Frock by Friday: Friday

Finally done. I wanted to post this early but I've been so busy working on this and the photos. I can't wait to see what you've done with this dress.

As you can see I used a buttercream yellow material for the skirt. For the top I used a simple white poplin fabric and embellished it with navy bias tape and a blue and white rope twine.
I also used tiny brown and tan hued buttons.

I REALLY like this dress. It's interesting. And it's comfortable. But if I had to make it over again I would have used a floppy but sturdy fabric like garbadine. The poplin and cotton is very stiff and wrinkles easily.

Remember to post your finished frock to Grosgrain Flickr. I'll post your finished dress for Grosgrain readers to admire. See final Friday instructions below. And please follow Grosgrain for posts that don't show up on the front page.

And if you liked this Frock by Friday please Stumble It:

1. Pin the wrong side of the bodice to the right side of the skirt matching the center of the bodice to the center of the skirt. Sew it to the skirt by "stitching in the ditch" of the peplum and bodice seam. Be sure that you pin the skirt above the peplum seam.

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Frock by Friday: Thursday

1. Make the button loops. To do this take piece 8, the long small piece and cut it in half so you have two 6"ish sized rectangles. You can discard one of the strips.

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Frock by Friday: Wednesday

So sorry this is posted so late today. It's been a busy day.


1. Cut the front and back pieces of the bodice at the shoulder to the end of the dart line. Refer to pattern for dart line.Sew front and back pieces together at the shoulder seams, right sides together.

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Frock by Friday: Tuesday

Step 1. Using the skirt pattern and chalk or disappearing ink, mark where the pleats on the front and back skirt pieces should be.

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Frock by Friday: Tuesday con't....attaching the pockets

See beginning of Tuesday's post here.

1. So I didn't realize it but this skirt is contingent upon the side pockets. So you must also print out pages 7, 12, 17, 44, 45, 49, 50. Tape them together and cut it out. It will be patterns 12, 13.

If you don't have enough fabric to cut both out. Cut 13 with your skirt fabric. 12 can be another neutral color, like white, it won't be showing. It will be the inside of the pocket.

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Frock by Friday: Monday

1. Download and print the McCalls free pattern here. Sign up for a new account and they will email a link to direct you to where you can print it out. If you are having problems printing from their site go here to install an Adobe Acrobat plugin update. And then restart your computer and try to open the print screen again.

2. Download the burdastyle blouse here. The burdastyle pattern is $4.

 3. Print sheets. AT 100%, NO PAGE SCALING! Size charts here. For the McCalls Dress Pattern, only print pages 34-36; 39-41; 44-46; 49-51; and 54-56 so as not to waste paper.

4. Cut the left and bottom extra white space of all the pages. (see left image). To make this go faster, stack one row together and cut all at once. If you have a paper cutter it can go even faster.

5. Tape sheets together and cut out.

6. Lay blouse pattern onto your fabric as shown in picture to left and cut out of fabric (fold on the bottom)

7. Take your two skirt pieces from the MaCalls pattern and lay on your fabric. Lay piece 11 on the fold and piece 14 above piece 11.

DONE for today! Gee, that was easy:) If you have any questions just leave me a comment and I will try to answer them. 

And the new FBF button is below. Feel free to link to the Frock by Friday to get more fun people involved! To grab the button just highlight it, copy and paste into a new post or sidebar.

Frock by Friday: Alexander Dress

Here is the new button. Feel free to link to the Frock by Friday to get more fun people involved! To grab the button just highlight it, copy and paste into a new post.

Also, when you are printing the McCalls Dress Pattern, only print pages 34-36; 39-41; 44-46; 49-51; and 54-56 so as not to waste paper.

Download the Free McCalls Pattern

To download the free McCalls pattern go here. Sign up for a new account and they will email a link to direct you to where you can print it out.


Remember we will only be using the skirt portion of this pattern so don't print out more than you need to.

If you are having problems printing from their site go here to install an Adobe Acrobat plugin update. And then restart your computer and try to open the print screen again.

Frock by Friday: August

As discussed last month we will be doing a combination of the Burdastyle's Alexander Blouse which is $4.00 and the skirt piece from this free McCalls Pattern. Our finished frock would be connected as a dress, sort of like a faux top and skirt. The color and fabric combinations for this idea are simply endless.

The blouse paired with the pencil skirt reminded me of a modern take on a 1940s classic design.

And it's just in time for school. You can have a savvy fall frock to wear while walking down that autumnal campus sidewalk. I think this dress will be GREAT for this time of year as summer dresses tend to be more flowy and romantic.

So go get your notions together! It looks like this one will need 6-8 buttons, a long zipper for the back, somewhere around 18" (it doesn't have to be exactly 18" but close to), and if you are making a stiff belt like the one in the middle I recommend buying heavy iron on interfacing, about a half yard of it. 

I haven't looked at the yardage yet for the patterns but I will give you that information tomorrow. I'll be posting it to my followers so it doesn't clutter up the front page. Please follow this blog for those updates.

And since the giveaway was scheduled for yesterday, look for a Tuesday Technique later today. 

Photo credits: Bottom left to right: Burdastyle; theslapdashsewist; Burdastyle