Striped Handkerchief Dress

Who does not love a handkerchief hem dress?  I am absolutely in love with them!!!  They add such a beautiful illusion to the hem.  This dress was inspired by a RTW I saw in Nordstrom's.  Unfortunately, they did not have anymore dresses in my daughter's size.  That's the great part about sewing! 

When I started this project I studied a handkerchief skirt. It didn't take long to figure out how to achieve the handkerchief hem. I traced this pattern by using a straight dress.

At the waistline, I added 2 large squares, one square on each side.

My daughter loves to twirl in dresses.

Stripes:

Side View

Back View

Matching the stripes was easy...at first. Yes, I said it--EASY!  I pinned the front and back pieces together matching the stripes.  When I started to sew my pieces on my machine everything went haywire. I was working with a jersey knit which stretches. To keep the stripes aligned I moved very slowly.

First time:

• Sewing a dress using a RTW garment as the pattern piece
• Sewing a handkerchief dress
• Making my own bias tape
• Working With stripes

I would like to make this dress again with a fuller skirt.  Kind of like this:

If you know how I can achieve this look please leave comments in the field box below.