The Lexington Dress

This post is part of a month long series called 'Pattern Makeover Month.' I took a simple a-line, peasant dress and 'made-it-over' into many different styles. For more information, go here.

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Some more vintage goodness!

Vintage fabric from the thrift store and a beautifully embroidered tablerunner turned into a cutesy little apron dress.

Make the dress as instructed, stopping when you finish sewing the casings on the neck and sleeves. If you want lace on the bottom, add it as you hem the dress.

To make your apron, cut two strips measuring 60" long by 3-4" wide. For smaller sizes, you will want smaller widths. The sash will look better if you do not have seams, but if you don't want to use that much fabric, you can make seams right where the side seams will fit on your child. For example, if your child's chest measurement is 22", make the middle piece of your sash 11.5" and the two tails about 25".

Cut the two ends of the sash at an angle. Place right sides together. Find the midpoint of your sash and mark with pins 3.5" from the midpoint on both ends. Start sewing at one pin, going towards the tail. Sew all the way around, ending at the other pin. Turn right side out and press. Press the opening so that the unsewn edges are flush with the rest of the sash.

For the apron piece, I used a vintage table runner. I didn't need to finish any of the sides, as it was already done (yippee!). I cut it to the length I wanted, gathered the top and fit it into my sash opening. Pin in place. Topstitch around the entire sash, sewing the apron into place.

Then, to keep the apron in place, I stitched it onto the dress. First I put a slight gather on the dress where I wanted the apron to sit, about 3 inches below the underarm seam and 4 inches in from the side seams. Stitch across the dress and create a slight gather, matching it to the length of the apron piece.

Stitch on top of your topstitching on the sash, where the apron piece sits onto the dress.

Too cute!