here's my latest creation! i really wanted a dress with a lolita-esque skirt on it, so i made this dress.
the top of the bodice is from a pattern but the waist band and skirt are my own creation :3
tutorial is below
http://laura-andrews.com/craftster/plaidbustle1.jpghttp://laura-andrews.com/craftster/plaidbustle2.jpghttp://laura-andrews.com/craftster/plaidbustle3.jpghttp://laura-andrews.com/craftster/plaidbustle4.jpg~~~~~~~
TUTORIAL
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For the bodice of this dress I used Simplicity 2951 and then created my own waist band by tracing the bottom lines of the bodice pattern and extending it down 2 1/2 inches. I also modified the pattern so that there is a side zipper in order to accommodate the skirt (aka: sewed the back seam together and then ripped out the side seam..)
Anyways~ now onto the skirt..
The measurements I'm giving are for the skirt in the pictures below (not above).
I started out by figuring out the dimensions. For this skirt, I wanted the length to be 25" and the waist to be 30" around.
From there, you can figure out how much you want to gather the skirt. I decided to do 2x the waist measurement. The front waist measurement was 15", so the front panel is 30". The ruffle on the front panel is 2x that which = 60".
The back of the skirt increases in increments of 15". The top layer is 30", the second is 45", and the bottom is 60".
Here are the pieces you need for this skirt:
Cut out the front bodice piece. In my case the measurements were 16.5" long x 30" wide.
Cut out the ruffles. I figured out how many inches of ruffles I would need from my drawings. It ended up being 195". So then I divided that by the width of the fabric which was 45 and I ended up cutting 5 strips of fabric for the ruffles and sewing them together to get one long piece.
Then I cut the long pieces into the lengths I needed. (This keeps the seams from lining up and becoming noticeable.. and saves fabric!)
Take the long bottom ruffle rectangle and baste it with the machine twice in order to gather it. Gather and pin to the bottom of front panel. Sew together.
Press open seams [just reminding you
]
Set that piece aside and start on the back of the skirt. You will need to trapezoid shaped pieces to go under the ruffles. I kind of picked an arbitrary size based on the waistband size (looking back, I would have made it bigger at the bottom edge).
Take the top back ruffle piece and gather it. Attach to the top of trapezoid piece (fashion side facing up on both). Pin and sew together.
Gather the middle back ruffle rectangle. Attach to the bottom of the trapezoid piece (fashion sides together this time).
(note: this pic is upside down from the last one)
Then sandwich the gathered ruffle with the other trapezoid piece.
Pin it really carefully and sew. You can baste the first two pieces together first if you need to before adding the third layer.
So then you end up with this:
Time to attach the last ruffle piece. Gather, pin and sew to the bottom of the second trapezoid piece.
(note: another upside down image)
After the back of the skirt is assembled, hem the top two ruffles. Leave the bottom ruffles to be hemmed once the skirt is sewn together.
And then you have this:
Carefully pin the side seams together. Sew the left side seam all the way. Sew the right side seam from the bottom to the top of the second ruffle (leaving 6-8inches for a zipper).
The next step is to gather the front of skirt. I suggest sewing the basting stitch like this:
The tail ends are hanging out on the side where the zipper will be.
Then gather the skirt, and pin it onto the waistband of your dress and sew together. Put in the zipper and you’re done!
So this is my first time writing one of these, so if anything doesn't make sense please let me know and I will try to clarify. I'm hoping to do more tutes in the future and I want to get better at making them.
Oh and here is the finished skirt from the tutorial [I put an elastic waistband in it, so it's different from the tutorial... but then I ended up ripping it apart and putting a zipper in it after I took these pics
]
EDIT: new pics on page two
