have a fave dress? make it in another color and have 2 fave dresses

hello my lovelies! do you have a super simple dress that fits well and looks adorable that you would love to recreate?

thats exactly what i decided to do the other night. i had this black and orange striped jersey knit fabric which i had planned on making into a skirt. when i was going to start cutting it i decided it was just enough to recreate my fave jersey knit tube top dress

i folded my fabric just long enough to cut out the skirt portion and pinned the dress to the fabric following the shape. you may notice my store bought dress runs just a little bit over the length of the fabric... i will show you how i fixed that just ahead



next i trimmed around the shape being sure to leave a seam allowance. the part of the skirt that connects to the bodice is a bit rounded but i just cut straight across at first

next i folded down the bodice to see the rounded shape better, i highlighted it in  the picture in green dashes. i then cut, again leaving enough for a seam allowance

my next move was to fix the curved part that didn't match up exactly when i was cutting. i just rounded off the edge so it didn't stop so abruptly. in this next picture i had only fixed the right side. on the left side i added green dashes to show you how the orginal cut looked and how i cut to fix it.

then i moved on to making the bodice. i started with the top front which has a diagonal detail in my store bought dress. i made sure the side seam was pulled straight and flat to the center and cut one side leaving my seam allowance. i then stretched and flattened the other side and cut with a seam allowance.

here are my 2 front pieces

next i cut out the back panel, again following the curve and leaving seam allowances.

all i had left to cut out is the center pieces that connect the bodice to the skirt



and voila! i have myself a new favorite dress

if i roll the top down just right it can double as a skirt

i love the way i placed the stripes all in different directions on each panel

i can wear it alone or with leggings and a cardigan so it is a year round piece

I did learn that jersey knit takes some getting used to. maneuvering it in the machine was a bit tricky at first because i have never sewn fabric with stretch. it didn't take too long to get used to it though. i did use a ball point needle but forgot to change back when i was finished. all in all it was quite simple

Happy Halloween everyday!!

xoxoxox

Lily Bean