Dress Up Days Dress, Brady Bunch Style-- tutorial

Here's the how-to for the first Dress-Up Days dress, but this time, it's Brady Bunch style! :)  This fabric is Michael Miller.  Nice, eh?!

I did a little something different for this tutorial, adding text to the pictures.  Pretty exciting stuff...  :)

Materials:
Main fabric
Coordinating fabric (scraps are sufficient!)
Single fold bias tape (you can use storebought or make your own.  I just happened to have some teal storebought stuff lying around)
2 buttons
Zipper
Sewing Gear

Pattern adjustments:
I give the measurements for a 2T dress, but this is easy-peasy to alter to your desired size!  The only pieces to adjust are the bodice pieces (widen or make smaller).  They should be, roughly, 1/2 waist measurement +1.25").  Also alter the collar (which measures half the width of your bodice).  Then add or subtract length from your skirt.

Instructions:
 First, cut out your bodice pieces. My measurements are for a 2T (end result will be a 20" chest measurement).

Grab your collar pieces and, while they're folded in half, cut one end at an angle. 

It'll look like this when opened. 

Stitch your collar, right sides together, up the short edges.  Flip, press, and topstitch.

Fold straps in half and stitch up long side.  Flip right side out and press, so seam is in the center.

Place collar pieces on your front bodice piece, overlapping them slightly.  You'll want to leave a 7/8" opening on the side. 

Measure out 2 inches from the center and pin your straps in place, so you can see the seam. 

Unfold one side of your bias tape and pin it in place over the whole kit and caboodle.  You're going to stitch, following that top fold.   

You want that fold to line up with the overlap of your collar, so when you flip it up, you get...

... this.  Make sense? 

Sew along that top fold of the bias tape.  Then trim the excess fabric. 

Press it all, so your straps are up, collar down, and the bias tape covers the raw edges on the back side.

Flip your collar and sew bias tape down.  Then you can flip that collar back in place.

For the back, you want to line up your bias tape. so it has the same amount of excess you had on the front. 

Take the straps and mark (with pins) 7.5 inches from your front piece. 

Sandwich your straps in between the back piece and bias tape.  Then should hit 1" away from the center and angle slightly.  Use your pins to place them the correct distance from the front.
(I accidentally first stitched my bias tape without the straps in there-- Come on, Heather!-- so ignore my stitches.)

After you stitch along that top fold, you can trim the excess again then sew down the bias tape like you did on the front.

Now cut your little front embellishments (what do I call those things?!).  You'll need 4 rounded-off rectangles, 4"x 2.5". 

Cut your 2 skirt pieces, 30" wide x desired length +1.5" (for my 2T, I cut mine 14").

Run a gathering stitch along the top and gather till it matches the bodice piece.  

Sew on, using 1/2" seam allowance.  Finish with a zig-zag.  

 Do the same for the back piece.  Then you'll have this!

Finish off all four side seams with a zig-zag stitch.

Sandwich your rounded thing in between the side seams then stitch up one side seam, like normal, using a 5/8" seam allowance.  Press the seams out.

  Then install the zipper on the other side.  Here's a great tutorial if you need help with that!  Make sure your rounded piece is flipped to the front when you install the zipper!

Make sure your rounded part will, ultimately, be facing front.  When sewing down the front side of the zipper, I flipped it to the back.  Then I flipped it to the front when sewing the other side.  It'll look like this when you finish with the zipper.

Now simply figure out where you want your buttons and sew 'em on!  Hem and you're done!

Host yourself a little tea party.

Rock those pearls.

Or do what you love best-- play with sticks and bugs! ;)