$5 Friday: The Daddy Daughter Dress OR The Stolen Tie Tutorial

 This is a dress that has been on my mind for a long time now and yesterday I decided to just sit down and put it together.  I really like the idea of mixing different fabrics, textures, and patterns in a simple design.  And awhile ago I was looking at one of my husbands ties and thinking how cool that tie material would be on a dress.

 

Later I was looking at the shape of the tie and decided that shape would even be cool on a dress and so the idea for the "Daddy Daughter Dress" was born and that tie I kept looking at was stolen.

 

(In all fairness I gave him this tie and he's never loved it...that much...so all I did was take it back..and cut it up...and use it for something entirely different.)

 

Anyways, here's what I did:

I cut out the front of Gracie's dress like I normally would and then centered the tie down the middle.

Next I pinned that tie down like crazy so it wasn't going to move.

 

After that I stitched up each side of the tie---attaching the tie to the front of the dress.

Next I followed the shape of the dress and cut off the excess tie parts.

 Then I completed the dress just as I normally would.

It was easy it only added 2 extra steps and it is an inexpensive way to add something unique to a dress. (That is if you know where to snag a free tie...or you pick up a few lovlies at the thrift store, which I did.)  I love this idea and I'm ready to make some more! 

 

In fact, I've already cut out two others---with different dress patterns and with collars.

I can't wait to sew them up.  (And I'll try to remember to post them when they are done.)

Until then...I'm loving this one---with that shiny tie material against the cotton...

 

 The only thing I have left to do now (aside from finishing up those dresses) is getting Grace to explain to her daddy why her mommy is chopping up all his ties!

Have a good weekend everyone!

-liZ

 

PS--Just in case you were wondering I do know that most ties (including the one I used) are dry clean only.  So I did an experiment and washed this dress on the delicate cycle and hung it up to dry.  It worked like a charm.

 

PPS---Yes, I did think about setting the tie in the fabric instead of sewing it on top of the fabric.  But once I got going I decided that I would rather have the tie on top so that it would be the cotton against Gracie's skin and not the back side of the tie.

 

PPSS---If you do this chop off the little loop doodeebopper on the back of the tie.  (You know that loop where the guys slide that skinny end of their ties through?  Well it's that thing.  Cut it off.)

*Note:  I really did make another version like I talked about up above, with the collar and some other changes.  If you want to see it, you can check it out HERE.

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