Working With Prints: Summer Dress Tutorial

I have been unpacking and working on projects for so many other people, I finally took a break and worked on a little something for myself. I'm a huge fan of the high-low dresses, mainly because I love the way they look. So I made one from this super cute fabric. Normally, I'm not a fan of the leopard print. I think it's a bit too bold and a bit too safari based. This particular pattern actually was pleasing to my eyes, so I snatched it up. Plus it's black and cream--you can't really go wrong.

This tutorial is going to be long, because I made a slip to wear under the dress out of a white knit. I could do the tutorials in two different parts, but I have plans with my husband today and my family tomorrow, so that is out of the question. Have fun reading!

Slip Supplies:

I used about 1 1/2 yards of white knit (use what you need to for your length) 

Matching Thread

Another dress, or a pattern

First I laid out my fabric. There is obviously more than 1 1/2 yards here, but that's because I got extra fabric when I went to the store. I matched up the corners as best as I could.

Next, I took a knit maxi dress in my closet, and I used it as my pattern. I matched the tops of the shoulders with the top of my fabric. 

While cutting, I added 1/2 an inch seam allowance because I'm paranoid about things not fitting. 

Line up your pieces, and pin the shoulders, and the sides, leaving the arm holes open. Now sew your slip. I used the edge of my presser foot as my guide. 

With all your edges looking like this, above, you're ready to zig-zag, or serge, your edges. I'm also paranoid about fraying, even on knits. 

As you can see I've finished off my sides. Now, for the neckline and the hemline, all I did was fold the fabric over twice, and pinned it. Then I just used my zig-zag stitch to sew them in place. In my opinion it holds the fabric at the neckline flatter than a normal stitch. See below:

All done! Now onto the dress!

Dress Supplies:

Fabric of your choice (Measured depending on how long you want your dress)

Matching Thread

Pins 

Scissors

Lay out your fabric, similar to how you laid out the fabric for the slip.

This time I used my slip as my pattern. 

Now I pinned the slip to the fabric to keep everything in place.

When I cut out the dress, you can see I added quite a bit of seam allowance. I did this because I thought the fabric would be a little harder to work with since all it does is fray, but I'm not sorry I picked it, or cut out this much. 

I took the top shoulder pieces, matched them up, and folded them to one side, like you can see above. Then I pinned it in place. 

After I sewed across, I flipped the little flap the opposite way, and stitched the flap down. 

This is how it looks when it is flipped right side out. 

Following that, I pinned my sides together, and sewed them together. After that I finished the edge with a zig-zag stitch. 

For my arm holes, all I did was zig-zag around the edge, and then I folded it over once, and sewed it in place.

For the neckline, I cut a long strip of the same fabric, about 2 1/2 inches wide. Then I pinned it to the right side of the fabric and sewed it into place. After I did that, I folded the fabric over to the inside of the dress, folded it in one more time, and pinned that into place.

 Following that I sewed around that again. I used the left inner edge of my presser foot as my guide. 

For the bottom hem, I folded the fabric over twice and sewed it into place. And that's it! 

Now I have a dress I can wear, and its not heavy. Its very light and very cool especially since it's getting really hot up here. Bleh.