KAE'S INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DRESS ME MARTHA DOLL DRESS

I used a pattern from the book provided with Martha Pullen's Dress Me dolls but any pattern of approximately the same style for 18" girl-dolls would work. I used bias binding for the neckline.
The designs are from Essential K-Lace®: 

Collar:
Stitch 8 "lattice" designs
Stitch 7 "hrtdrop" designs

The lattice design will be next to the back opening on both sides.

Skirt flounce:
Stitch 36 "lattice" designs
Stitch 36 "hrtdrop" designs

Stitch these designs together before removing stabilizer! Alternate the "lattice" and "hrtdrop" designs. Clip (do not tear) excess stablizer from around the design. Place them together, overlapping the edges slightly, and use basting glue to secure. Then using a satin or zig-zag stitch with a width of 2 and a length of 1 or less, stitch along the satin-stitch edge of the lattice design, joining it to the hrtdrop design. Continue until you have all designs stitched together in a row.

After stitching the designs together, soak to remove stabilizer and basting glue. This will take lots of soaking. Use a large pot or bowl and several changes of water.

After the lace is clean and dry, the collar can be stitched to the edge of the bias binding by hand. Pin the collar in place. Begin by pinning the center front and the two back edges. Distribute evenly and pin in a few more places. Stich the collar in place by tacking at each point, taking the thread to the underside between points.

The skirt flounce is a bit more difficult. My skirt was 45 inches in circumference. I divided the number of "hrtdrop" designs (36) into 45, which is 1.25. So the "hrtdrop" designs should be 1.25 inches apart. I wanted to stitch these on by machine, so I wanted each point securely in place. I began by pinning the "hrtdrop" designs at 1.25 inches apart upside down and face down on the outside of the skirt, about 3/4 of an inch from the bottom raw edge of the skirt. Then I secured each point with basting glue. You may baste by hand, instead, and this may actually be a better option. If you use basting glue, be very careful to only glue the very tip of the point, as the lace needs to hang free. If you are going to wash your garment, the glue will come out, but if you are using non-washable fabric, take care.

After basting all the points in place, use a straight machine stitch to stitch the points down. Just catch the tips of the points. Then when you turn your hem up, the flounce will hang down, and the stitching at the top of the flounce will not show. Hem the dress with your preferred hemming method. I hemmed by hand, but you may prefer to use a wing-needle stitch on the machine. You could also hem by machine, and cover the stitching with another row of lace, such as the heart edging I used at the waist and the sleeve edge.