Julez new dress

My five year old thinks she is really 16. She loves to have her hair straightened, make-up on, and of course clothes that look like her Aunt Nicole's. We've seen the cute little elastic waist dresses around, but not in her size. I knew they wouldn't be too hard to make, so I picked up some supplies at Wal-Mart when I went to visit Dad (it's the only walmart around that still has fabric). I didn't want to spend a fortune on a dress I didn't have a pattern for or really know what I was doing. I got some sassy rocker girl fabric that sparkles, a tank top, and some extra wide elastic (I think it's 1 1/2" wide).

First, the girls (I made Emma one too) tried on their shirts and I marked right under the armpits to cut it off. Cut off the tank. Next, iron on a small strip of fusible interface to the cut edge to keep it from streching too much. Then, I sewed the elastic on to the right side of the tank. Cut the skirt. I measured the girls and doubled the waist measurement and then determined how long I wanted it. Julez's is pretty short--about 12 inches. I sewed two rows of elastic thread to gather the waist and give it stretch when I sewed it to the elastic. Next, I hemmed to where I wanted. It ended up a little short, but we wear shorts under all our dresses anyway. Attach the skirt to the bottom of the elastic and you're done. Cute, big girl dress!!