Final day! Are you looking forward to finishing it up? Just two more steps.
STEP 7
Now we need to gather the outer/surface fabric skirt.
Good morning! Today we will start making the balloon dress. Before we begin, I’ll just make a quick explanation about the terms. The balloon dress is basically made up of two dresses. One wide dress on the outside (referred to in the instructions as dress in surface fabric/surface fabric), and one inner dress (referred to as dress in lining fabric/lining). The outer dress in surface fabric is wider and longer, while the inner lining dress is narrower and shorter. So that when the outer dress is gathered to fit the inner dress, it forms a balloon dress.
In the book the inner and outer dress are made using the same fabric. It is really up to you if you want to do that. You can opt to use a co-ordinating or even plain lining fabric for the inside. In my example I’m using cotton lawn for both inside and outside. But in two different colors. My surface fabric is magenta, inner fabric is a reddish pink.
If you have not bought your fabric yet, do take note that because the pattern outer/surface fabric dress is very wide, you will need to cut the fabric cross grain (see diagram below). I was using a standard 110cm width cotton lawn fabric (note that in book it’s a 90cm width), and I was making a 110cm size for my 4 yr old. I tried to save fabric by cutting it straight grain at first, but the sides were not wide enough. So it is necessary to take into consideration the print orientation if you have not bought your fabric or have not cut it yet.
