DIY- Lemon Meringue Dress

Homemade Halloween Costume-

Lemon Meringue Dress

My five year old asked to be Blueberry Muffin from Strawberry Shortcake, for Halloween, so I decided to make my four year old daughter Lemon Meringue, and the two year old, a Strawberry.  The premade costumes are really plain and kind of boring, and I thought they would be fun to make a little more girly, more like what the original Strawberry Shortcake dress looked like. 

I selected a dress pattern that would allow them to wear the dresses after Halloween too.  The amount of time and energy that goes into a costume, I figured if I can make it a dress they can re-wear, it will be much easier to put in the labor hours!

  

I ADORE this simple dress tutorial from The Big Oak Tree blog, the instructions are for a 12-18 month size, and I resized it to fit a size 4/5.  

 

Follow the sewing instructions on original blog post. 

Size 4/5 yardage requirements were the same, plus 1/2 yard of a third trim fabric.  I added the third fabric for the bottom band, the arm ruffles and the ruffle on the bodice.  I selected a solid white for the trim, and it really popped off the yellow prints.  This may be my most favorite dress I've ever made!  (I purchased my fabrics at Joann.)

 

The new size 4/5 dimensions are as follows:

Outer Bodice: 13-1/2"w by 16" h

Inner Bodice: 11"w by 16" h

Neck Hole: 6-1/2" diameter  with 2" slit (centered on each bodice piece)

Body: the width of the fabric by 15" h

Trim: width of fabric (about 42") by 10-1/2" (I did it at 2" and surged the bottom edge to finish, it saved quite a bit of fabric)

Arm Ruffle: 16" w by 3-1/2" h

Front Ruffle: 7"w by 10"h  (I made a wider ruffle larger than the original)