Dresses are All the Raglan Rage! (A Tutorial for our Raglan Pattern!)

Hey all! Jeanine here again and this time with a super simple modification to girly up the all the rage raglan pattern! This pattern is a classic, with many options for length of the bottom hem and the sleeves, hood or neckband, and even has dolly sized patterns included for your 15" or 18" dolls :) 

For this tutorial we will just be working with the two main pieces for your front and back and the two ruffle pieces (which I will be telling you about). Everything else will be sewn as per the pattern. 

To start cut all your pattern pieces out. Now you will take your front/back piece and cut a ruffle strip that is twice the width of the front/back piece (as seen below). How long you choose to make your ruffle is up to you if you want it to be tunic length or dress length.

Now set your machine to the longest stitch length and do NOT back stitch, make sure you get a good tail end to start your sewing off as well.

and stitch along the top of each ruffle strip. I serged the edges first since I am sewing with a waffle knit and it is a little unstable and I was concerned about fraying.

Next you will gather each ruffle piece to the the width of the front/back pieces.

Then pin each ruffle to the bottom edge of the front and back pieces and stitch using your knit fabric stitch (shown below) or serger (or zigzag if you do not have either of those).

after the ruffle is sewn on flip the ruffle down and then I like to top stitch. 

Now your ruffle is attached on both the front and back pieces and you just continue to sew the pattern as directed! Nice an easy but oh so cute!

The waffle knit is a bit heavy and stretchy by the way, so, if you use it be warned that your fit will be a bit looser than if you use a more T-shirt like fabric.

and one last picture to show the hood option! I LOVE hoods in the fall (and I prefer putting a hood in to dealing with neck binding. shhhhhh... that can be our little secret)

And that is how I changed up the All the Rage Raglan! How about you? Have you made the pattern? Tried modifying it? Love bow fabric? Tell me all about it! And please join us on facebook in our Lab group!