Shades of Blue Dress: The Ombre Skirt

Ever have an idea and it doesn't quite go the way you planned?  That's what happened with this dress.  I had an idea for a dress with a white top, maybe a little flower on the collar and for the skirt I had in mind some fabric I had that was white with blue polka dots.  As you can see from the following pictures, the only resemblence this has to my idea is the white on top.  I also planned on using two different length skirts using a circle instead of the normal rectangle.  Neither of those things happened either.  I ordered this white top offline from Children's Place, and failed to notice the flowered details.  The flowers kind of looked silly with the polka dots.  The other thing that didn't work was that the white in the polka dot fabric was more of an off white so looked just dirty next to the crisp white shirt.  I could've just used the shirt as a shirt but it was almost dress length on my baby girl.  I went through lots of combinations of fabrics until I came up with this... which in the end I loved how it turned out!

I had these scraps from a friend.  They were already cut in convient strips from a quilt she made.  As you can see, each strip is a slightly different shade of blue. The strips were 43" x 5".  The width of the t-shirt was 10".  So each strip was a little more then double the shirt front and back.  For each strip I overcasted one edge so it wouldn't fray, and hemmed the other edge.  Lots and lots of hemming.  Then I sewed each strip in a tube. 

Then basted and gathered the tube to fit the width of the shirt.

Then attached the gathered tube at the waist line.  Next time, I would put pins to mark a straight line or use a washable pen to keep it even.  I just eyeballed it and had to pick it out and resew it. 

I measured about 2 inches down to attach the second tier.  The placement doesn't matter so much, just that the bottom of the top ruffle covers the top of the second ruffle.  (Also if your shirt isn't long enough to attach all 3 tiers, you probably could sew a tube that is the width of the shirt and the length that you want your dress to be.  Then sew to your shirt and sew the ruffles on the tube.) 

Another two inches down and I sewed on the last tier.   And viola!

 It was a very easy dress. It took me one evening and one nap time.  It probably would have taken me less, but I had to take out a bunch of mistakes, like forgetting to change my stitch length and such.

I'm not usually one to follow trends, but I think the ombre skirt gives it such character. I absolutly love how it turned out. It is just the perfect summer dress. It is so cute and girly, all full of flounce and ruffles.