Christmas Pinafore Dress

Free pattern and instructions for a chrismas pinafore dress, size 24-36 months.

 

 

To make you will need:

1. the pattern, download and print here 
2. the tree, download here.
3. red fabric for dress
4. green fabric for the frills and tree (mine was the "Amy Butler Love Sunspots" fabric in olive)
5. Iron on backing for the tree applique
6. cotton fabric for the lining (I used one of my husband's old shirts)
7. 2 self cover buttons (mine were approx 3.5cm in diameter)
8. mother of pearl buttin fir the top of the christmas tree
9. red & green thread
10. sewing machine

Start by downloading, printing and cutting out the pattern.
Lay it out on your fabric and cut:

• one front from lining
• one front from red fabric
• one back from lining (the strap is slightly longer)
• one back from red fabric

 

Now lay both back fabrics wrong sides together and both front fabrics wrong sides together.

 

Pin them together and sew around the outside,

.

 

 

but only from one armpit to the other:

Then turn right side out.
Download the tree pattern here, cut out from the green fabric and from some iron on backing.

 

Ironthe backing with the shiny side against the wrong side of the green fabric. Pin onto the dress and applique in place.

 

Cut out the frills:

1. one strip 150cm long and 4cm wide (75cm for fron, 75cm for back)
2. one strip 150cm long and 10cm wide (to go around the very bottom of the dress, 75cm for fron, 75cm for back)

Fold the 10cm wide strip in half, so it's only 5cm wide and run a stitch about one cm away from the "frayed" edge.
For the 4cm wide strip, fold the frayed edges to the middle, so they slightly overlap and stitch along the middle to fold them in place.

 Ruffle the thinner strip up by pulling the thread and pushing the fabric together, then pin into place approx 12-13cm from the bottom dge of the dress. (depends on how long you want the dress to be)

 Machine stitch into place (75cm on the front of the dress and 75cm along the back on the same height)

Once done, the sides of the dresses need to be sewn together. Place your dress as follows (see photos), wrong sides together and pin the side seems together. Make sure the seams at the armpits and the frills match up.

Sew 1cm from edgeall allong the sides. Then turn your dress right sides out and it shuld look something like this:

 Stitch along the seam to hold the lining and red dress together. Then also top stitch along the straps, neck and armpit area:

 

Once done pin the wide frill into place all around the bottom of the dress and stitch it on.

 

Turn it down so you can't see any stitching:

Also fold the linign to the inside and pin into place, then top stitch approx 3-4mm away from the edge on the red fabric.... I was very pleased at this point! :-)

Now you are done with the main part of your dress. All that's missing are the button holes and buttons.With regards to your button holes, follow your sewing machine instructions. For the self cover buttons follow the below instructions:

Cut out 2 circles approx 5cm in diameter from (one green, one red)

Run a gather stitch along the outside:

Pull your thread tight:

Press the white plate over it:

Sew button onto the front of the dress. The buttonholes should be on the straps then come over the shoulder from the back of the dress.
Sew the "mother of pearl button" onto the top of your tree ... Voila, you are doen! :-)