When I saw the Portabello Pixie Gracie – Round yoke dress and the Abacadabra 81 – 20 Gore dress I knew I was going to make them for my little girl. Each pattern has a romantic/dreamy look. I’m a big fan of the round yoke and my sweetpea is a big fan of the twirl skirt.

Portabello Pixie Gracie – Round yoke top

Abacadabra 81 – 20 Gore dress bottom

After looking at the patterns I realized that the Gracie top
and the Abacadabra 81 dress bottom would work well together.  The yokes/tops for both dresses are attached
with a straight seam to the lower part of the dress.  Here are the steps I followed to construct
the dress.

                        Step 1              Determine
the size needed for the top part of the dress.  Since sweetpea is thin I chose to use a size 2

Step 2              Make
the top part of the dress and determine the finished measurement of the lower
edge.  This measurement will be

taken from the top that is
buttoned (or pinned) closed.  This will
give you the finished garment measurement. 
Call this measurement A.

Step3               Add
the seam allowance to measurement A

                        The
upper edge of the skirt(bottom of the dress) is as follows:  Skirt
upper edge = 2(measurement A + seam allowance)

Step 4              Determine
size needed for lower part of the dress. 
Since sweetpea is thin and tall I chose to use size
104 for the lower part of the dress. 

Step 5              Measure
upper edge of pattern pieces needed for the Ababcadabra 81 lower
part of dress.  Do not include the seam
allowances. For size 104 piece
4 upper edge is 2.0625 in and piece 3 is .6875 in wide.  I added these measurements
together and it adds up to 2.75 ins wide. 
Since there 10 sets of pieces 3 and 4 the
finished measurement of the upper edge of the skirt is 27.5 inches.  The lower edge of the top turned out to be
about 23 inches. 

 Step 6     Since there is a difference in the lower edge of the top and upper edge
of the skirt an adjustment in the skirt can be made to make the to fit
together. If the difference between the two measurements is very small
(maybe an inch or less) then the skirt can be eased into the top. If its larger
then the extra length can be adjusted after the skirt panels are sewn
together or a little width can be taken out of pattern piece 4.

Step 7     Once the lower skirt in sewn together and adjusted as needed it can be
sewn to the top.
Step 8 Finish the top per the instructions of the Gracie dress. Finish the skirt
edge as discussed in the Abacadabra 81 instructions

Finishing notes. I used a one piece pajama pants pattern and an old pillow case to make the pantaloons ,(but one of the Portabello Pixie pants patterns would also be cute). I also, added the sash (about 3.5 inches wide) to complete the look. Have fun mixing your patterns too.