I call this my Indian Tribal dress. Simply because of the pattern on the material. I am going to attempt to show you how to make one for yourself!
So I chose a shirt that fit pretty well and was longish. Turn your shirt inside out and tuck the sleeves inside. Make sure you expose all of your seams.Then trace the shirt and give yourself some seam allowance. About an inch is what I did. If you look closely there is a pocket. This was my first time trying an in seam pocket. I didn't make it big enough and when I tried the dress on the pockets looked really silly, so I just took them out. But if you want some pockets here is what I did. I pretended to put my hands in pockets and measured from the bottom of my hand to where I wanted the dress to end on my knee. It was about 15 inches for me. I did the same from the top of my hand to my armpit. Make sure you make the pocket big, like the curved part.
I didn't take a picture of this part, but for the skirt I just put a skirt on the paper, folded in half and traced it. I gave myself some extra length for seam allowance and just because I wanted the dress longer than the skirt I was using.
Put your pattern piece on the fold of the fabric. The only thing that will be different for the front and back piece is how deep the neck is. I made my pattern piece using the front neck of my shirt. And then just guesstimated for the back.
Using a zigzag or stretch stitch, sew up the front and back with the right sides together. I used about a 5/8 inch seam allowance. But it depends on how much seam allowance you gave yourself when tracing and how you want it to fit. So I realized when I uploaded all of these pictures, I never took any pictures of the sleeves and how to make them. So here is a website that will help you with it.
When you are cutting out the sleeves, on a striped dress like this one, you want to make sure you line up the lines on the bodice of the dress and the sleeve.
Fold the right sides of your sleeve together and then sew. I put elastic in the end of my sleeve, so you just fold the sleeve up to where you want to the land on your arm. Sew, but remember to leave an opening where you will fish the elastic through.
Putting a safety pin through the elastic makes it much easier to fish is through the sleeve.
Fish the elastic through and tighten it so it fits around your arm as much as you want it.
Sew the elastic up. You can't sew it too much. Then once you have done this, sew the rest of the seam on the sleeve, where you had the hole. I recommend sewing the elastic and sleeve together, so the elastic won't turn.
When you are setting the sleeve in, match up the seams.
Then pin it all around. You should have to stretch the material to fit, so it will be snug.
Then cut a strip about 2-3 inches wide and about a foot long. Give or take depending on the size of your neck opening.
Put right sides together and sew the narrow end.
Fold it in half the long way. Then you are going to set this in the exact same way you did the sleeves.
This is the finished neck piece. Then hem up the bottom and you are done!
Sorry if this is the worst tutorial you have ever seen, but it's the first one I have ever done. I hope it makes sense. If you have any questions I will do my best at answering them!
Until next time!
