Summer Dress for Boo. x

 For a while now I have been promising to make Boo a maxi dress for our holiday.  Well I finally got around to making it. This was so quick and simple to make and the folds on the straps just added a little something something to a simple  shape dress.  I used the left over stretch fabric from my pink trousers in a previous post.

Dress :   Made by myself

Hat:  Bought from Oxfam £1.49

Shoes:  Were a gift from the Disney Store

Here is how I made it.

You start by cutting a length of fabric a little longer than you want your dress and the width can be what you want as long as it measures wider that your hips. I find the wider the better. You then need to cut  a thin strip the same length ( this will be the band across the top to fold over and thread the elastic through) you will also need a length of ribbon, some elastic and keep any scraps to decorate the straps.

Fold the large piece of fabric over and sew together to make a tube.

Take the ends of the long band which will go at the top of the dress and sew together. Make sure you leave a gap to thread the elastic  through later on.

Fold the top band over in half to make the tube thinner in width and pin raw edges of top band to top of dress tube.

Sew raw edges of the top band to the top of the dress and it should look like this.

Thread the elastic through that gap you left in the top band to desired length. (try on at this point to get comfy fit)

Sew up the gap by hand stitching or machine stitching

Top of dress should now look like this. Don't forget to hem the bottom of your  maxi tube dress.

Pin and sew ribbons to desired length for straps.

To decorate the straps, grab a length of scrap fabric fold in half length ways and begin to pleat and pin to the ribbon.

Finish by hand stitching the folds down securely. When you wash your dress the ends will curl on the stretch fabric and add to the effect.

In other news I made a low fat cheese cake,  Yum!  and went to watch the film Captain America. Cheesy but I loved it.  Makes me want to make a super hero costume.

Nick x