Hi friends!
I’m so excited to show you what I’ve been sewing recently. Apart from the whole ham and sausage thing, I’ve been preoccupied with creating a tutorial specifically for beginners.
Sometimes I can get carried away in my own expertise that I forget some people are still at the beginning of theirs! So I’ve decided to keep things simple and teach you how to make a dress that requires nothing more than straight-edged shapes and circles! Yup, no darts, no pleats, no contouring, just simple shapes! Once the tutorial is out, I will let you guys know!
I hate circle skirts!
Making this dress was so fun! I kept trying it on way before it was finished because of how excited I was to wear it, but of course, no project is without its problems. For some reason, the waist of my circle skirt ended up being 8 inches too big! Yup, you read right, 8 INCHES!!! Like how?! I even used my laptop to draft a circle for me with a circumference equal to that of my waist, which I then printed out and used as a template! I think there’s something about circles that fabrics do not like because they ALWAYS end up bigger than intended. Anyway, after removing 4 inches from both side seams, I finally had something that fitted, yay!
I absolutely hate hemming, straight hems are annoying but hemming curves can be a nightmare. After my initial mess of a hem, I decided I’d redo it the bias tape way. I like doing it this way usually and it always ensures a neat and rounded hem.
The fastenings
The buckles I ordered were 35mm – I basically ordered 3 different buckles before I got it right and that took days of waiting but I must say that it was worth it, I am completely in love with how it looks, especially that slider – so pretty!
I also added some snap fastenings at the side to help me get in and out of the dress. It was a toss-up between having them hidden and having them exposed and I decided on half and half. So I had brass snaps that showed on the outside, I think they really compliment the brass of the buckles, and for reinforcement at my waist I attached a hidden snap below it.
The back
When it came to designing the back, I wanted something that wasn’t a basic rectangle and I wanted the straps to come out from it somewhere, anywhere that wasn’t the top of it, so I chose the sides. I’m completely ecstatic with how it turned out, especially since the straps were coming out at a diagonal – it really does look great!
Conclusion
Drafting this is completely easy, putting it together is another story, but I found it extremely straightforward. Minus the fact that the skirt was about 100 sizes too big, it was rectifiable and the dress now fits amazingly well.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to share and comment – I’d love to hear what you think about the dress.
