Fort Firefly Shift Dress Free Pattern and Tutorial

I am having a real bad case of writer's block. I never thought it was even possible to have this happen to me. I'm a crafter/seamstress after all, writing is just a necessary evil to reach out to my readers. Was I ever wrong? I got the nasty block. Would you believe, that I have posts sitting all written in my composer just waiting for me to press 'publish' but I'm avoiding doing that...and I have no idea why.

I made this Fort Firefly Shift Dress Pattern and Tutorial for Birch Fabrics blog a while ago, but never got a chance to share it on my blog. So here it is - Fort Firefly Dress made with Fort Firefly Fabric Collection by Tegan White for Birch Fabrics.

The dress is full of cute details like this butterfly at the back, exposed decorative zipper and square pockets that go from front to back. It also has a yoke accentuating the boat neck. I'm sure you will like at least some of these details and I hope you will be inspired to try them in your own sewing.

Easy Knit Dress Pattern and Tutorial - Pocket Full of butterflies

One of the biggest perks of sewing at home is customization. I have complete control on the design and embellishment of the clothes I sew, I could make them as blah or as whimsical as I want. It comes in handy when you have a rather opinionated toddler, who knows exactly what she wants and is very happy to let me know about it.

Freezer paper stenciling was a technique I wanted to try for a long time. Little one's obsession with butterflies gave me the perfect opportunity to do it. I am totally in love with this dress, often what I envision in the beginning of a project is somewhat different from what I end up making, but this dress turned out just what I thought.
Do you have a little girl who would like a pocket full of butterflies? Well then, read on!

Skill Level:
Intermediate

Time:
3 hours

Supplies:
For Dress Base:
- Knit Fabrics Charcoal grey, 27 inches or 1 XXL size t-shirt
For Trims and pocket:
- yellow, 15 inches
For butterfly prints
- yellow Fabric Paint
- OR: Yellow Acrylic Paint + Fabric Paint Medium
-Freezer Paper
- Butterfly punches

Pattern: 
Download the four-page Knit Dress Pattern ( size 3T). Print it on A4 (8.5 X 11 inches) paper with margins set to 0.

For size 5T:

Download the four-page Stars + Stripes Knit Dress Pattern here (size 5T). Print it on A4 (8.5 X 11 inches) paper with margins set to 0.

Seam Allowance:
3/8 inch unless otherwise stated.

Techniques Used:
Sewing with Knits,  Binding the Neck/Sewing Bias Tape, Freezer paper stencils

Construction:

Cut out the pattern pieces. Note that front and back pieces are the same in this style of dresses.

Sew a seam along the neckline with thread tails on both ends. Pull the bobbin thread slightly to gather the neckline, the neckline after gathers is about three inches.

Binding the necklines:
Cut out a yellow strip 2.5 inches X40 inches.
Fold the strip in half along the length and iron

Align the raw edges of binding piece with raw edge of gathered neckline ( with the binding on the wrong side and sew a seam.

Fold the binding over to the right side and sew a seam on it as close to the edge as possible. Go slow and steady here to get a nice evenly spaced seam because this will be highly visible in the finished dress.

Sew the side seams ( right sides together)

Cut out the stencil piece from freezer paper, just eye-ball an area from 5 inch above the hem-line in the right which gets wider as it goes to the left, there is no right or wrong pattern here. Punch the butterflies on the paper. Keep at it until its almost full. Keep the shapes random. If your punch can't reach in the center, fold the freezer paper in half and punch near the fold, to punch two butterflies at once.

Place the freezer paper on the dress ( shiny side down). Iron without steam. In about a minute it should stick to the dress.

Before you start paining insert a sturdy paper or card-stock inside the dress so the paint doesn't bleed to the back of the dress. Now paint over the butterflies with fabric paint and a wide brush.

Let the dress dry for about an hour. Carefully peel off the freezer paper once the paint is dry to touch.

Cut out the pocket pieces

Sew along the sides ( right sides together). Clip notches along the curve for better finish.

Turn out. Sew seams along the raw edge. Pull bobbin thread to gather.

Cut a three inch wide strip of the pocket fabric. Make sure the length is equal to the length of the pocket top + 1 inch.

Fold it half inch onto itself on both ends. Now fold the strip in half along the width.

Place the pocket at the end of butterfly cluster and sew on the all the sides except the top.

To finish the armholes and shoulder straps:

Fold the binding in half and align raw with the raw edges of armhole ( on the wrong side of dress), leave 2 inches of binding tail on one side and sew along the raw edge.

Once you have reached the other end of armhole, leave another 2 inches of binding and sew the ends together ( right sides together). Make sure there is no twist in the binding when you sew them together.

Fold the binding to the right side, sew close to the edge of binding. Once you reach the end of the armhole, keep following the fold of the binding and continue sewing a seam near the edge until you come back to the starting point.

This finishes the armholes and shoulder straps together.

Repeat for the other armhole.

Sew on a cute, slightly mismatched button on the pocket. And voila! a pocket full of butterflies!

A-Line Dress Free Pattern

 Here is a mini tutorial to sew an easy and comfy A-line Dress. It will be a wardrobe staple in the warmer weather. My monkey likes hers very much and would wear it every day if I let her.

Level: Confident Beginner
Time: 2 Hours
Pattern:

Download the A-line Knit Dress Pattern in 3 years size here. Print on 8x11.5 inch paper.

Set the margins to 0. Print and join with tape at the overlap area on page 1.
Print 2 copies of each page and tape page 1 and 2 together on both of them. Cut the upper neckline on the first one. This will become the back of the dress. Cut the lower neckline on the second set. This will become the front of the dress.

Seam Allowance: 3/8 inch unless otherwise specified

Material: One XL or bigger sized Tshirt.( both Men's /Women's would work)

Construction:

Fold the Tshirt/Fabric in half and cut both front and back pieces of the dress using the upper neckline. Now remove one of the pieces and cut the front neckline using the lower neckline on the pattern. While cutting take care to A) cut such that the bottom of dress falls on the hemline of the tank top or Tshirt you are using. B) Keep both the layers aligned if they have stripes or any other symmetrical print.

Sew along the shoulders and the sides ( right sides together)

Bind the neck and armholes using Tshirt neck binding tutorial.

There you have it! The simple knit dress your daughter would want to live in...this summer.

Sewing tutorial roundup: Sew many sundresses

Ok, so I went to town again looking for cute sundresses to sew this spring and summer. Check out my hub of dress patterns for spring and summer. Because our little girls always need another dress, don't they?