I Could Not Figure Out How To Sew This Dress

For the first time, a pattern plus instructions has me completely stumped!

And what makes it worse--this is my old pal Joan Hinds, whose praises I have been singing to the Moon and back thanks to all my sewing from All Dolled Up. But I just cannot wrap my head around her Turtleneck T-Shirt Dress from Doll Fashion Studio. It's supposed to be a dress that looks like a turtleneck and skirt combo. Cute, right?

I got the turtleneck part just fine, and I also think it's very cute, although it definitely does best with the drapiest fabric you've got (this fabric is a weird kind of mustard-colored polyester knit that I let the little kid pick out when she was going through a very specific phase of wanting to make her own very specific clothing items--that phase did not last quite long enough for her to make the shirt she'd planned for this fabric, and I don't tend to sew with a lot of polyester knits, ahem, so I've resigned myself to simply chipping away at it for eternity):

I got the skirt part just fine, too, and I'm particularly pleased about the bottom, which is unfinished since the selvedge on this fabric is really nice!

I'm even pleased at how well I matched the thread color! Turns out that tan thread is nearly invisible on mustard knit, yay.

But okay, here's the step that threw me. You've got your shirt made and your skirt made, and here's what comes next:

Gather the top edge of the skirt slightly and, with right sides together, stitch to the lower edge of the top. Fold the top edge 1/2" (13mm) over the seam line and stitch the fold to the seam allowance. The stitching will be approximately 1/2" (13mm) above the fold.

There's an accompanying hand-drawn illustration of what I guess is the process of stitching the fold to the seam allowance.

So what I think I'm meant to do is sew the skirt and bodice together, then kind of pleat it to make a pretend shirt hem, then stitch that pretend hem in place? So that means the seam line where I sewed the top and bottom together will be at that fold? Or hidden inside it somehow?

Anyway, I did what I thought I was supposed to, and I guess it kind of worked, but it looked super bulky and not like a turtleneck with a skirt.

So I picked it all out, hemmed the bottom of the turtleneck, added a casing and elastic to the skirt, and made a turtleneck with a skirt!

That's way better, anyway, because now my niece's doll has a turtleneck that can be paired with any other bottom-

--and a skirt that can be paired with any other top! 

So, ultimately this outfit was salvageable, but not a winner. I'm keeping the pattern pieces, though, because you don't come across a doll turtleneck sewing pattern very often!

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to weird old cemeteries, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!