Sweater Dress Tutorial

Are you ready to make a your little one the coziest dress ever?! I'm happy to introduce you to the cowl neck sweater dress:

This sweater dress is inspired by Baby Gap and is oh so soft and cozy. Re-purposed from a wool-cashmere blend Express sweater it is budget friendly and super warm! Just like the original, the dress features a cable-knit front, rolled cuff sleeves, a gathered waist with just enough frill, and a cowl neck for extra warmth and coziness!

Let's get started:)
Materials:

• Cable knit turtleneck sweater (time to head to the thrift store!)
• Sewing machine
• Your bundle of joy:)

1. Cut out your pieces. You'll need the main body, sleeves (I used the bottom portion and then slimmed them down some), and a skirt (I used the entire bottom portion of the sweater, so I could gather it). My sweater had something funky going on with the cuffs and I had to cut them off and reattach (don't do that- it'll be much easier!). 

2. Flip the main body inside out and sew up your side seams

3. Turn your sleeves inside out and sew up the sides

4. Attach your sleeve to the main body. With your sleeve right side out slide it into your main body which is inside out, so that your pieces are right sides together. Phew- got that?

 5. Gather your skirt piece. Use more than one row of basting stitches to do this since the fabric is pretty bulky. I tried to cheat and my thread broke- no fun:(

 6. Pin right sides together and attach to the body

 7. Depending on what size you're making you may want to trim the neck a bit (I took off a couple inches). Next make a slit right down one side to form the cowl neck. Finish the edges by folding the edge back and stitching in place (remember the neck will be folded down, so really you turn the edges to the outside of the sweater instead of the inside- try it and I promise it will make sense)

If you want to make it look even better you could finish the side edges of the neck with some grosgrain ribbon and then add some buttons- I didn't bother, but I'm sure it would look fantastic:)

 8. To keep the side slit in the neck from spreading sew a bar tack perpendicular to the slit.

Finished! The perfect dress to keep your little one nice and snug. Not to mention oh so fashionable:)