Monday, May 3, 2010

The Alice Dress



It’s time for a little DIY Day clothing mash up. What do you get when you cross the tank top style dresses seen everywhere from Anthropologie to Target with a serious case of Alice and Wonderland on the brain?


You get the Alice Dress!

It’s comfy, feminine, and was very easy to make. You only need about a yard of fabric, some elastic, and a tank or t-shirt.

I started with this old top from Target, but you could use any fitted tank or tee with some stretch to it.


I cut the cami out of the top and saved the rest of the fabric for ruffles.


For the skirt portion of the dress, you will need a piece of fabric wide enough to go around you twice and as long as you’d like. Cut the fabric in half and sew up each edge so you have a big, rectangle open on both ends.

Fold the top over twice and iron and pin. Sew this top hem twice. Once about ½ centimeter from the top of the fabric and again about 3 centimeters (or however wide your elastic is) below the first hem.


You can also create the bottom hem at this time. I ended up with a deep bottom hem, because I decided I wanted the dress to be shorter than I originally thought. It’s always better to have too much fabric to work with than not enough!

Once you have the top of the skirt hemmed, use scissors or a seam ripper to cut a tiny slit in the fabric between the two hems.

Cut a strip of elastic about an inch smaller than your waist and feed through the tube created by the two hems. Sew the elastic together at the ends.

Now it’s time to connect the skirt to the top. Try them both on and decide how high you want the skirt to ride. I decided on my natural waistline above my hips. Very, very carefully pin the skirt to the top (this is where a dress form would come in handy!) and very, very carefully take the dress off.

Sew the top edge of the skirt fabric (above the double hems) to the top. You can stop here, but I decided to make a sash to define the waist a bit more.


My sash is just a long strip of the skirt fabric. I pinned the right sides together, sewed it into a long tube, turned it right side out, and hemmed the ends.


I think this is my favorite clothing refashion so far!


I feel very Alice in Wonderland-y when I wear this dress.


The skirt is so swingy and fun! Yay, for spring and girly dresses!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $50 gift card code to any CSN Store!

<3
Hattie

57 comments:

Signing Out said...

Wow, what a great idea! That is one fabulous dress! I think I'm going to try this. Thanks for sharing.

Jane

Anne said...

That is just too darling!!!

Christen said...

SO cute, Hattie! I want to borrow my mom's sewing machine to make pillows this summer, so maybe I'll be brave and try this too...

Disney said...

That is so adorable!! I have it up on my sidebar now! :o)

Tracy said...

You need to stop with all the beautiful clothes you're making- I'm so jealous!! :) Or perhaps I should just buy myself a sewing machine and try this. I love the dresses you're making and that fabric looks great on the skirt portion of your dress. Yet another impressive job!

Kelly said...

Cute, cute, CUTE! (Can I say "cute" enough times? haha) This is one of my fave projects of yours so far. And it looks adorable on you!

Charity said...

I love this! It would work great for children too. Thanks for the tutorial.

Julia said...

You are seriously giving me a case of sewing envy. I LOVE the dress. Great work!

Anonymous said...

LOVE this! going to get my machine out this afternoon to try!!

Stacy of KSW said...

Fantastic!! I was actually envisioning something very similar in my head earlier today. There's a cute two tone dress from Old Navy that I love but it got a lot of bad reviews. There's another I'm drooling over from Land's End Canvas but it is $60. I thought, surely I could make this for pretty cheap very easily. Now I have all the proof I need. I know what I'm doing this weekend :)

Lauren said...

Beautiful dress! Thanks for the instructions, I can't wait to try making one!

Mrs. Priss said...

This was SO adorable, I died a little. I'm pretty sure I need to make one this weekend. Thank you for the fabulous tutorial!

Kristen said...

Amazing Dress! Love the colour and the style!

Hallie said...

so lovely! im jealous!

The Sisters 4 say MORE is more said...

LOVE this! we are so excited to make this! super cute style!!! we are adding you to our sidebar! :)
~Selina(sis#1) and Sophie(sis#2)

The Sisters 4 say MORE is more said...

-k- we just flipped through ALL of your "how to's"....
you might have a crush on ruffles... but we have a crush on YOU! We were literally squealing over some of the stuff you have done! you have earned some serious superfans!!!
~Selina & Sophie (#1 & #2)

Emily said...

This is so pretty! Nice work!

Megan said...

I will definitely be trying this DIY...and if it's successful, I'll make sure to send you a link! Thanks for posting this :)

Denise said...

What a cute idea! I hopped over from Ruffles and Stuff. If you don't have a dress form you can make your own. I did, with duct tape and an old tee. One of my posts has a couple ofpics with my good friend "Ducky" in them!

Andrea @ TheTrainToCrazy.com said...

That is just lovely!

I have a weekly Thursday blog party especially for people to share things they've made to be worn. Stop by if you'd like!

Anne said...

What a lovely summer dress!! I linked to your tutorial over at Craft Gossip Sewing:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-make-an-alice-dress-with-neckline-ruffle-and-wide-sash/2010/05/06/

--Anne

Melissa at Perry Jayne said...

Simply beautiful. Love the colors, the fabric, the style!

Anna said...

very cute! I can't wait to try one. :)

Kim L. said...

wow that's such an awesome dress and tutorial ...thanks xo

Kim @ Everything Etsy said...

I'm gonna have to try that! I love how it looks...great job!

~Kim

Evonne said...

I like the part on adding ruffles to the cami.

Anonymous said...

That is ADORABLE. But it's also cracking me up, because that green fabric is my current duvet cover! I love your use of it though.

Erin said...

what a great idea and the perfect tutorial. i just found your site and am having fun reading it. i posted a link on my blog to your site and this post. http://frostedsquare.blogspot.com/2010/05/fancify-my-t-shirts.html
thank you
erin

Amy said...

i want to make it asap!

Amber said...

Absolutely adorable!! I TOTALLY love your color/fabric choices.

I've been making similar tank dresses lately, and I have a really cute one that I'm giving away!! Check it out if you're interested at http://rufflesandrosescrafts.blogspot.com/2010/06/tank-dress-giveaway-active.html

Justine said...

Super cute! I am new to sewing, and I can't tell from the picture, but is there a ruffle in the back too?

Hattie said...

Justine,

Yes, the neckline ruffle goes all the way around. Of course, you could stop it at the shoulders if you liked that look better :-)

<3
Hattie

mommy Orkid Belle said...

That is really beautiful. I love the color combination!

elizabeth kartchner said...

i got to your blog from a link and I love this project~

I'll have to try to make one.

thanks :)

Kaye Prince said...

Thanks for the awesome tutorial! I just made my own version of this dress, you can see it here if you'd like: http://miss-print.blogspot.com/2010/06/hexagon-swap-goodness-and-few-other.html

Katie said...

ADORABLE. And the dress is uber cute too :)
XO - Katie Bower

Alice dress said...

Cute!

Tifani said...

Thanks so much for the tutorial. Now my oldest daughter has a dress for our Disney trip!

http://msmathmom.blogspot.com/2010/08/disney-outfit-for-maggie.html

Cindy @ Cinsarah said...

I LOVE it!!!!
I found your blog via Pinterest on this dress!!
I am now your follower!
Will have to try this!!

Aurora said...

Love this! Forgive my silly question, but could you clarify this step: "For the skirt portion of the dress, you will need a piece of fabric wide enough to go around you twice and as long as you’d like. Cut the fabric in half and sew up each edge so you have a big, rectangle open on both ends."

Why must it be able to wrap around twice? Why are we cutting it in half? I suppose I'm missing something essential here...

Hattie said...

No such thing as a silly question! I made sure the fabric was wide enough to go around my waist twice, because I wanted a very full, swishy skirt. If that's not your thing, you can use less fabric, but the dess will look a bit different. I have a small waist and curvy hips, so a full skirt is more flattering to my figure! The reason I cut the fabric into two rectangles, is because I wanted a seam on each side of my waist. I think it's a more finished look than having a seam only on one side of the skirt. It's a personal preference, and you certainly don't have to do it that way if you want to save some time! Good luck on your dress, I've already worn mine twice this year!

Aurora said...

Hattie - Thanks so much! That makes perfect sense! I'm picking up fabric today! I want an army of refashioned everyday dresses! :)

Unknown said...

Love this refashion! What a terrific transformation! Just launched a (quick) tank transformation party and would LOVE if you linked up!
http://itstoilegood.blogspot.com/2011/06/2-tanks-mean-tank-refashions.html

Lara said...

Love this! The colors are perfect too. Nice job! :)
Lara

Christie said...

I love your blog. I'm so going to make this dress this weekend - only with a 3/4 sleeve shirt as it is fall and I have a phobia of sleeveless shirts, lol. Silly question, but is the skirt fabric a knit or woven material? I'll wait for your response before I get started. Thanks for the great tutes.

Hattie said...

Christie, I used woven fabric ( cut from an Ikea duvet) you could try knit, but I don't think it will hang the same way. Good luck and have fun!

Stacy said...

I love this tutorial, I actually made dresses for my daughter using this tut. I posted a tutorial and linked this post to my blog. check it out if you have time. thanks so much
http://todolistcrafts.blogspot.com/2011/11/first-sewing-tutorial-with-help-from.html

kim west said...

featured this on my blog! it's so great!!!! www.kimboscrafts.blogspot.com

Rinni said...

Loving this dress!! Question though! When you sew the skirt to the top, won't that cancel out the stretch from the elastic? Sorry if it's obvious lol I'm just trying to get my head around it before I start. Trying to figure out how you get the dress on and off once the skirt is sewn on!

Kacie said...

I am in LOVE with this dress. Me being 6ft tall, it is VERY hard to find cute/instyle dresses that arent too short on me. I am going tomorrow to buy the fabric and everything so i can hopefully get started and wear it for easter or atleast after for dinner. Im sooo excited!! :)

Unknown said...

This is a wonderful tutorial! I will be making just the skirt so I can wear it over different tank tops. I see a lot of these quick adorable skirts in my near future!

Preppy Pink Crocodile said...

Ah-dor-able! I love this!!

KK

Amanda said...

Hi! I found your dress on pinterest and repinned it of course :) It's adorable and I'd love to try to make one. What kind of fabric did you use for the skirt? I'm sorry if I missed it, but I didn't see it anywhere. Is it 100% cotton? How does the combo hold up to washing?

Thanks again for sharing!

Anonymous said...

This is great! I think I'm going to make this dress right now; but instead of the ruffle around the neck I think I'll do a peter pan collar

Kudzu said...

just found your dress, I love the added ruffle, that's not seen with the tank/skirt refashions I've seen. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but your greens don't match. If they did, this would be a perfect dress.

kalpic said...

So, how did you get the ruffles on the top? I mean how did you cut it out and stuff.