Super Duper Easy Dress Tutorial:)

I got a bug, it is that time of year you know? Not that kind of bug that makes me sick, but the kind that makes me want to be super crafty, and make cute things for all the people I love. I almost always get the "crafty bug" around Christmas, probably because I'm thinking "give, give, give". I don't have tons of moola , but I don't want that to stop the giving fun:)  So, I turn to hand made gift goodies.

I saw a tutorial on http://elleapparel.blogspot.com/ and it inspired me to make this little number. After I made my dress I had enough leftover fabric to make a matching dress for layla, so I couldn't resist:)

 (pictures of the finished product at the bottom of the post)

For my dress you will need:

any old shirt

yard of fabric

2 inch wide elastic

First of all, you will want to try your shirt on, and decide where you want the waistline to be, then leave an extra 1/2 inch for the seam. Mark the shirt, and cut it to be the right length.

next you will cut out the skirt fabric. I wanted to have the skirt gathered at the waist line, so I cut out 2 rectangular pieces of fabric. However, it would also be super cute to cut out an A-line for a little flare. If you are doing the A-line, you will probably want the top to be the same width as your shirt.

Next Step: Sew the two rectangles together on the sides. You will lay your rectangles together facing each other, so you can see the inner side of the fabric. Just do a straight stitch down each side, and you'll end up with a big tube. Flip the tube right side out.

 Next step: Measure your waist, and cut the elastic to the same length as your waist. Sew it together to make a loop.

Next step: Lay the elastic over the top of the skirt. If you are doing it A line style, then just sew it straight on. If you do it like me, you will need to scrunch the skirt fabric as you go to make it gathered. Tip: do the front side first, so if you cant scrunch as much towards the end you won't have a funny looking front;)

Next step: Pin the shirt in place at the top of the elastic.

Next step: Sew the shirt to the elastic.

 Last step: Hem the bottom of the skirt. You can get creative with this part, and make it skinny, fat, zig zag, straight, whatever you like.

This is the dress I whipped up for Layla, and it was a complete experiment, so I don't have pictures of the process:( sorry. After this picture I added another dart on the front neckline so it wouldn't be so wide. The next time I wear the one I made for me I'll try to remember to take a picture of myself standing up so you can see it better.



I guess they turned out pretty good, because nobody at church asked if I made our dresses....Success!

More hand made fun to come:)