Thursday 20 September 2012

Weekend Project- DIY Striped Dress- TUTORIAL (EASY)

 Hey guys here is a tutorial for one of my favourite dresses. It is a very easy dress to make and could be made with any Jersey knit fabric, get creative and try fun colour combinations. You can wear it with leggings and a cardigan in colder climates. Good Luck!

 Here is what you'll need





 Step 1 - Gather Materials

  1. One meter or more depending on your dress size of a stripped jersey fabric
  2. Half a meter of a co-ordinating jersey fabric(Optional)
  3. Scissors
  4. Coordinating thread
  5. Sewing Machine
  6. Tape measure
  7. Tailors chalk


Step 2 - Take and transfer measurements
  
Cut out 2 rectangles or squares with these dimensions
if your hips are wider than your shoulder, use your hip measurement divided by 2.

































Next fold the fabric in two along the width and measure out these dimensions







 (A) Measure from your Shoulder to Bust (widest part of your bust).





(B) Measure from shoulder to waist.







(C) Measure from Shoulder to widest part of your hips.

























Divide your bust by 4 and measure across (A)





Divide your waist by 4 and measure across (B)





Divide your hips by 4 and measure across (C)










Join the marked lines like so....


                                      































Then cut the fabric adding a 1 inch seam allowance

                                    Result



































 The neck




 *Measure 1 inch down from the top corner of the folded side.



** Measure about 5 inches across on the folded side.




*** Join the 2 lines with a curve


**** It will look like this

 Step 3- Sew 

I used a serger/overlocker to sew this dress but you don’t need a serger/overlocker to sew Jersey knit fabrics. A normal 2.5 zigzag stitch will do just fine as it will allow the fabric to stretch or stretch stitch if your machine can do stretch stitches. To find out if your machine can do stretch stitches look for the S.S on the stitch length dial.










                                Sew along the red marked lines          



































Now try on the dress and check that it fits.

Then mark how low you want your neckline to be, like I have done in the picture below.



At this point you can move on to the last step if you want the dress the way it is otherwise carry on to the next step.
 Step 4- The waist band
 Most people say horizontal stripes make you look bigger, I believe that with the right tricks it can do the opposite. This next step is about adding the waist band to trick the eyes and make you look slimmer depending on your body type.

Try on the dress again.

If you are apple shaped- Mark a line just below your Bust (thinnest part of your waist) and make the dress shorter to show off your legs

If you are pear shaped- Mark a line just below your natural waist
If you are an hour glass- Mark a line on your natural waist
If you are a rectangle- Mark a line around your belly button.

Now take the dress off and cut across that line
Next measure a strip of  fabric from your co ordinating fabric

**The length should be your waist size 
**and the width should be 10 inches 
 Note this- Make sure lenght of the strip is cut so that is stretches horizontally. i.e  cut the length along the grain. Do not add any seam allowance as the fabric will stretch horizontally.

Now fold the fabric in 2 along the width so that is doubled and provides support around the waist.



 *Turn the dress on the wrong side
 place the strip on a table
 place the top half on the strip so that the right sides are together.

* Pin in place with a 1 inch seam allowance

* Do the same for the bottom half






* Sew horizontally along the red lines







































* Now sew up both ends of the the strip along the red line with a seam allowance of 1/2 an inch.
Step 5 Finishing up

The arms 

Do a simple hem by folding 2cm around the arm and sewing down with a straight stitch length of 2.5

Do the same on the bottom of the dress

  

The neck trim

Cut a strip of fabric this time across the grain 20inches long and 4inches wide.
 
*Fold the strip along the width and press with an iron.










 
 * Place the strip on the neckline and pin around.








 
 *Trim of the excess fabric and join the two ends together.  











 

                                                         *Sew round with 1cm seam allowance 








 
 *Join the ends like so... 










                                      
* Steam press the seams down 












* Then turn the strip over and steam press down as shown in the picture.

                                                                                                                
Voila!!!





 How was it difficult, easy, hard to follow? Leave a message below and I will try to assist you.


Lots of love
Nemi x