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The "Mom Maxi" Tutorial

3:28 PM

        A few days ago I posted the "Mom Maxi." It was a dress I made for Mother's Day for my mom. You can find it here.

       I was planning on going to pick up some fabric as soon as a sale started at Jo Ann's to make one for myself but I stumbled on some fabric in my "DO NOT TOUCH" bin. I was so happy to realize that I had about 3 yards of gorgeous light blue linen. *gasp* I had gotten it at a garage sale along with a bunch of other fabric for around $2. Major score.

Just so everyone knows, this dress only takes about an hour and a half to make. And it's SO easy.

Anyway, you'll need around 2-3 yards of material, a t-shirt or tank top, and elastic thread.

 I was so sad to part with think tank top I just had to get a goodbye shot.

 Anyway, begin by wrapping the fabric 1 1/2 to 2 times around yourself. If you're taller or have a longer stride, go closer to 2 times. Mark it and cut it.

Fold it in half, right sides together and sew up the side seam.

Next, take your shirt and mark where you want the skirt to start. Make sure to take into account a bit of a seam. Then cut it, making sure to be careful.
                                                 








Hand wrap your bobbin with elastic thread. Using a long stitch, sew around what will become the top of the skirt.
It should look somewhat like this. Using an iron and sort of steaming around the elastic thread will cause it to bunch up a bit more. 

With the skirt inside out and the shirt right side out, insert the shirt sleeves first into the skirt. Try and line up the seam of the skirt with the back of the shirt. This will make the seam fall right smack in the middle of your butt.

To pin the skirt the shirt, gather a few inches of skirt between every pin in the shirt. The two are obviously different sizes and this will cause the gathering.

Sew them together using elastic thread in the bobbin.

When you're done it should look like this

There's a good chance it will be too long and hang really awkwardly. DON'T PANIC. We're going to fix that!

Take a moment to notice just how bad the dress looks without a belt or sash. I'm really not that big... at least I think I'm not that big...

Since mine was obviously way too long, I had to hem it a lot. Fold it up a certain length and iron it. I folded mine up one inch because I needed it to be a lot shorter. 

Decide how much shorter it needs to be and divide that number by three. If it's reasonable (less than an inch), continue the steps below. If it's more than that, fold it up a lot, iron it and sew it keep close to the edge of the skirt. Cut off the excess material at the top and continue the steps below.

Sew a stitch (with regular thread as the bobbin) that goes around. I recommend staying closer to the edge of the fabric rather than the bottom of the skirt. 

Fold it up two more times and sew again. Make sure to iron it too to create a nice hem. 
And so this is where the sash comes in. Cut a long strip of fabric about 6-7 inches wide depending on how wide you want your sash. I had to sew a few strips together to get a long enough sash. I personally recommend going long. A nice big bow looks beautiful right on your butt. 

Flip it inside out and iron it nice and flat. 

Rusty water from the iron somehow spilled on my sash and I almost had a spaz attack. 


The ends of the sash can either be just folded in and sewn or cut at an angle and sewn. 


For the angle cut, obviously cut it at an angle. 

Cut about a half inch into the seam and then the same amount at the crease in the bottom.

Fold them in and iron. 

Sew it up and wallah! Repeat on the other side with the angle facing in the same direction. 

Warning: The following contains posts of me after hauling heavy things around outside all day and unintentionally bathing in the hose.







There were so many ants in the flowers in wasn't even funny. I got about five on my hand. Yuck.

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3 Sweet little note(s)

  1. That is so adorable! Looks like it would flatter anyone!
    Thanks for sharing! UGh, I wish my sewing machine was working!!!
    Visiting from Talent Link Party!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh I forgot...dginnovations.blogspot.com...if your up to it:)

    ReplyDelete

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