button.  This is how the dress will be closed in the back.  You could also add a hook and eye instead.

Elf hats (free pattern/tutorial) and the tradition of making the girls a doll.

Here is a shot of the kids all wearing their new Christmas pajamas and elf hats.

This is the present they got to open on Christmas Eve.  

Kai was so happy.  She had convinced herself that I wasn't going to make her a nightgown this year.

Delsin had asked for an elf hat like Enoch's, so that was and easy quick project.

Easy enough that I went ahead and made one for Kai and Carolina too.  

They were tickled.

 To make the elf hat I made my own pattern.  Here it is. 

I hope you can open this and print it.  It's a regular piece of letter paper in width and height, but of course you will want to make yours to the size you need.  Please leave comments on how well you can print this pattern or any tips you want to share on how I can share patterns.  Thanks.

 1.  I cut the width to be half the circumference of the head.
2.  I used stretch velvet for my fabric. You definitely need a stretch fabric.
3.  Doing a 5/8 inch seam will make it fit perfectly.
4.  Then a 1 1/4 inch hem at the bottom of the hat.

Every year I make a doll for Kai.  It was something that I wanted to become a tradition and started it on her first Christmas.  This year I decided to use a pattern that my step-mother had given me years ago and make hens instead of human type dolls. 

Mccall's Crafts 2826 is the pattern I used.  Hen C.

But I didn't do all the extra accessories.  We're talking about a late night Christmas Eve project for a 16 month old no less.  They were such a big hit that they thought Santa brought them, and Delsin thought one was for him.  I felt bad when I had to explain to him that there were only enough for the girls.  I suppose I could make him a rooster.  After all, he loves roosters.  He did spend all of his allowance on a painting of a rooster this summer.

Free Doll Dress Pattern / Kai's First Time To Use The Sewing Machine

I just realized I never blogged about this!

In fact, I still can't believe it!  But I guess I only shared pictures on Facebook.  

First of all, G.G. (her hip Great Granny), gave me several of her vintage dress patterns when Kai was born, and this doll dress pattern was in the mix.

It's actually about 1 & 1/2" longer than a letter size piece of paper.  My pattern piece is 12 &1/4" long by 10" wide at the widest point (center to top of sleeve).  Of course you can lengthen it or shorten it as needed.If you want to use it, feel free to.  Sell them if you want.  I don't care.  Have fun.

Here are some action shots of Kai making one of two dresses she made that day.  I finished the edges with a "feather" stitch?  I believe that's what it's called.  It looks similar to a comb.  You can also use a zigzag, or hem it would be the nicest finish.  She couldn't wait to try them on her dolls and liked the stitch showing on the edge.

Edited to add:  It just dawned on me that maybe I should add some instructions for anyone that's just learning how to sew.  

1) Cut two of these on a fold.

2) Put them right sides together and pin them in place.

3) Sew the shoulders and then the sides, leaving the bottom, sleeves and neckline open.

4) Turn right side out and hem or finish the edges with a zigzag stitch or another favorite edge finishing stitch.

5)  If you are going to hem it:  fold the edge 1/4" and press with an iron.  I like to use the steam for pressing.

6) Fold it again, this time making it as short as you need to fit your doll of choice. Press.

7) Stitch the hem into place.
8) For the neckline, if you want the hemmed look, you'll need to cut a little slit into the front and back "v".   This will give you the ability to fold the fabric over and stitch into place.

Please leave any questions in the comment box.  I'll be sure to answer.

This was September of 2010.  Kai was 4 years old here.