Indian Princess Dress

This post is specifically for the 4th year campers at Dallas East Stake Young Women's Camp. By now you should have your fabric and the very basic instructions. The dress itself is fairly simple to make. There are a couple of ways to do it. This is the way I did it.

Start with the fabric provided to you. Do not dye or alter the base color of the fabric. Fold the fabric in half. This is to find the center.

Now that you have the center cut a slit just along the crease. This needs to be just big enough to slip over the head. You can cut a smaller slit in the center of the first one. That helps to give a little more room.

Drape fabric over girl. Mark the side seams and under arm seams. (Dresses may not be sleeveless.)
I used pins to mark where the seams would go.

Slip the dress off with pins still in place. Use a ruler or a straight edge to true up the seams. Use a straight stitch along marking lines.

The excess can be used to make fringe. Just cut slits at about every 1". Trim away what you don't want.

If you are not going to use fringe, trim away the excess and then turn.

Slip the dress back on. Check the hem line. Hem can be straight or come to a point.  Dresses should be knee length when the young woman's arms are raised straight over her head. This is also a good time to mark the neckline. Necklines can be scoop, V-neck, square or whatever you want. Nothing low cut.

Here are some examples:

Now that your dress is stitched together it is time to decorate. Dresses can be decorated with ribbons, beads, paints, feathers, sharpie, embroidered, etc.

Alternate method: Use a t-shirt as a guide. Fold fabric in half. Lay t-shirt on top. Use that as a guide to mark your seams.

Need some inspiration? Follow this link to see pics of dresses:
https://goo.gl/photos/CYmRFXMNrjqQcmkm9