Summer Ruffle Halter

After making the coffee date dress the other day I had enough fabric left over to make my daughter a dress. she wanted a halter neck dress with a cross over front and ruffles - not picky at all!

I cut the bodice fronts. I used the chest measurement divided by two and about 3/4 of that for the width of each piece. The pieces were cut in a triangular shape with fabric added on at the top to create a tie. I used the chest height (gained by draping the tape measure around the neck to the line where I wanted the bodice to end and halved that measurement. I then added enough to the bodice top to enable me to tie it. I cut two of each front piece to form the lining. I sandwiched a gathered ruffle between the bodice front and lining and stitched.

The skirt was made using a simple tube of fabric. The front was about 1 1/2 times the width of the bodice. I used a double later of gathering stitches and eased them into a central front position before sewing to the bodice. The back was cut higher than the front. the extra folded over to make a casing for elastic at the back. I used three pieces of elastic, and stitched them into three sections on the casing.

Once in place I ajusted them to fit and stiched firmly. (You could make a shirred back as an alternative to using a casing).

 

Bethan loves her new dress.

Sorry for the rather garbled instructions. I'll try to but illustrations and a better step by step guide on sometime this week.