Just thought I’d give a quick how-to on Keadryn’s patriotic dress (you know, in case you’re looking for an opportunity to be knee deep in red seersucker before the Fourth of July). It was super simple to make!

To make one you’ll need:
-a yard of the main fabric
-a 36″x4″ strip of coordinating fabric
-a template sleeveless dress to trace

Trace a sleeveless dress that fits. If the collar is puckered, stretch it out to trace. Leave 1/2″ on all sides to account for seams and cut out two copies (one for the front, one for the back).

Double roll and press the four arm holes. Sew in place.

Double roll and iron the hem. Don’t sew yet.

Pin and sew up each edge (make sure you line up the arm holes so that they match. It doesn’t matter if they bottom hem matches exactly because you can still adjust for that when you hem the dress).

Pin small pleats in the collar until it is 6″ wide (if you traced a flat collar, you can skip this step… your collar will already be about this wide).

Make wide ‘bias tape’ by cutting a 36″ x 4″ strip of fabric. Iron in half and in half again.

Fold the bias tape in half. This will be one sleeve. Measure three inches in from the center fold. Sandwich the front collar between the ‘bias tape’ and pin in place. If you pinned pleats in the collar, make sure to pin those in place in the bias tape. Repeat on the on the back collar.

Sew along the bottom edge of the bias tape. At each end of the bias tape sleeves, tuck the raw edges of the fabric in, creating a triangle point (and covering all unfinished edges). Sew in place.

Hem by sewing the doubled rolled bottom edge down.

Done! Super cute (and oh so easy!)!!!