Today I’m sharing something like some of the first garments I ever sewed. I remember the criss-cross dress as a go to baby gift when I was in middle school and friends were getting new siblings. They’re still a great baby gift option today – as evidenced by this one that I gifted to my niece.
So to make the criss-cross dress that my adorable niece is wearing, you’ll need:
- 2 pieces of fabric, 3/4 of a yard each
- The pattern
- Any embellishements you want to add
- 2 snaps – I used the kind you apply with a hammer, but you can also use the sew on kind.
To download the pattern, subscribe to my mailing list. In your welcome email, you’ll get a link to download the dress pattern+ the pattern for the ruffle bloomers. Remember, by downloading you are agreeing to the pattern license. I do this for several reasons – I used to host free PDFS on Google Docs, but not everyone could sign in, and this gives me a way to keep up with how often my patterns are being downloaded, as well as keep you informed about new patterns. It also helps me keep up with licensing.
This is about a 3-6 month size. This is a PDF file, you’ll print it across 4 pages of paper and then tape them together. When you print, set your printer to borderless, and don’t scale anything. There is a 2″x2″ test square on the first page, check the measurements to make sure you’re printing correctly. If your printer won’t print borderless, set it to the smallest margins you can and print anyway without scaling – you should be able to connect pattern lines across the page breaks. Butt the edges of the pages together – don’t overlap - and tape. The pages line up with 1 and 2 on top and 3 and 4 on bottom, left to right.
So if you have the pattern and are ready to begin, pin it to the fold of your fabric and cut. Do this twice, so you have an outside and a lining (you can make this dress reversible). They should look like this when openend out:
Next add any embellishment you want to the front of the dress. I sewed on a rolled fabric rosette and some leaves.
Now lay the dress front and the lining on top of each other, right sides together. Sew all the way around the dress edges BUT LEAVE AN OPENING FOR YOUR HAND so that you can turn it right side out later. This pattern has a 5/8″ seam. Go slowly around the curves.
Next, trim the seams down. I prefer to do this with pinking shears. If you don’t have pinking shears, you can sew another seam about 1/4″ towards the edge from the first seam and then trim. Be careful not to trim too much at the opening.
Now turn the dress right side out. Press the edge so it’s nice and crisp. At the opening, press the edges under towards the inside.
Topstitch all around the edge, closing up your opening in the process. Now you just sew or apply snaps at the end of the long straps and on the top of the back piece. You can see in the picture below how the dress goes on the baby.
These are so easy to whip out, and the combination of fabrics and embellishments are endless. They also make great gifts.
For the pattern and tutorial on how to make the bloomers, click HERE
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Perfect for my friend who just had a baby girl! Thanks! ~Stephanie
Beautiful and simple! Learning to sew is on my bucket list of things to learn in the next five years.
Super cute! The dress too!
Your niece is a real sweetheart! Thank you for sharing the pattern and tutorial. I’d like to make it for my granddaughter. (and I’m looking forward to the bloomers tutorial!)
Love this!! Especially the seersucker. I would love for you to link this up to “I Made This” at Grits & Giggles! http://gritsandgiggles.blogspot.com/2012/05/i-made-this-5.html
Oh my! She looks adorable in that dress! Great job!
This is so cute.. I downloaded the pattern. Can’t wait to see the bloomers.
Hi, I’m Connie at http://hotflashncraftn.blogspot.com/, a new GFC friend. I hope you will stop by and be mine, too.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Cute!Very CUTE!I would love to try something like this.And i would like to do for my brother kid who is just 2 month old.This is my blog id http://blissfulsewing.blogspot.com/
This is so cute! If I had girls I would make this in a second. I would love it if you would link this up to my linky party at http://www.firehousecrafts.com/whats-hot-in-the-firehouse-linky-party-1/. Hope to see you there!
I’m just starting out sewing and want to make this for my daughter but she is 12 months. How would I alter the pattern for a 12 to 18 month fit? Thanks!!
I would place the pattern about 1/4″ in from the folded edge, make the straps longer, and possibly add an inch or more to the bottom edge. I would err towards adding more length than I needed on the bottom and the straps, then kind of fit to your daughter to make sure you’ve got the measurements right.
I’m also making this for my 12m daughter– LOVE IT!! Thanks for sharing this cute pattern! I found it when you linked up to Sugar Bee with the cute bloomers~ I’m making those too. This hot weather begs for light dresses!
I made this dress for my daughter about 30ish years ago! It all comes back in style, lol It is a great “tut” I may have to dig around in some boxes and see what else I have !
No kdding! I wore these back.in the early -mid 70s from probably birth to 5 years old! Such fond memories if opening packages from my great grandparents with these little sun suits inside!
Going to have to make one or a dozen for my little niece!
I made one and the matching bloomers, they were super easy and turned out darling! I blogged my little changes and how I used buttons as the clasp here: http://www.hellokirsti.com/2012/07/baby-dress-bloomers.html
Thanks taking the time to post the pattern and tutorial Melly!
I have a very similar pattern for this little dress that I wore 68 years ago. I still have the pattern cut from a page of the Wichita Eagle Newspaper. I made one for my daughter when she was little (almost 37 now). Mine had longer straps that crossed in the back and it was fastened with safety pins. When I made my daughters dress I figured out how to close it with buttons and button holes. Yours is very sweet. Guess I’m not going to be lucky enough to have a granddaughter and so far no great granddaughter to make another one for.
a d o r a b l e!
How adorable! I’m having trouble downloading the pattern, could you please send it to me? Thanks,
I’d need an e-mail address to be able to do that.
My download shuts Explorer down everytime. If you could email it to me, too, I would so appreciate it
Got it to print on different computer. Thanks
Turned out adorable….starting second one today. Took an idea from Charlotte…closing it with colored diaper pins to make it easily reversible…so easy for a newbie sewer.
Oh my! She looks adorable in that dress! Great job!
Great, thanks for sharing. I will for my new niece. Greetings from Panama