The Cerena Dress Hack

Today I am so very excited to show you a little something I have been working on. The Cerena Dress Hack! Now the Cerena is already an absolutely AMAZING pattern all on it's own, but as soon as I made my first one it got my creative juices flowing and I just knew I had to give my first pattern hack a try. And I am completely in love with the results! To find out how to make your Cerena into a dress keep reading below:

First up, head on over to pick up your copy of the Cerena pattern and follow the instructions to figure out what size you will be needing, then print out the required pages. The only pattern pieces I used for this hack were the front and back top pieces. I used the measurements for the neck tie and my own measurements (that I will explain shortly) for the skirt piece.

Now, take your top back piece and on the left hand side measure 4" and mark. On the right hand side measure 3" from the elastic casing guide and mark, use a ruler to connect your two marks.

Now line the bottom of your top back piece up with your top front piece and transfer the mark. Repeat on the other side, use a ruler to connect your two markings.

Cut along the new measurements you have made on both the front and back top pieces, you will now have your shorter pattern pieces ready (Do not discard the pieces you cut off). Use these to cut out your front and back top pieces as per the Cerena pattern instructions.

Follow the instructions for the Cerena top until step 4.5. Do not insert your neck tie yet. We will insert it at the end to make adding the top to the skirt easier. When you are finished you should have a completed top piece.

Now for the fun part! Take the bottom of your top back piece and measure along the top and down one side. You will use these measurements for your skirt pieces.

Take the top measurement and double it(as your fabric is cut on the fold). Now depending on how twirly you want your dress, multiply this number by either 1.25 or 1.5 to get your skirt width. I went with less twirl so my measurement looked like this:

9x2x1.25= 22.5

Next, take your side measurement to the closest inch and double it, then add 1" to allow for hemming (If you'd like a more accurate fit then instead of this measurement you can measure your child from elbow to above the knee for your length number). Mine looked like this:

6x2+1= 13

Cut 2 of your skirt pieces (mine were 22.5 x 13") and sew with right sides facing with an overlocker down both short ends. You should now have one skirt piece.

Hem the bottom edge of your skirt piece. You can do this by either overlocking around the edge and then turning this up, pressing towards the skirt and topstitching; or by turning up 1/4" and pressing, then turning up another 1/4", pressing and top stitching.

Next, gather the top edge of your skirt. There is a GREAT tutorial for this in the Cerena pattern! With right sides together pin the edges of your skirt and top pieces together. The back of the top will need to be adjusted as you go to allow for the gathering created by the elastic.

Overlock around your pinned edge, then press your stitching up and press before topstitching. Now thread your necktie through and VOILA! You have yourself your very own Cerena dress!

If you make your own Cerena dress be sure to leave me a comment below and let me know how it went!

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