DIY Maxi Dress

I’m super excite for today’s post! I’ve had the material and stuff laying around for a long time now and finally did it! Well, the reason why I was finally able to make this DIY maxi dress is because my mommy showed me how to use the sewing machine. Yes, I know. There are tons of YouTube tutorial bleh bleh. I’m just really dumbfounded sometimes and need someone to show me face to face! So, while she was teaching me how to use the sewing machine we made this dress! And that, my friends, is how this blog post was born! Mwah ha ha…

Super cute right! Now I can’t take ANY credit for this bad baby. Not only did we follow the directions from this awesome post but I didn’t even know of that post to begin with! I mentioned to Parrish from Life with the Crust Cut Off how much I wanted a maxi dress but couldn’t find one because I’m just too short and she told me to just make one like she did and pointed me in the right direction! Thanks girl!

Now, I pretty much don’t know what I’m doing so if I were you I would go to the original tutorial if you aren’t too familiar and follow her step by step. BUT, if you know a thing or two about sewing already then you can go ahead and follow along!

Materials

-Pretty Fabric

-Ribbed Tank Top

-Elastic Thread

-Regular Thread

-Scissors

-Pins

-Sewing Machine

Directions

When buying the fabric you want enough that will go around your high waist 1 1/2 times. Take the tank top and cut it about an inch lower then where you want it to attach to the skirt. Like so:

Unfold the fabric and once again, measure the fabric so it goes around your high waist 1 1/2 times and cut any excess off. I recommend doing this with a ruler instead of just cutting it however which way you think is straight (sorry mom….ahem.) Fold the fabric in half long ways inside out. pin the two sides together so it is easier to feed through the machine.

While sewing it on the machine, be careful and take out the pins one by one so you don’t have a crooked line.

We stopped about a foot and a half from the bottom to allow for a small slit up the back.

I really recommend doing this, this is not included in the main tutorial. Especially if you bought a fabric that doesn’t stretch, this will really help out!

Now, the tricky part. You need to load the elastic thread onto the bobbin with regular thread on top. Sew along the top of the skirt with long stitches all the way around.

It will ruffle from the elastic thread, this is exactly what you want! Now, turn the skirt inside out. Slide the tank top in the skirt, with the tank top right side out! Trust me, this will look weird but it’s right. Also, make sure the back of the skirts seem matches up with the back middle of the tank top. You need to pin this again all the way around. Now, sew these two pieces together, leaving the elastic thread on the bobbin and regular thread on top. Now, carefully trim the excess fabric, hem the bottom of the skirt and up the slit. That’s it!

If you want to make a sash with the remaining fabric it looks even more cute with it! I like how it covers up the seems from the tank and skirt, looks much more professional. Here is the back:

I hope you liked this post, I hope to try new things with my sewing machine soon!

I paired it with this cropped cardigan and I just love this outfit!!

Thanks for reading!!!

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Did that cardigan look familiar? I wore it in a previous outfit of the day! To see that post click on the image below:

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'Til Next time!

 

About Dana DeVolk

Dana is a professional Chef turned blogger, recipe developer, food photographer, cookbook author, brand ambassador, local tv personality, and more! Her passion is writing about food and posting recipes while offering tips and tricks of the trade. She lives in Florida with her Hubby and fur babies. Interested in working with Dana? Email her at [email protected]

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