Every year for the 4th of July I like to make myself a patriotic dress to wear to church, to our cute little city parade. I was super pregnant with Eli last year and made
this red and blue ruched dress (that I wish I could still wear!). This year I went with some lightweight fabric that is my absolute favorite shade of red. It's one of the few shades of red that I feel compliments the pin undertones in my skin. Red is tricky for me to wear I think, but I really do love the color of this dress. (my
lipstick matches it perfectly- in "so chaud')
If you follow me on
instagram you saw that I wore this dress to church on Sunday..and if you follow me on
snapchat, you saw that I also wore this dress on the 4th to the parade! ;) You can view my Snapchat story from the 4th of July and see a bit of the dress in action
here. (can you even handle how our night ended?! The boys were such good sports about everything)
I've listed all the instructions on how to make the dress below after the jump, but if you aren't a sewer and are interested in learning, I have a whole online video sewing course that teaches you every single thing I know! You can check out the courses at moderngirlsewing.com. If you don't sew but are looking for a similar dress, I found
this dress and
this dress that are
both less than $12! I freaked out when I saw the price. It would be super simple to attach some cute white or navy tassel or pom pom trim to the sleeves to achieve a super similar dress.
Also make sure to check back next week when I break down everything you need to know about the most amazing
sale of the year!
CLICK THE LINK BELOW FOR THE FULL TUTORIAL...
MATERIALS:
- 3 yards of lightweight poly/cotton blend fabric
- trim (long enough to fit around each arm. (mine measured 30")
I added all the measurements to my dress in the image above for reference.
STEP 1: Lay one of your side panels on top of the front of your dress, rt sides together with the extra material of the panel pointing toward the middle. Serge them together along the edge. (if you don't have a serger, you can always stitch with 1/2" s.a. and zigzag the seam allowance to keep from fraying)
STEP 2: Open up your front and back pieces that you just stitched together and lay your second panel piece rt. sides together with the extra fabric pointing toward the center and stitch up the opposite side.
STEP 3: Open up all three of these pieces now sewn together (side panel, front, and 2nd side panel). Lay you back piece on top of it with rt sides together (this will be the exact same measurements and pattern piece as your front piece). Match up the side seams of the back piece with the unsewn sides of each panel piece and sew up either side. With the dress currently inside out, stitch up the front and back pieces along the top of the sleeves.
STEP 4: Turn your dress rt. side out, and prep and insert your sleeves.
STEP 5: Serge/finish the raw edges of the bottom of your sleeves and attach the trim along the bottom. Serge along your neckline and bottom of the dress, fold under twice, and stitch with a wide straight stitch all around the neckline and hem.
Labels: dressy, fourth of july, lookbook, sewing, tutorial
