Dress Obsessed

During the summer all I wear is dresses. They're easy to put on, lightweight, breezy, comfy, and are practical. They can be dressed up to go out or dressed down when lounging around the house or pool when it's too bloomin' hot to brave the outside. This summer I bought a ton of new dresses (probably more than I should have). I also made a few. I bought a new sewing machine and made a maxi dress and a shorter dress. I loved the maxi, but wasn't too in love with the shorter dress. The tutorial I followed had me fold the fabric and I found it to be too "poofy" I guess. It just didn't feel right. I made it my "wear when no one is going to see me" dress. I still wanted to give the shorter dress another go and when I was shopping for fabric to cover my pillows a few weeks ago I ran across some jersey knit fabric and knew that would be much better. I finally gave it a whirl today and am upset that I didn't do it sooner. I LOVE IT!! It was way easier, and it's lighter weight because this time I didn't fold the fabric in half (or measure...I hate measuring).

Here's how I did it:

I ended up using a little under 1yd of fabric and a tank top I had in my drawer.

* Cut your fabric so it wraps around your high waist about 1 1/2 times

* Cut it to the length you want it (mine hits just above my knee)

* Fold your fabric in half (right sides together) and sew down the short side. 

   -Now you should have a tube of fabric

* Next, sew (for this part I used elastic thread in my bobbin and regular on the top) around the top edge of your skirt. This will gather the fabric.

* Cut your tank top off where you want your skirt part to start

* Put your tank top (right side out) inside your skirt with the shoulders first. You're skirt should still   have the raw edges on the outside.

*Pin the bottom edges of your tank top to the gathered part of your skirt so the seam of the skirt is lined up with the back middle of your tank top (so the seam will run down the back of the dress)

*Keeping the elastic thread in the bobbin, sew around the gathered part of the skirt again, but this time sewing the tank top to the skirt.

*Turn it all right side out and you're done. 

  -Well, if you used Jersey knit you're done because it won't fray, if you used other fabric you will need to hem the bottom of your dress, then you're done.

Simple. Simple. It took me about 20 minutes from start to finish. It took me longer to decide which tank top to use. Now I want one in every color. 

I paired it with different belts and used some left over fabric for a sash and I like all the looks. 

Then I took some pics and messed around on my new Mac in Photoshop and figured out how to cut out the background. I also learned that a white tank top and making the background white as well makes it look like I cut off part of my arm...oh well. Thank you hubby for the awesome birthday present! Now go make some of these dresses before summer is over!!