A Very Simple Strapless Dress {Mini Tutorial}

One of my latest tutorial finds was this super cute ‘Simple Skirt’ from Katy at Sweet Verbena. I stumbled across her blog via Pinterest and though she is fairly new to the blog world she has some adorable and amazing tutorials. Her style is awesome and her projects are simple and fun. In addition to making a ‘Simple Skirt’ I also used the same idea from her tutorial to create my most recent dress--meet the Simple Strapless Dress! 

This was a learn-as-I-go sewing project for myself. I’ll try to explain as best I can the steps I took and adjustments I made to the skirt tutorial. Once you review and understand Katy's skirt, this should be a breeze for you to make!

Here is what I used:

1 and 2/3 yard of 45” wide fabric

1” wide elastic

Sewing Essentials

((Please bare with me as it may get a little wordy since I don't have photos of the steps I took; for reference please visit Katy's tutorial as she took very helpful photos of each step!))

For the first step, rather than folding your fabric completely in half lengthwise to create a 2-layer skirt as Katy did, fold down your top edge roughly between ¼ -½ way down your fabric. To get a more accurate measurement of how far you should fold your fabric, measure the height of your bust. Do this by measuring from the top of your chest (or the bottom of your armpit--where the dress will sit) to directly under your bust. Add about 2 inches to that measurement and fold your fabric.

Since your bust measurement is longer than what the equivalent measurement of your back would be, cut your folded fabric with a slight curved edge working from the center to the ends. This will help eliminate any excess fabric or poofiness on your back.

Here is my pitiful attempt at creating a diagram to describe this:

The faint gray line is where your fabric is folded over to and the black curved line is what you will cut out from your flap

Create your casing at the top of the fold just as Katy did. Do this by laying down your elastic across the top of the fold and pin directly underneath it. Sew a straight line where you just pinned. Here is your first casing!

This is when Katy slides in her elastic, gathers the skirt and sews up the two sides to finish her skirt--super simple!! To create my dress, we will add one more step so that we can create the casing for the second elastic around your waist.

Leaving about an inch seam allowance, sew a line along the bottom of your curved fabric flap. Lay your elastic as best you can around the curve and pin on top of the elastic (same idea as the first casing) and sew along that pinned line. Your two slightly curved sewn lines create the casing for your second elastic.

Here is another lame attempt at a diagram:

The two grey dashed lines are where you sew to form your casing

Measure your elastic to where one piece fits comfortably around your upper chest and another piece around your waist. Be sure to have enough slack to stretch over your head but enough tightness to hold up your dress. Insert your pieces of elastic through the casings using a safety pin (or whatever works best for you!) and pin the elastic to each open end. Stretch both of your elastics and play with the fabric to get a nice even gather. Hem the bottom of your dress (if needed). Pin the two edges together, right sides facing each other, and try on your dress if you’d like. Make any adjustments to your elastic at this time. Once fitted, sew straight down the edges to form your dress and you’re all done! **You'll notice that one key difference from the skirt was that my one seam is worn at the back of my dress, rather than at the sides.

Add a belt for a little more shape if you'd like!

If you have ANY questions at all in regards to making a dress of your own, please do not hesitate to contact me!



Thank you Katie from Sew Woodsy, Danielle from Blissful & Domestic and Kelly from Running with Glitter for featuring my dress!!



One Shoulder Summer Dress {Mini Tutorial}

One day last week I had the sudden urge to attempt my first dress without a pattern or tutorial from blogworld. I cancelled my daily gym plans to go straight home and sew! I knew exactly what fabric I had wanted to use. I decided on a one sleeve tank style--perfect for summertime. Here is my rather successful attempt at creating this dress--I will break down the basic steps I took to make her.

My fabric came from Larry's grandmother. I had known that I wanted to make a dress with it from the first day I got it...I loved the colors and with it being a stretch jersey I knew it would be a little easier to work with when fitting myself. There was about 2 yards that I had to work with--plenty! Since I didn't want to use a tutorial from online or a purchased pattern (which are more of a headache than help sometimes!) I grabbed a one-sleeve dress that I already owned and that had about the same stretch as the fabric I was working with.

Hello perfect dress that I want to re-create :)

The first step was cutting my fabric. I folded the fabric in half (making sure that the fabric stretch was going horizontally) right sides together and laid my dress on top of it. I made sure everything was laying flat, pinned my dress to the fabric and then cut around the shape of the dress leaving a HUGE (this is an understatement) seam allowance...just to be sure of course. You can always cut excess fabric off, but you can't add it back on!

Bailey pouting from not being aloud to play on the fabric

See my huge seam allowance!

The black lines are where I pinned the shape of the dress

I removed the pins that were securing my dress to the fabric and used them (along with lots more) to form the shape of the dress on my fabric by pinning around the entire dress, following all the curves. I then tried her on inside out just to see the fit. It was like a glove! Either I had traced the dress perfectly or the fabric really liked me...either way, I was very happy!

I then took her off and sewed up both the side seams, following the shape of the pins, still with a huge seam allowance. I also sewed across the top shoulder. The basic shape was done! I tried her on one more time for good measures before completing the last few steps.


Trying the dress on inside out!



(I apologize but from here on out I didn't take anymore photos--if you have any questions, please let me know and I'd be happy to answer them!! Only 3 more steps to go!)

This next step is when I typically would have used googled. For those of you who need them, there are many, many,many how-to-make bias tape tutorials but, since Larry's grandmother was over for the start of my dress I had her briefly re-fresh me on how to make my own. I have created bias tape in the past for accessories but have never sewn it onto a garmet. Since this was for a dress--it had curves and I would be wearing it regularly--I figured I would attempt it the correct way! It wasn't too bad! Since I was working with a jersey that wouldn't hold a pressed fold too well, I skipped the ironing part and just went for the sew-on! After lots of pinning, sewing, folding, re-pinning and re-sewing I had both of my "armholes" complete! This process didn't take near as long as I had thought it would...thankfully!

My next step was finishing the raw edges on the inside of my dress. Remember my ridiculously large seam allowances? I chopped off almost 2 inches from each seam and did a zig-zag stitch right at the edge to keep the inside from fraying.

I wanted the dress to be fairly long so that I could wear it for numerous occasions. Plus, over time if I wanted it shorter, I could just adjust the hem. So for now, she hits right at my knees. Complete your final step--the hem, and you're done! I am beyond pleased with the results!

This was surprisingly a quick, one-nighter, done in less than 3 hours project--and a new dress for my summer wardrobe?? Yes please!! I see many more of these in my future!!

*Stay tuned for a mini tutorial on how I made the matching belt! :)*

Now go grab a dress from your closet that you love and make one of your own!

Go Handmade {Mini Dress and Clutch Tutorial}

For Larry's birthday I opted to make a dress and accessories instead of buying them! I had fabric leftover that I hadn't used and originally purchased with the intention of making an elastic waistband dress, but wanted to make something a little more different and fun this time around.

I started off by making the skirt...an almost trapezoidal shape using my measurements to create a somewhat fitted, simple skirt. Not too tight, but not too loose. Instead of using an elastic band, I followed the steps in this baby onesie tutorial to attach the skirt to a stretchy tank top... Blue Cricket Design Onsie Dress . Simple idea all around--stretch the tank to accommodate the width of your skirt while you are stitching them together. After you're done stitching, the skirt will gather accordingly!

To give my dress character and more fun, I added layered ruffles! The two things I would have changed if doing this again is that I would have added the top ruffle BEFORE attaching the tank to the skirt (so the seem would be hidden) and I would have allowed more fabric! I somewhat underestimated the amount  of fabric I would need to create the amount of fullness that I had originally wanted. (But I couldn't help this since this was fabric I had already purchased prior to this project! 1.5 yards...)

I cut the three layers for the ruffles in various lengths and made a small hem at the top and bottom of each. I then made a gathering stitch at the top and scrunched them until they were able to be pinned flat around the skirt at the placement that I wanted it. I used my own discretion as to how wide I made the ruffles and where I placed them on my skirt. The thinner you make your ruffles and the more layers you add, the fluffier your skirt will be! When attaching the ruffles, I made sure the bottom of the one overlapped the top zig zag stitch of the one below it to make sure you wouldn't see the seam. My third and final ruffle hung below the skirt hem so that you wouldn't see the skirt underneath. For the final look, I added a belt at my waist to disguise my first ruffles seam--oops!! I think I would have worn this with a belt either way though!

I also made myself a clutch and ring. I used a basic clutch tutorial that I've come to love & use A LOT from Anna's Noodlehead blog. You can create many variations using this simple clutch "blueprint." I made the front out of the same material as my skirt...adding a yellow trim and black lace for detail. The entire back and center band of the clutch is a shiny black fabric PERFECT for accents and making purses. I also added a strap and had a matching yellow lining with a money/ID pocket on the inside. 

The matching ring is SO simple to make! I saw this clever idea on Smashed Peas & Carrots & fell in love!

All in all, Larry & I LOVED my outfit for his birthday--I felt comfortable and confident in what I had made. Making my own outfit (while challenging) was very worth it! Not settling for something in a store was awesome. 

In the end, all I can say is...

Go handmade :) 

All Things Girly!

I've finally finished my first dress & I LOVE it! It's super girly and SO me! I used a simple strapless pattern with a satin-like floral fabric. It has a zip-up back and minimal boning on the sides for extra support. The length for most patterns are pretty long, for even the shorter dresses...so I adjusted this one and cut off a few inches. I made the custom ruffle detail on the front myself as well...it definitely added a girly touch :) 

Here is an up-close view of the fabric and back.

I can say after doing this one dress, it isn't too difficult and I'm sure there will be many more to come! 

Along with my dress I did a hair accessory :) It's definitely another girly touch to the dress! I really love any flowers, ribbons and bows for accessories...

I also made a flower out of extra fabric that I had from my yellow purse. I put a safety pin on the back of it and it makes a great accent for a shirt, purse or in my hair :)

My current sewing projects are a high-wasted skirt and crossover bag--if the bag turns out anything like I'm picturing, it's going to be awesome & super cute...I'm using pink glittered peace sign fabric and hot pink lining. My friend Katie and I are also going to hopefully get together and make a dress that we saw on a DIY blog she follows--we're super excited about it...it looks easy & really cute! 

Moving onto jewelry!

I fixed my Aunt Lori's bracelet for her...originally the toggle broke on one end, so I re-strung it and added a simple clasp. Hopefully it'll last a while now for her :) 

While at Jo-Anns digging through the clearance bin (where I always find amazing stuff!) I found the clasps that I have been searching for forever now it seems! Here they are :) 

Aren't they awesome?! They're oversized heart clasps and I LOVE them! I was so excited when I found them...if only I could find them in sterling silver now and I'll be in heaven!  

I had to make a bracelet right away using the clasp...it's very summery and I love the bright colors of the shells that I found. I also made a set of earrings to match. To continue the beachy theme, I used a three-strand framing for the earrings. This is the style that I learned when making my FIRST pair of earrings...thought I'd bring it back :) 

Here they are on :) A little big and fun for the summer!

I'm very excited for the rest of the week...Mom Wells and one of my best friends, Christina's birthday are on Wednesday and Dad Wells' birthday is on Saturday! We are going to the beach on Thursday to celebrate for Christina & at some point throughout the week we'll have a family dinner for mom & dad Wells :) At work we have a large party group coming in at the end of the week, so we are expected to be very busy Friday & Saturday!...last year I made really good money so I'm hoping for another round of that :) The girls and I at work will be celebrating the holiday by dressing up with some July 4th accessories...which is always fun! I'm actually off for the 4th of July & the 5th...I'm excited to see what we'll end up doing!

My Anthropologie flower project is coming along slowly...running into some minor problems, but in the end I know it will turn out great! Also, my roommate and I's secret project will soon be unveiled...yay!! :)