Pink Lace…ohhhhhhhhhhh

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When Jen & Autie asked me to be a part of their Think Pink Series, I immediately said yes. With 2 little girls, pink is an absolute favorite color in our house. So much so that for the longest time I would have said, ‘if it isn’t pink, don’t bother!’ Lol. Thankfully my eldest has recently started seeing the merits of turquoise, gold, purple, and anything rainbow. But pink will always be her first love…

What I needed to figure out though was what to make for the Think Pink Series, the door was wide open! And then with one stroke of luck, Jen came out with her Girly Racer Tunic.

It was all I needed.

This little dress that she shared is not only the perfect every day dress, but has the potential to be turned into so much more! Luckily, we both have daughters the same age so the pattern she so generously shared was perfect. But for those of you who may need to figure out how to scale to fit your own little one, a fantastic tutorial on grading can be found HERE.

Using an old lace curtain, some RIT dye, a zipper, and some basic fabric I had lying around…I decided to dress things up a bit…

My daughter loves it, and asks to wear her new dress almost every day. When that happens, I call it a success.

Here is how you can dress up your Racer Tunic with some lace…

First, I gave some of Grandma’s old lace curtains a little RIT bath. I like to use the washing machine method, but this always dulls down the color as I can never control the amount of water used. Believe it or not, this dye actually started out as Red!!!

Need to find some lace? Just browse your local thrift store…I always find LOADS of these curtains there. It is much cheaper than buying it by the yard, AND it has 4 finished edges instead of just 2 – Bonus!

I also used regular cotton fabric – not knit as the original racer tunic tutorial suggests. Which means I needed to add a zipper in order to get the dress on and off…

Using the pattern pieces that Jen provides HERE, I cut the ‘front’ pattern piece as instructed, adding 1″ on the bottom hem. For the ‘back’ pattern piece, I did NOT cut on the Fold, but rather cut 2 ‘back’ pattern pieces – extending the center line out 1/2″ for seam allowance, as well as adding 1″ on the bottom hem.

For the sleeves, I decided to make mine 3/4 in length as it is still a little chilly where we live. I also wanted them to be slightly ‘belly’ in shape, so I arced out until I reached the desired length for the sleeve.

Now to cut the pattern pieces for the lace. I am going to cut the same exact pieces that I just cut out of the regular cotton fabric, except the bottom hem will be slightly different for the ‘front’ and ‘back’ dress pieces. As I mentioned earlier, lace already has finished edges. So instead of arcing up at the bottom hem sides, I simply cut a straight line.

Now, sew the pattern pieces together as the original Racer Tunic tutorial instructs, including hemming the bottom and sleeves of the cotton lining dress. Repeat for the lace overlay (minus the hemming). You can find the tutorial again HERE. The only difference will be that the back has a center opening.

Slip the lining inside of the lace, and pin around the raw back center edge and neckline. Baste stitch to secure.

Insert your zipper to the top of the back center seam. For a good tutorial on sewing zippers, I always refer to this one HERE. It is a fantastic tutorial, even if it is your very first time working with zippers. Don’t be scared!!!

Once you have the zipper in, simple sew the bottom back center seam together and add some bias trim to your neckline to finish!

And just like that you have the perfect little lace dress for your little one…

Think Pink was such a fun Series!  I was so happy to be a part of it!