What do you do with enough left over ponte to make a girl’s tunic dress?  This is what you do!

The pattern is New Look 6018, view B. I eliminated the centre back zip and cut the back with the seamline on the fold. It just goes over her head – which is all that it needs to do! This time I remembered to use the reverse side of the fabric as a contrast, which I used for the dropped waistband. I also added a bow on the side (made free form; it is just a rectangle of fabric folded in half right sides together, sewn around the open edges leaving a gap for turning, turned around the right way, then wrapped around the centre with some ribbon).

Super easy, super fast, super effective. There was enough fabric left to make a simple headband to match – just a tube of fabric with elastic threaded through the centre, then the ends stitched together. Although it did take me three tries to get the elastic the right length to be comfortable.

I used a twin needle to topstitch around the neckline, the hem, and along the waistband edges. I also used it to hem the armholes. The instructions suggested using bias binding to finish the armholes. I was lazy and just turned the edge to the inside and twin needled it down. The ponte is so pliable and easy to manipulate that it worked beautifully.

I made this dress in size 8, with no alterations. Coincidentally, Clare’s new shoes match her dress perfectly! Now we need to make sure that we don’t wear out matching dresses on the same day. I highly recommend this pattern (although I think that it may be out of print).  There is also a lovely option with short sleeves and a-line skirt….maybe if the next ponte dress I make myself has some fabric leftover….