Pre-Smocked Dress Tutorial

I’m going to share a dirty little secret. We don’t know how to sew in this house. I mean don’t get me wrong, we can sew on a button, mend a small tear or something minor like that, but actually making something? Umm…not so much…until now that is.

 

 

See I’ve been telling hubby for the past couple of years that I want to learn to sew (you know, in my free time…hilarious right? Who has free time!). I was starting to think that he wasn’t taking me seriously because a new sewing machine has been like the top thing on my list for the past few Christmases. Well this year was the year – there was a shiny new Baby Lock under the tree. So, now I had the machine, what the heck was I going to do with it?

 

 

 

We ended up taking a trip to the fabric store to find some remnants and some of those cute little pre-cut projects to practice on, but while we were there we spotted some super cute Frozen themed pre-smocked fabric that I knew would make the perfect sundress for our Bug. I mean how hard could it be right? So of course we picked up some of that and headed home to put our crazy sewing skills to the test.

 

Of course hubby is just as domestic as I am…often times more so for this particular project, he did actual sewing while I supervised and documented the process (which is why you will see man hands in some of the shots — I assure you I moisturize, those are not my hands).

 

Anyway,  I know that I’m not the first person share a dress tutorial using pre-smocked fabric, and doubt that most of you will even need it, but we were pretty proud of ourselves since it was our first project ever so here you go.

 

You will need about a yard of pre-smocked fabric. We only purchased about 24 inches because my daughter is a slender 3 year old, but for bigger kids you’ll probably want the full yard. Before you begin, measure your child’s chest. Bug’s chest was about 20 inches around, so we cut our  fabric down to about 19 inches so that it would stretch some and stay up. The extra fabric will be cut in 1/2 and used for the straps.

 

 

Take your big piece of smocked fabric and fold it into a tube with the rights sides together. Pin and sew it together.

 

 

Once you’ve sewn your smocked fabric into a tube get your two long skinny strips of fabric and fold them together to create your straps.

 

 

 

We went with a halter style so we just attached them to the dress in the front so we could tie in the back. And that’s it, you have a super cute sundress and a happy kiddo!