Hi! I’m Amy and I blog over at Nap Time Crafters. Home to over 100 free Tutorials, Giveaways, the Friday Favs Party and the American Crafter Competition. You’ll also find over 60 PDF clothing patterns over at Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop
With the weather warming up little miss was in desperate need of some summer jammies so I whipped up a sweet ruffled nightgown for her
yes… this is the sun dress series but she already has more than can fit in her closet so I’m bending the rules:)
Turns out nightgowns are just as exciting as a dress afterall- at least in this girly’s book
Alright let’s get started!
All you need is some comfy knit fabric- I found mine at the Michael Levine Loft in the fabric district (heaven one earth! Wish we lived closer…)
1. Let’s start with our pieces. I used a dress that fit well as a guide and just cut my pieces a few inches shorter. The ruffle is double the width of the main dress piece. The binding for the neck and armholes is also knit (I used my selvage) and 1.5″ wide
2. With right sides together (RST) sew the front to the back at one shoulder
3. With RST sew your neck binding to the neck opening (sorry lost the photo for this step)
4. Fold the binding up over the seam allowance and back over to the wrong side of the fabric. Topstitch in place with a double needle or zig zag stitch- this allows the neckline to stretch over cute heads
5. With RST sew the front to the back at the other shoulder
6. Finish the armholes using the same method as the neck and then sew the front and back together at the side seams
7. With RST sew the ruffle ends together into one big loop. Hem the bottom edge- I just used my double needle but a ruffled lettuce hem would be super cute. If you go that route finish the top edge as well
8. Gather the top edge of the ruffle to match the width of the dress
9. With wrong sides together sew the ruffle to the bottom edge of the dress right on top of your basting stitches. This gives a nice fun ruffled edge of the right side of the dress
And that’s it!
And in just in case you’d like to make an actual sun dress instead of a nightgown make sure you swing by the pattern shop:)
Natalie
Any little girl would be happy to have a darling nightgown like this! Thanks for the tut – love the ruffle!
EHC
Smart idea to use your selvage for the arm & neck binding! I would have never thought of doing this!