Guest Post: Scallops by Carlee of Ladybird Ln.

I am so excited to be 'At Second Street' today! This is seriously one of my top ten favorite blogs, I am absolutely blown away by Kalleen's creativity, and attention to detail!

My name is Carlee from 'Ladybird Ln' This is my first time guest posting, and I am ridiculously excited. My sister Alyssa and I started our blog this past January. Ladybird Ln refers to the street we grow up on. We like to share posts on sewing, decorating, design, cooking, basically an eclectic mixture of our creative adventures!

I am a former teacher, mom to three darling yet busy kids, and wife to a hunky cowboy. We work hard together on our family farm where we raise turkey and cattle. We play even harder, we like to camp, attempt to fish, and take the long way home!

Enough about me, lets get on to the project. I was determined this year to make my daughters Easter dresses. I wanted something simple, with a touch of whimsy, after all it is Easter! Today, I am going to show you how to transform any dress or skirt pattern by adding scallops. I used Simplicity Pattern 2231 ($2.44 at Walmart), but it can be easily adapted to any pattern. Let's get started!

Step 1: Make a scallop pattern

1- When making a pattern use the rule of 3's. Meaning make sure your ratio is pretty close to 3:1. For example if you wanted your scallop to be 3 inches wide, the height of the scallop should be about 1 inch. The scallop for my pattern is six inches wide, and just over two inches tall.
2-Once you determine how big you would like your scallop make a grid on your patterned paper in the dimensions you want your scallop. I made my grid six inches wide by 2 1/2 wide.
3- Raid your kitchen for a bowl that is close to this criteria, and use the bowl to make a pattern!

Step 2: Adjust Dress Pattern

1-Now that you have your scallop pattern, you will probably need to tweak your pattern a little. For instance, since I made my scallop 6 inches wide, I need the width of my skirt to be a multiple of six, so it does not stop mid-scallop. Additionally, you will need to add 1/2" for 1/4" side seam allowances. For the 3T dress I adjusted the skirt front and back to 15" tall by 24 1/2" wide. The size 6 dress skirt front and back I adjusted to 21" tall x 30 1/2" wide. I came up with these measurements by measuring the pattern, and measuring other dresses that they have. It was really an educated guess, and it worked well!
2-You will also need a lining fabric in the same dimensions as your skirt fabric front and back. I used muslin.

3-Using a pencil mark your scallops no closer then a quarter inch to the edge of your fabric. Connect your dress fabric and lining fabrics with pins.

Step 3: Sewing the Scallops

1- With your dress and lining fabrics right side together, follow the scallop pattern you made with a strait stitch.
2- Trim excess fabric and lining.

3-Make snips on your scallop especially in the peak, so your fabric does not bunch up in the peak when you turn it right side out.
4-Turn right side out, and press.

5- With right sides together, sew your front and back skirt pieces together.

6- Top stitch scallops.

Now that you are done with your scallops, continue with your pattern as follows! In the pattern I used the skirt fabric is gathered, I have a great tip for gathering fabric, you can find it here!

To finish up the dress, I made a gathered sash, and of course I had to made some homemade hair bows. I kept the accessories really simple because the main fabric is so busy. By the way, the main fabric is from Moda's Hunky Dory line.

I really love how the dresses turned out, and more importantly my girls love them too!

I was so happy it stopped snowing so we could take some pictures outside!

Thank you so much Kalleen, for letting me guest post on your blog today! Come stop by and visit me at Ladybird Ln when you get a chance!
                                                                                                                                                                      


Thank you, Carlee! I am so loving these Easter Dresses. I think the scallops are the perfect touch to make them extra specially. I hope to try this technique soon. Now, I need to get going on our Easter dresses.