There’s no denying that most children love to dress up, whether it’s for Halloween, a themed party or play time. With that in mind, we’ve worked up a darling costume for wear throughout the year. And, based on a simple dress shape, it can be altered to fit children – and adults – of all ages!
Stitch a dress
Cut 42cm x 108cm of pink fabric for ages 3-4 (42cm x 116cm for 5-6 or 42cm x 124cm for ages 7-8). Create a semi-circle template with a diameter of 14.5cm from card. Fold the fabric over and place the straight side of the template centrally along the folded edge. Draw around it with a fabric pen.
Along the fold, measure 9cm from either side of the semi-circle and mark the points. Draw lines from each to both bottom corners, pin the front and back sides together and cut along these lines and those of the semi-circle.
Cut a 42cm square of interfacing for ages 3-4 (42cm x 46cm piece for 5-6 or 42cm x 50cm for 7-8). Place this at the bottom of the back of the front dress piece and trim according to the slope of the sides, before ironing into place.
Using the templates on page 82, draw two leaves and a butterfly onto fusible webbing. Next draw and cut out a 2.2cm x 35cm rectangle from appropriate fabric for ages 3-4 (2.2cm x 39cm for 5-6 or 2.2cm x 43cm for 7-8) for the stem. Also cut a 4cm x 42cm rectangle and eight tall triangles with 5cm wide bases, ranging in height from 8cm to 20cm for the grass.
Iron the grass pieces onto green fabric, the stem and leaves onto patterned green material, and the butterfly and other rectangle onto a pink patterned design, before cutting them out. Position the