Super Easy DIY Strapless Maxi Dress

One of the items on my 30 Before Thirty list is to sew (and wear) a dress for myself. I absolutely adore sewing, but I'm still pretty novice. I'm so happy to report that this dress is absolutely easy-peasy. It's literally a tube made of jersey with two hems and elastic ruching.

The process:

N.B. I used jersey for this project. You'll notice with any knit fabric it stretches more in one direction than the other. You want the stretchy side of the fabric to run horizontally across your body. That way the dress stretches over you and acts as an elastic. Jersey is also usually reversible so as long as the stretchy side is running across your body, you're good to go. There is no "right" or "wrong" side of the fabric

1. I measured myself across the chest, starting and stopping in the centre of my armpits. Since the fabric is a stretch jersey, I didn't leave too much of a seam allowance at the top. This dress is strapless and I didn't want to use elastic to keep it up, or to add too much bulk. Then I measured from my armpit to the floor and added 2 inches for seam allowance and to account for shrinking in the wash.  

2. Then I drew my pattern directly on my fabric. First I plotted out my "across the chest" measurement at the top of the fabric, then I plotted out the length of my dress. I drew a diagonal line to connect the top measurement to the bottom. Effectively my pattern looked like this (x2 one for the front of the dress, and one for the back):      

The line down the centre at the top is where the elastic is going to go for my ruched top. This line is only on the front.

3. Sew the back and the front pieces of the dress together by stitching the long sides of the dress. You will have a long, conical shaped tube when you're done. Since this is not the stretchy side of the fabric, you can use a plain old straight stitch on your machine. 

4. Try the dress on. Is it nice and snug? If yes, continue to Step 5, if not repeat Step 4, taking out some of the width as you make a bigger seam.

5. Once the dress fits nice and snug, fold the bottom hem of the dress under and topstitch it in place. Do the same with the top, obviously ensuring that your hem will not be visible from the outside of the dress. Since this is the stretchy side of the material, be sure to use a knit stitch. Your machine will have one for sure, just consult the manual. It will ensure lots of stretch in the fabric. If you just use a straight stitch it will snap.

6. Take your piece of elastic. I used about 4 inches, but if your bust is larger you may want to use more...conversely if it's smaller, you may want to use less. Line the elastic up with the top hem of your dress, right in the middle of the bust. Fold the dress in half to find where this is, if you're not sure.

7. Pin your elastic vertically (as in the picture of the pattern) and drop your presser foot. Drop the needle into the elastic carefully before you begin sewing. Once the needle has secured the elastic, pull it tight (ONLY the elastic, NOT the fabric). Keep that tension on the elastic as you sew it in place. The tighter you pull, the more ruching you'll have.

8. You're done sewing! Now to Ombré-fy. I used these instructions, by RIT. The effect wasn't quite as "Ombré" as I'd like, but I think if you use more than one package of dye and vary the amount of saturation as you prep the dye, that would be more effective.

^^Without the belt this is the perfect "buffet dinner" dress^^

^^With a belt. I worked with what I had...Brown would have been preferable.^^

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