I started with just a plain sheet cake and cut it into the dress shape.  Crumb coat (dirty ice) the cake with some buttercream icing.  Color the fondant and roll out about 1/8 of an inch in thickness and apply to cake.   Now you are ready for the fun part!   Roll out and cut strips of fondant for the lace detail.   You will want to roll this to about 2/8 inch so when you cut your strips you still have some extra thickness to work with to make the ruffles.  Once the strips are cut, I took a polyethylene rolling pin and rolled the outer edges of the strip in sections until the fondant began to ruffle.   Apply ruffles to bottom of dress, sleeves and collar.   For the bodice belt I used a clapboard impression mat for texture.   The button panel was made using a ribbon cutter and the button are simply small balls of fondant that I used a ball tool to indent the center and a toothpick to make the button holes.   I used a lace mold to create the decorative lace at the bottom of the dress for some additional design detail. 

Use your imagination and creativity to design this adorable baby dress.   I think with my next one I’ll use a fondant impression mat to give the dress some texture/design. 

If you give this a try, let me know how it turned out and what tools you used for your design…I’d love to hear from you!