“Spring adds new life and beauty to all that is”
~Jessica Harrelson~
Hello sew family its Monday and if you haven’t guessed yet I’m ready to spread a little Spring Joy! I’m so happy to be back sharing this fabulous make with all of you today, it kind of makes the fact that its Monday just a little bit better. LOL This burst of sunshine in the form of a dress is a keeper and definitely something I would make over and over again. If you’ve been watching my Insta Stories then you already know that one of my fabulous sew sisters shared an inspiration picture in our private facebook group and asked of anyone cared to share how they would go about making it. Needless to say I was intrigued by the sheer fabulousness of this little ditty and decided I would give it a go. While I had an idea of how I would make it, I thought it best to test it on my half-scale dress form first before cutting into my amazing fabric.
In my head I imagined cutting circles but how many and how full would be the question. After looking at the inspiration pic again I knew a light weight neoprene or scuba would be required to achieve the same look and/or effect. If you don’t know Neoprene can be quite heavy and the more you add to your design the heavier the garment becomes. Of course this isn’t really a problem when making a skirt but when you have a design such as this you really have to consider the weight of the fabric and how you’re going to get it to stay in place without pulling or weighing the garment down. My first thought was to cut three circles which did work but the weight of the garment was a bit much and I would have to gather the back with elastic just to help secure it in place (due to the excess which I will explain in the tutorial). This was not something I wanted to do so I switched things up a bit. I decided to cut the first circle on the double fold using the full circle method dividing my upper bust measurement by 2 and that number by 2Pi (or 6.28). For the second one I cut the circle on the double fold as well but divided my upper bust measurement by 4 and that number by 2Pi (or 6.28). Hallelujah it worked! cutting the second circle circumference much smaller than the first gave me a nice snug fit and I didn’t have to add a zipper or elastic.
Now let me just warn you there is a lot more to this process and not something I’m going to type out in this blog post but I will share exactly how I achieved the look via the video links listed below. This beauty can be created using several different fabrics but keep in mind, that you will have to change how many circles you use, a zipper may be required along with a few other things I will discuss in the video. Well loves that’s it for today I have to get back to work and finish the black one I created just like her (more of a party look) and a third for my baby girl to rock at her graduation party. Have a fabulous rest of the week and here’s to more fabulous Spring looks to come!
SMOOCHES!
Dress Pattern -Created pattern myself using full circles.
Fabric - Neoprene - Purchased from one of my favorite vendors in downtown Los Angeles LTJ fabrics (they do not have a website to order from)
(Disclaimer).
At the time of this post and video no one knew who the original designer of this product was because it was a screen shot image that had been passed around several times. As I state in my video I am NOT the original designer of this item. I have since found out the original designer is a fabulous sister @muehlederlabel. Her work is fabulous and I am happy to tag her here and let you all know how dope her line is! Check her out on Instagram for more information.
Links to Tutorial Videos
(These video links will only be listed here as they were originally intended for IGTV. Due to the slim camera view I will not make these videos public on any of my other social media platforms)
