To celebrate National Sewing Month and Amy Barickman’s new fabric line SoHo Bandana I decided to make a simple summer dress for my granddaughter Brooke. I chose red & cream polka dot fabric from the SoHo collection and used a Fig Tree & Co pattern called Polkadots & Summer. (Brooke loves to pose for pictures!)
I cut out size 3 pattern pieces, spraying a little starch along the top of the front where I will make the pleats and on the bodice top. The pattern instructed me to make bias edging around the neck and armholes. I made it my way by lining the front and back bodice.
I used my Babylock serger to finish the seams and my Husqvarna Viking Rose to sew the neckline. A few clips around the circle and the collar was ready to turn and press.
Pinning the pleats took a little time and the starch was a big help. I basted the pleats across the front of the dress, removing the pins as I came to them. Then I pressed the pleats with a steam iron and sewed the bodice to the dress front. 
The bodice lining was sewn at the shoulder seams separately and pinned right sides together with the dress bodice after the side seams were sewn. Once the neckline was turned and pressed, I turned the armholes 1/4″ and hid my handstitching in the seams. I turned, pressed, and handstitched the hem of the dress also.
I took a plastic headband and covered it with a 15″ fabric tube that I’d cut 2″ wide and serged. I didn’t even hide the stitches. The flower was also 2″ x 15″ and serged in red. I left the serged seam to be the outside of the flower petals. I used a needle and thread to gather the flower, stitching the gathers to a 2″ fabric circle. I had an open space for a white button that I sewed to the center of the flower and then I tacked the flower to the headband.
I also made an 18″ square bandana for Buddy. He loves to wear bandanas!
Here’s Brooke with her little Buddy!
Brooke & Buddy
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Don’t forget to leave me a comment and let me know how you will use the fabric, for a chance to win some SoHo Bandana fabric and a pattern! I’ll randomly select a winner from comments from this post and my last post. I’ll post the winner here on FabTalk Wednesday, September 25!
Oh, and be sure to visit BadAss Quilter’s Society – your next stop in the SoHo Blog tour September 23.