I was thinking about making a baby Christmas dress for Granddaughter Lilly and wondering about fabric when this appeared at my door.
A bag full of curtains!
There were four pairs of curtains in the bag, all lined with red fabric. I didn’t take measurements but there was a LOT of fabric in there!
Unpicking
First was the job of unpicking, 
I like to reuse as much as possible so the curtain tape came off first. That will get saved in my haberdashery box for future use.
Then I separated the lining. 
I’ll only be using the printed fabric for this baby Christmas dress and will hardly use even 1 of the curtains. Enough to make a dress each year as baby Lilly grows!
Making the Dress
Then it was time to start making 
the dress. I used a BurdaStyle pattern, 9752 which gives a few different options on style.
Following the instructions I pinned the pattern onto the fabric. There’s a tutorial here for how to read sewing patterns.
I usually find Burda patterns easy 
to follow but the collar on this on really had me stumped. I spent a long time trying to figure it out but after a bit of trial and error and the help of a sewing forum I got there.
I used to have a problem inserting sleeves but have finally mastered that skill!
This is the top half of the 
dress finished ready for attaching the skirt.
The skirt was straight forward with a simple gather around the waist. I’ve used this technique on many baby dresses and will be posting a “how to” tutorial soon. It gives a nice fullness to the skirt and makes sure there’s plenty of room around baby’s hips.
Baby Christmas Dress Finished!
Because of the problems I had with the collar this took me around 8 hrs to make. I did manage to run up a matching bib in that time though. Now Lilly will have this cute baby Christmas outfit to wear over her first festive season!
This post put a smile on my face. My mother used to make ties from leftover fabric from curtains that she made for our house. My dad’s ties always matched the windows in our house. You have a great site here. I will be checking back.
I never thought of making ties from fabric scraps, now there’s a thought! Thanks for the comment. 🙂
I have so much respect for people who have such a creative mind! And what you have created for me is great! Congratulations and for sure the baby will be more angel looking at that dress.
We all have creative minds, just use it in different ways, for example, building a website is creative! Thanks for the compliment Bernie. 🙂
So crafty! Would love to see your granddaughter in this Kathy! I bet she will look adorable!
Thanks Viola. Next time baby Lilly visits she’ll be modelling this Christmas dress, then I’ll update the blog post! 🙂
I would never have looked at that and thought it would make such an adorable dress, but you have me sold. It’s very cute!
i know, 2 massive pairs of curtains just lying in a cupboard waiting to be upcycled into something useful! Thanks for the compliment. 🙂
Hi Kathy,
I love this dress! It is so cute. You did a wonderful job! I can’t wait to see the yearly updates!
Angela
I reckon I’ll maybe get away with these kind of baby dresses till Lilly starts school, got enough fabric for it anyway!
Great article. Wish I could sew.
Thanks Nina. It’s not hard to sew, maybe one day you’ll have time to learn. 🙂
Hey Kathy this is great. Many of us tend to spend ridiculous money on Christmas outfits for our kids and then they get thrown in a wardrobe and end up being too small next year. This looks just as good and in many cases maybe better.
Thanks Jason. I’ve looked at lots of cute baby Christmas dresses in the shops and been shocked by the price. As you say they’re generally only worn once or twice!