Sail Away Dress Sew-Along: Day 4

The end is near! And I don't mean in a creepy "end of the world" sort of way. More of a "your dress is almost finished!" kind of a way. After today, all we have left to do is to make the sash, which is totally optional (but oh so cute :)

Now on to strap making!

Step 1: Create your straps.

To make your straps, first measure your child over the shoulder from the point on her chest where you want the top of the dress to hit to her shoulder blade where you want the back of the dress to hit and add 2 inches. Cut out 4 rectangles from your shirt this length and 1 1/2 inches wide.

Place 2 pieces on top of each other right sides together, and fold in half with the folded part at the top, pinched between your thumb and forefinger. Cut at an angle starting from the bottom and meeting the end of the fold. Unfold your pieces, and you should have 2 angled sides, almost like an arrow.

Pin and sew around the perimeter of your straps, leaving the one short end that isn't angled open.

Clip the pointed parts of your strap close to your thread (but make sure you don't cut your thread), and use a pointed object to turn your straps inside out.

Tuck the open end of each strap inside and press closed. Topstitch around the entire perimeter of each strap about 1/4 inch from the edge.

Step 2: Sew button holes on your straps.

Sew button holes 1/4 inch from the pointed ends of each strap. Make sure your button holes are big enough to accommodate your buttons.

Step 3: Attach your straps.

Flip your dress inside out. Line up your straps with the inside edge of your dress. Pin your strap so that the bottom overlaps the bottom of the bias tape slightly. Sew on top of the line you previously sewed when you attached your bias tape.

If you want to make sure the straps are really secure, you can sew a second line above that one like I did. This is what the strap should look like when looking at your dress right side out.

Step 4: Add buttons to the front.

Now, just hand sew a couple of buttons to the front of your dress on each end, and that will do it for the dress itself!

Aside from the sash, your dress is done!

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Tomorrow, I'll show you how to make the sash to go with your dress.

Thanks for sticking with me, see you tomorrow for the last day of the Sail Away Dress Sew-Along!