The Sew Spoiled Twist to the Sweet Little Dress Pattern

I recently bought the Leila and Ben Sweet Little Dress PDF pattern! You can find it in their Etsy store or at YouCanMakeThis.com. Right away I made two, one for each of my girls. Emily my oldest even wore hers to school! I wanted to make more but change things around a little so they could have more Sweet Little Dresses but in different styles, fabrics and shapes. Here is what I came up with:)Personally, I had never shirred before and really wanted to learn! I found two wonderful sites, House on Hill Road and Portabellopixie, to help me through this new jouney.


















First, I gathered everything I needed. Fabric (an old crib sheet), Leila and Ben Sweet Little Dress Pattern, elastic, elastic thread, normal thread, rotary cutter and sewing supplies.
Then I cut out the pattern and followed the first 3 steps of the Sweet Little Dress pattern.


















After step 3 of the pattern I started with the shirring process. You hand wind the bobbin of elastic thread, test it on scrap fabric for the right tension and make sure the stitch length is long. I only shirred 3 rows around the middle of the dress. I followed the directions on the two wonderful sites, House on Hill Road and Portabellopixie very closely. I also drew lines (using chalk) to make sure my shirring lines would finish straight. I did not pull on the elastic thread, instead I tried the blast of steam from my iron and it worked!!



















Thanks Sandi Henderson (Portabellopixie)

The Sweet Little Dress on the Left is the original from the Leila and Ben pattern. The Dress on the Right is Shirred but the elastic has not been added to the sleeves. It looks great like that too!




















This is the completed dress with the shirring in the waist line. Now there is a waist line and that makes it a new style. What a simple way to make this pattern fresh and new! Thank you Leila and Ben for the wonderful design! Thank you House on Hill Road and Portabellopixie for the tutorials on Shirring!! If you are reading this I hope you give this a try! If you are new to shirring this was a great beginner project to learn on.
Best Wishes!
Happy Sewing!
Leah