The Sew and Tell Project

Today I’m delighted to share with you the newest pattern from Bella Sunshine Designs – the Vintage Grace Flutter Dress! This darling dress is the perfect summer dress for girls. It features little flutter sleeves, a sweet  scooped back, and a simple bodice front that is perfect for embellishments!

I think my favorite part of this dress is the back of the bodice. It is sweet, simple, and really defines the dress.  The three buttons add to the charm. It is the perfect place to add a pop of color or use special buttons.  For this project, I used vintage buttons from the collection that my grandma gave me.  Vintage buttons have so much character – I love incorporating them into almost every project that I can as my own little signature touch.

One thing that I love about the Vintage Grace Flutter Dress is that it is fully lined!  Other than the side seams of the skirts, there are no exposed seams at all.  If you don’t have a serger and still want a very polished look for the inside of the dress, you can just do french seams as a finish for the side seams.  The pattern itself is very easy to follow with clear step-by-step directions. The pattern pieces print out with different colored lines for each size so it is easy to remember which line to cut on.

While I made this dress out of an eyelet type of fabric, this pattern is perfect for those gorgeous summer wovens that are gracing the shelves of every fabric store around!  Because I used such a thin fabric, I ended up needing to line the skirt, which wasn’t part of the original pattern.  To line it, I made a shorter hemmed skirt and slipped it inside the main skirt and basted it together before gathering the lining and outer skirt together. Since I was using upcycled materials, the lining ended up having a center back seam, so I finished off a slit to match the placket that was in the main skirt. The lining was well worth it, because the fabric is just so perfect for this style.  While my fabric source may be a bit unconventional, I was delighted that I was able to completely cut this size 5 dress out the skirt and lining of a girls size 16 sundress that I found at a yard sale for 75 cents. I love giving tossed-aside garments new life with little upcycles like this!

It is worth mentioning that this particular dress was made in the first round of testing and the dress pattern was later lengthened to be knee length after I completed this dress. I do love this length for wearing with leggings though – a dressy look with a comfy playful feel for the wearer.  The pattern does include an even shorter tunic length that is perfect to pair with these darling Bow Tie Leggings.

I can’t wait to make my next Vintage Grace Flutter Dress and I’m delighted to have discovered Bella Sunshine Designs! I love the potential for embellishment on the bodice and flutters – lots of room for creativity.  With a size range from 6 months – 12 years, I’m sure we will get lots of use out of this pattern. This pattern will be on sale through Thursday (5/12), so head on over and grab your own copy of the Vintage Grace Flutter Dress before the sale is over.  Can’t wait to see what you make!

(I received a free copy of the pattern in testing. This post also contains affiliate links which support Sew and Tell Project so we can continue to bring quality content to you. All reviews and opinions are my own.)