DIY Maxi Dress - Round 2

(I apologize for the extremely tired face. It was too early to be taking pictures.)

Earlier this summer I made this maxi dress. 

The directions said it would take 30 minutes, but ended up taking me over two hours.  

Now this skirt probably was a little more than 30 minutes, but definitely easier than the last one. 

 All you need is an old tank top & 2 yards of knit/jersey fabric.

(I guess your tank top doesn't have to be old. Mine definitely was.)

First cut your tank top, leaving about an inch more than you want to show on your dress.

Then take your two yards of fabric and cut off one of the sides to make it as wide as you'd like it. 

(What I wish I would have done here is lay a maxi skirt that I like on top and cut out the sides, using it as a pattern.  I ended up having to take mine in around the waist after I was done.  It would have been much easier to do that here.)

Using a zigzag stitch sew up both sides of your rectangle. 

I tried mine on and it was way to wide.  I could have done a gathered stitch around the waist, which would've work.  But instead I just cut the extra off and sewed the side again. 

If you want your skirt more gathered around the waist (and then it would be looser the rest of the length) you can follow this tutorial here.

Next slide your tank top inside your skirt. 

Then pin your tank top to your skirt. 

Now my skirt was still a little wider than my tank top.
(This is where a doing a gathered/ruffled stitch would help).

But I just folder over the fabric - like little pleats and pinned it down. 

Sew around the circle, using a zigzag stitch. 

And turn it inside out.

Since it is knit fabric you don't need to hem it, although I may end up doing it later. 

And that's it!

I also think I will end up wearing it with a belt too. 

(Which comes in handy to cover up any mistakes on the waist line!) 

I'm always a little nervous doing a sewing tutorial, as I am no expert, so let me know if something doesn't make sense!

Hope you all had a good weekend!

craft-o-maniac   YOLO Mondays
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DIY Maxi Dress

Ideally this DIY project should have taken me thirty minutes according to the tutorial I followed.  

Which if I would've followed it correctly, it probably would have. 

After I made her dress, which should turn out all cute looking like this: 

winthrop chronicles

I tried it on, and looked as though I was wearing a teal colored tent.

Which was quite unflattering on me, 

 so I decided to make it more fitting.  

I had already followed the directions for the neckline and arms.  

Then I took this maxi dress and laid it on the dress I made from the tutorial 

(which pretty much gives you a big rectangle sewn on three sides).

I traced around my maxi dress onto the fabric and sewed up the new sides.   

And then added a strip of green fabric at the bottom.  

Since it is knit fabric you don't have to hem or finish any of the lines. 

Needless to say this "30 minute" project turned into a few hours, but I think it was worth it.

I wasted quite a bit of time before I decided to make it a more fitted dress. 

Maybe now that I know what I'm doing I could do it in 30 minutes!

Craft -o-Maniac   Making Monday Marvelous
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