DIY Dress

This adorable DIY look by pondhopper was created by taking a simple black dress shape and adding ribbon shoulders – great for adjusting length and style. For further great detail, the dress was given individual hand-smocked ribbon ties across the bottom. Easy to create and cute to wear.

This project was many ‘firsts’ for me, therefore it was a little more challenging than I thought. In the post it says this is a great first sewing project for beginners… Great! I thought ‘this should be so easy’. Haha. In hindsight, I guess it was pretty easy, but during the process I definitely thought it was difficult. It was my first time making a dress- by myself (and I survived!)
It was my first time sewing with a knit (I’ve only sewed with cottons, but I actually like working with the knit)
It was my first time using/sewing with faux satin (which was a pain!)
It was my first time hemming something on myself (thank god for my husband helping me out!)

In the end everything turned out better than I thought and I truly love it! It’s a great  flowy, knit Summer dress that I can dress up with heels or dress down with sandals. And it’s navy blue- one of my favorite colors!

A few things I did/changed from the original tutorial.

I originally cut the panels 30 x 36in (the 36 length because I was making it into a dress instead of shirt), but then trimmed them down to about 24 x 34in. I felt the panels were too thick once I tried on the dress so I decided to make them smaller.

Second I hemmed the sides by the armholes and the bottom- to make the look more finished.
I hemmed the bottom of the dress. I am also planning on making another sash so that I can interchange them – this time with a printed cotton.