Olive and Jam: First Attempt At Dress Making

I've spent years making things here and there but until now have never dared to try my hand at clothes making. I still don't feel inspired to have a go at making clothes for myself; but I guess my inspiration has come from the girls - making clothes for the children seems like a fun idea.

I remember (not with fond memories) at school having to make a pattern , cutting it out in calico first, sewing it by hand before ever being let near a sewing machine. Briefly touching on clothes making 20 years ago I guess has stayed with me and given me the basic principles (very basic) of dress making.

I decided to break myself in gently and make a simple dress for my youngest Ruby. I took another dress she had and planned on drawing round the front and back separately to give me two patterns. The only problem was that searching around the house I couldn't find a piece of card large enough. So I had to make half a pattern this was done by literally drawing around half of the front and half of the back.

With this stage complete I realized my lack of planning ahead had bought me to yet another stumbling block. I didn't have any scraps of fabric large enough to make a dress so I rummaged through my linen cupboard and came across a duvet cover that I rarely used and thought might work well plus it was blue, Ruby's favourite.

I folded the fabric in half, placed my pattern along the folded edge. I then drew around it adding an extra 1.5 inches and cut it out. To make the back of the pattern I did the same.

Once I had my two pieces of fabric I turned in the edges around the neck and sleeves, sewed them as well as down the two sides.