Skirt Lengths ~ Something to Keep in Mind~ Project Dress A Girl

Normally you never see your dress you have donated for project dress a girl. Fortunately, I receive pictures from the Ukraine. Such as the one above of this beautiful young girl. I am sure many of you know the pattern and know it well. This cult favorite pattern was designed to fit a girl of a 4 or 5 years old. Clearly, from the photo this young girl is much older than 5 years of age.  

This situation is not anyone's fault. I want to make myself very clear. It just so happens that the dress fits an older child. Thus the length of the dress is too short.  I am positive the girl's love their dresses as they are. Dress length is something to keep in mind when making a dress. Especially if you are sending dresses to Shari ( Canadian Ambassador)  nine times out of ten your dress will be going to the Ukraine. 

This is a question I get asked often. What size should I make?  Dresses for older girls are the most requested, 5 and up. 

As an Ambassador for Dress A Girl Around the World, I would be remise not to mention the rising hemlines. I am only trying to point out a smaller dress pattern has many possibilities. In the Dress requirements the dress should hang just below the knee.

If you are making Alisa's dress pattern from Thoughtful Creativity this could be a new option for you to explore.  Add at least 5 inches in length to the dress. You would still make the pocket the same just move it down a bit lower. I think that would work a treat!

On another note, some sewists like to make t-shirt dresses. The dress with a t-shirt on the top and woven skirt on the bottom. I have been asked how long should the skirt be? A wonderful charity sewist sent me this chart. I thought I would share it with you. It could be a handy tool for gauging how long your dresses should be. Thank you Michelle. We are aiming to have hemlines just below the knee. I hope this chart helps take some of the guess work out of your sewing project.

In the chart above the skirt length is the measurement from the waist to the hem of the skirt.

Here is another size chart to aid you.  It has back length and chest measurements. It may be a good idea to measure your pattern flat minus seam allowance to see what size range you fall into. Then you can make a length modification if needed. On your pattern measure the chest find the size range. Then  measure the back length on your pattern and compare what is left of the dress(skirt) to the skirt measurement chart.  This will help determine how much length you may or may not need to add to the bottom of your dress.  This is a European size chart, I hope this helps!

 Just another tool to help aid you on your sewing journey. I realize this is not a foolproof plan but it should help. Happy Sewing!

Shari