How to make an Easter Dress

On Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter) I decided I needed a new dress for easter. And being me, I went shopping at Goodwill. And not finding a dress that I liked that I thought would be appropriate for Easter, I decided ‘Hey why not make one’. Because having only made one dress by myself in my entire life, I figured how hard could it be.

I was looking in the fabric bins for another project and saw a cute sheet that Isaac said looked like me. It was a twin fitted sheet, but for $2.50, I figured why not.

I took the fabric home that day and washed it (I always wash clothes from Goodwill before wearing them). It didn’t have any stains or tears, so a great piece of cloth.

First I ripped all of the elastic out with a seam ripper while watching tv.

So there were two attempts for this dress, and I’ll explain both. First I thought I could make my own pattern. A skirt can’t be that hard, it will just turn out great if I bunch it around the waist…

So I found what length I wanted based on a skirt I own and love. I measure and cut the fabric to that length and started gathering it.

I sew the top all together so it fits my waist. Very simple.

I try it on, and it looks miserable! How could I possibly think that trying this on my own would be a good idea!?
I definitely need a pattern, but by now its Tuesday and I’m tired so I go to bed.

The next day I decide to try to find some patterns online for dresses. I follow several blogs where people have made dresses and I find one that makes dresses in a week (Frocks By Friday) and mentions a site called Burda Style with free patterns!

I end up finding one I like called Katjusha that is super cute! You can even print the patterns and put them together on your home computer, which is what I did.

I spend all of Wednesday evening (until about 1am) working on cutting out the pattern and cutting out the fabric for the dress. I have barely enough fabric and didn’t mess up anything with my first attempt at making a dress. I also realized that I especially since the dress called for it, I needed some very good lining. I went to Joann’s Thursday and spend $20 on very thick lining. I finished cutting out all of the fabric Thursday and put together some of it Friday.

On Saturday I finished the dress! It ended up being the perfect pattern, and I love it! I decided not to add the waistband and halter straps and lace as seen above, but love it nonetheless! I also sewed the lining to the bottom of the skirt, and I might take that out later. It gathers strange, and doesn’t look as good after being washed. I also added pockets (which are my favorite!)

(Sorry about the poor quality pictures, I’ll wear the dress on Friday so everyone can see!)

One thing special about the back is the gathering! It was so easy! All you have to do is sew lines using top-stitching and put the elastic in between the lines of stitching. That way I didn’t have to have a zipper or stretchy fabric!

Cost of Dress:

Outer Fabric: $2.50

Lining: $20

Thread: Free (already had)

Elastic: Free (already had)

Total cost $22.50

Total Time: 1 week!

I’m planning on making this pattern again soon in a navy blue with a longer skirt so I can wear it to work! I’ll take more pictures next time. For the first try it was good, next time it will be great!

Hooray!