Little Red Infinity Dress Tutorial

February 14, 2011

I made this little dress in about 3 hours and for under $20! I used some soft polyester knit I found at Hancock Fabrics for $4.99/yard. I got 5 yards, and with my 40% off 1 cut of fabric coupon, my total came to $15.87 after tax!! These dresses sell for upwards of $200 in stores, so Im thrilled with my savings! I found these dresses on Craftster years ago and have always loved them. I hadnt thought about them in a while and was really excited when I decided on making one for my Red Week challenge. I read several blogs about how people made these and I was confused. All the directions were basically the same, but none took me step by step through the process. And no ones math was the same! So using some from here and some from there, I was able to simplify them. First, you need to do some measuring. To get the size of my circle skirt, I needed to measure my waist: 30. I measured right at my belly button because thats where the waist of this dress sits. To make that into a pattern, I needed to find the radius of a circle the size of my waist, so I divided by 6.28. You dont need to know the fancy math, just trust me.

So, 30/6.28 = 4.7. I adjusted this to 4.5 because my knit fabric stretches so it doesnt have to be exact. Then I decided on length of skirt and came up with 18. In hindsight, I wish Id gone about 4 longer, but thats just because I like to wear my skirts right below my knee instead of right above it. So decide length based on your personal preference. To make your straps, you need to decide how wide to make them. To cover your bust, measure from your breastbone, over the fullest part of your breast, and to the middle of your underarm. Mine is 11 (yes, I have gigantic hooters). To determine strap length, you need to make them 1.5 times your height. Its daunting, but doable! Im 55, which is 66. 1.5 times 66 inches is 99 inches, but I just rounded up to 100. So, got that? You need 4 measurements: waist divided by 6.28, length of skirt, width of straps, and length of straps. To make your pattern, get packing paper, freezer paper, or a bunch of pieces of computer paper taped together. Start at one corner and measure down the first number you came up with for your waist. Mine is 4.5 so I made a curved mark 4.5 from the corner. Do this with the old pencil-on-a-string trick, or make a series of little marks and connect them with a line.

Then I measured 18 down from that and made another line for my skirt length.

Cut out on your lines. Youll have 1/4 of your circle skirt.

Now, keeping your fabric folded in half with selvages matched, fold the fabric in from the end so its doubled on itself. Place your pattern so the 2 straight lines match up with the edges.

Next, cut a waistband 10 tall and the length of your waist you measured. So mine was 10 by 30. (In the picture mine is longer than 30 but trust me on this! Make it the length of your waist measurement!)

Next youll have to cut your straps. Youll need to lay your fabric out flat somewhere (and its 3 yards for me, so quite a bit of space!) to cut them all at once.

I kept my fabric folded in half so I could cut both straps at once. I took my ruler and placed pins 11 apart, every 2 the length of the fabric. Well, 100 inches of it, anyway!

Then I cut along the pin lines to get my straps.

Now for construction. A lot of people call this the 1 seam dress because its easy to do at once. Id recommend doing it in parts, and wish I had. Open up your circle skirt. If there are sides to your fabric, place the right side up.

Get your straps. They need to be overlapped a little, 3 to 5 inches is average for what I read. I opted for 5 because Im quite modest about my chest. So overlap the straps at one end and pin.

Take them to your skirt, and deciding a middle point, place the middle of the overlapped straps down.

I then pinned the straps from edge to edge.

This is where I recommend stopping and starting the sewing. Just sew the straps on then come back. If youre daring, keep reading to learn how to do it at once. It was just difficult to keep all the layers in the right place. Take your waistband and fold it in half. Start in the middle of the front of the dress and sew the waistband on, all the way around to the beginning. There should be just a little overlap.

After securing the waistband to the dress, sew around the perimeter again, making sure everything has been included and reinforcing your seams. If you dont have a serger, do a wide zigzag on your regular machine. I took the waistband in the front and sewed the pieces together. I guess other people leave it V-shaped, but I wanted a more complete feel to my dress. I used black thread to show where I stitched because this part will never be seen.

(Please forgive the bunching at the waist. I made this dress to fit me, not my mannequin, and she hasnt had 2 kids in the last 3 years!) So this is what the completed dress looks like:

Then when you start wrapping it, you put it up over your bust one strap at a time.

To learn to tie it, I spent a lot of time on YouTube watching videos. There are a ton of them out there and theyre all super helpful.

UPDATE!!

infinity dress with bandeau top

May 22, 2012
Last February when I competed in the So You Think Youre Crafty competition, I made an infinity dress. It was Go Red for Women week and I thought a sweet little dress for Valentines Day would be perfect. I scoured other tutorials for convertible dresses, but I was confused and frustrated, and decided make my own. My dress had a few mistakes as I was figuring out the best way to make it and upon its completion, it was unwearable for me. I was newly pregnant and the dress accentuated my belly (that we hadnt told anyone about) and was much shorter than I prefer. Then I discovered the complete lack of modesty in the bust region and lets just say that one the whole, it was better suited for the bedroom than the blog. But since I won the challenge that week, I published my tutorial and went on about my business. Over the last 15 months, that has been the most popular post on my blog! Ive been absolutely blown away by the number of views, comments, and pins! The love for my tutorial has been overwhelming, to say the least. And its made me even more frustrated by my crap-tastic first dress. Dont get me wrong, the math and the

technique are spot on. But the dress I produced was a flop. And for 15 months its eaten at me. Ive gotten many comments and emails asking me about the top half of this dress. Many of you, like me, have to wear a bra and have discovered its just not possible. Ive said many times, Oh, just make a bandeau top for it and left it at that. Well, Im proud to say Ive finally put my money where my mouth is and made a convertible dress with a bandeau style top for full coverage.

And this dress is wearable! Im so in love with everything about it.

Adding the top piece to this dress has opened all sorts of amazing wearing opportunities for me! Areas that would previously be exposed are now nicely covered and allow a bra to be worn.

Its so much more comfortable for me to wear this dress, knowing Im fully covered. And the styles look just as good!

When you see the dress from the front, you dont notice just how much shows when you turn to the side! I know I didnt when I made my first one, anyway.

The steps to make this version are exactly like my first one. Theres just one tiny, simple difference. Ready to make your own? Youll need to first read my other tutorial as it contains information about how to cut the pieces to your right size. Sew Like My Moms Infinity Dress Tutorial Now, heres the trick. The waistband on my other dress was 1 piece I folded in half and sewn to the skirt. For this version I made it 1 layer thick, but taller, so it would come up higher. Thats it! So my waistband piece became the bandeau piece. For me it was 30 wide by 13 tall. To sew, gather your 4 pieces. One skirt piece, 2 straps, and the waistband/bandeau piece.

Just as before, cross your straps over each other and pin to the skirt.

Sew the straps on. Then take the bandeau piece and fold it in half and sew down the side. This will be a side seam in the top of the dress.

Leaving the bandeau inside out, pin the bottom of your piece to the skirt/straps and sew all the way around.

When youre finished, pull the bandeau piece up and your straps will be sandwiched between it and the skirt with the seam on the inside. Its ready to wear!

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Cosmetic Bag Tutorial

August 11, 2010

Well, there could only be one winner. But I wanted to share how I made the bag so everyone can make their own! The finished size of this cosmetic bag is 9 long, 5 tall and 5 wide. You need: -Fabric. I used 2 fat quarters and cut them to 14 by 21. You dont have to use fat quarters, just cut 2 pieces of fabric to 14 by 21. -One 14 zipper -One piece 14 by 21 fusible vinyl** -One scrap piece of fabric 1.5 by 3 for zipper tab **I found my fusible vinyl at Hancock Fabrics. It was only 17 wide and was somewhere around $5/yard. Definitely using my 40% coupon next time! It was on the bolt with interfacings.

Apply vinyl according to manufacturers instructions. I was a little intimidated at first, but this was actually an easy process!

Take your zipper and lay it right side down on the right side of your outside fabric. Pin and sew. I prefer not to use my zipper foot when installing zippers. I know, Im such a rebel.

Lay your inside fabric right side down, with the edge lined up on the zipper and sew. I usually do these 2 steps as 1, but the vinyl made the fabric slippery and it was easier to do them one at a time.

Open your fabrics to reveal the zipper. Turn the outside fabric back, fold along the edge of the zipper, and iron. **Make sure your iron doesnt touch the lining fabric with the vinyl. It will melt the vinyl!!

Turn over and fold the lining down.

Iron with a piece of paper between the fabric and iron.

Top stitch along the zipper. Youll need to go slow and help the fabric through because the vinyl will be a little sticky against your machine.

So now 1 side of the zipper is done!

Take the bottom of the outside fabric and fold it back up on itself, lining it up with the top of the zipper.

Pin and sew just like you did above. Then flip it over, take the bottom of the lining, and line it up with the edge of the zipper. Pin and sew.

Now open your zipper and turn the bag with the right sides out. **Leave zipper open for the remainder of construction!

Carefully iron down the outside along the edge of the fabric. the lining will be ironed at the same time, so make sure its not sticking out funny. You dont want to melt your vinyl!

Then flip it over and iron the vinyl side. Dont forget your paper!

Top stitch down this side, too.

Take your zipper tab, fold right sides together length-wise, and sew at 1/4.

Use a safety pin to turn right side out. Iron flat with your seam in the middle of the inside. I then like to top stitch down either side.

Turn the bag inside out and lay flat with the zipper in the middle. Fold the tab in half, with the seam on the inside, and pin to the open end of the zipper.

Sew both ends shut using 1/4 seam allowance.

Mark all 4 corners of the bag at 2.5 from each edge. (Truthfully, if you understand bag construction, you should mark 2.5 from one edge, and 2.25 from the other to account for the seam allowance)

Cut out the corners.

Open each corner, and line the seam up in the middle of the flat edge. Sew across. Repeat on all 4 sides.

It will look something like this.

And for really nice results, when you sew the corners, make sure you sew your middle seam pointing down on both sides. I also like to clip my edges with pinking shears!

Thats it! Turn right side out, poke your corners so theyre nice and straight, and enjoy!

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