Featuring Daschunds dressed as Hot Dogs!
Years ago, whilst placing a fabric order from Spoonflower, I picked up 2 meters of their signature petal cotton designed by Alexdesignsthings, who just so happens to also be a sweet friend of mine. When I first learnt that a friend designed fabric and it was this cute, I was so excited to go and support them but I never felt brave enough to turn their fabric into something decent, so I decided to wait until my sewing improved. Well, years have quite literally passed, and I’ve yet to actually make something with this super cute weiner dog dressed as a hot dog print until now! Well, actually, until April, when I just decided it had been sitting in my stash for too long, and it was time it was made into a cute mini dress right before the cold weather hit us.
Although the original fabric is no longer available, I have found this fabric from Spoonflower which is similar with it’s hot dog/daushund design.
Whilst thinking back on some old sewing projects, I remembered one of my earliest dress making attempts using Buttock 6413 by Gertie. This dress pattern is inspired by Marilyn Monroe in ‘Niagra’ (1953) and her peekaboo pink dress which has become such an iconic Hollywood costume today. My original attempt was made from cotton featuring hot air balloons and I omitted the patterns fitted skirt for a self drafted rectangle skirt (nothings really changed much has it) and it was so well received online that even Gertie re-shared it on her social media (what an achievement that was for little old sewing novice me). Since we’re all friends here and being honest, I made the original dress using size 14 which, as we’ve all learnt, is too big for me so this time I planned to make it out of the size 12. As I did in my first attempt at Butterick 6413, I will also be self drafting a skirt but this time I will be opting for a mini circle skirt instead.
Back to the fabric, Spoonflower signature petal cotton is very strong and robust which means it’s not the softest or flawiest cotton on the market. This particular fabric was no exception but I knew it would sew up beautifully which it did. As for the pattern on this fabric, it features a large soft red gingham background with a scattering of cartoon daschunds wearing hot dog buns adorned with a drizzle of mustard. It’s super cute, fun and summery which is everything I wanted for this project. Now I only had 2 meters of this fabric (Spoonflower isn’t always the cheapest place to get fabric from), which meant I had to be strategic with pattern placements but we will get to that a little later. From my stash also came some vintage ribbon trim which originally came from my grandmothers stash that I inherited.
Sew, let’s get started! As I only had 2 meters of fabric to work with, I knew I would have to be really clever with my pattern placements. I decided to cut out my circle skirt pieces first as they would be the largest and hopefully I could squeeze out the bodice from the remaining fabric. As I wanted my skirt to be only about 20 inches long, I drafted my circle skirt pieces and then realised the fabric was too narrow. I could have cut the skirt pieces into panels but then I would have run out of fabric; instead I decided to cut out the circle pieces as best as I could and using the fabric scraps, I found pieces where I could sew along the pattern creating an almost invisible join thus extending my skirt pieces to their right size. These pieces ended up being on the side of my skirt and I love how they came out; adding extra pieces of fabric to make pieces bigger is something I learnt from old sewing manuals especially in hard times when fabric wasn’t easy to come by. This was a great chance to try out this technique and I loved it.
Once the skirt was cut out, I easily fit my bodice pieces amongst the left overs but at the end of the project, there was basically nothing left of the fabric (couldn’t even fit pockets) but I was so happy to have used it all. The bodice sewed together quite easily and although I don’t remember my first attempt that clearly, I could tell just from the way it came together that my skills had greatly improved. I will note that piece 5, which is your midriff front does not need two pieces cut in the fashion fabric as only one will be seen so that would have saved me some fabric had I known.
Do not be intimidated by the cut-out in the pattern, it’s really simple to sew and you will be amazed at your own skills. I do remember feeling intimidated years ago but now it just seems like a fun pattern to add to my summer dress sewing rotation. To make my dress bodice fit as best as I could get it, I adjusted the fit at the back along the waistline and took it in about an inch and a half which made a big difference to the overall fit.
When it came to sewing the skirt, as mentioned above, the pattern pieces had to be puzzled together but overall, a circle skirt was super quick and I loved how cute it looked once complete. As I couldn’t add pockets, I decided to add some ribbon trim to the edge of the skirt and to the arm holes which was the cherry on top of overall cuteness.
It might be worth noting that this garment isn’t always easy to pair with certain bras as the bra will show through the peep-hole. I opted for no bra as I felt supported enough but if you need to always wear a bra, it’s worth playing around and noting that a bra may not work with this project.
I felt super cute when wearing this dress. Originally I had hoped to wear it for a barbecue with friends but life just got too busy and instead, she came with me to the Gold Coast and enjoyed a fun stay at the QT Cabins.
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