Fancy Nancy
dresses are a favorite of girls everywhere.
Geared toward the preschool to Kindergarten set, the heroine of the Fancy Nancy books is a young girl who works to save her decidedly unfancy family from their hum-drum existence by accessorizing and glamorizing their wardrobes while wearing frilly clothes herself. A quick and easy way to make a Fancy Nancy dress is to use a dress you already have as the basis for the pattern of the dress you will create. Add some sparkly buttons to the front of the dress, fancy stitching to the neck and arms and pom-poms to the bottom of the dress to make it fancy.
Instructions
1. Place tracing paper on top of your existing dress and trace the entire dress except for the sleeves. Make a copy of the pattern on a second sheet of tracing paper, making sure to create a higher neckline for the back of the dress. Add a seam allowance of 1/2 inch to the pattern.
2. For the cap sleeves, measure the length and width of the armholes on the paper pattern. Add the measurements together, then add an additional 1 1/2 inch. Draw a straight line with that measurement across the center of a separate piece of tracing paper, and fold it in half so the endpoints of the lines match up. Draw a half surfboard shape starting from the point with the line extending down the middle. Make the sides as wide as you want the cap sleeves to be. Add a seam allowance of 1 1/2 inch.
3. Put your existing dress on top of the new fabric to figure out how much fabric you will need. Add an additional 1 inch for the hem and double the amount of fabric for the width. Using these measurements, cut out blocks of fabric for the front and the back of the dress.
4. Pin the tracing paper pattern for the front and back pattern of the dress to the fabric and cut along the pattern lines. Pin and cut two pieces from the cap sleeve pattern.
5. Pin the front and back dress pieces together with wrong sides facing. Sew the sides and tops of the shoulders together, leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Fold the cap sleeve pieces in half lengthwise. Pin them to the tops of the shoulders and sew to the shoulders with a 1/2-inch seam allowance.
6. Add fancy trim, such as rick-rack around the sleeves and neck. Sew buttons down the center of the front of the dress. Add rick-rack and pom-poms to the hem.
Tags: Fancy Nancy, seam allowance, tracing paper, back dress, front back, your existing dress, additional inch