How to sew a Twofer dress- Take 2

I made another twofer dress! I made this one a little differently and it turned out so cute! I attempted to take some pictures showing "how" I made it. Enjoy! I am loving my new outfit!

First, I cut a "pattern" out of wrapping paper. I cut pockets for this dress! The long side of the pattern is placed on the fold. Cut two, but cut the back piece about 6-8 inches wider than the front.

After sewing the side with the pocket.

The pocket opening, right side out

I sewed pleats on the front of the skirt so that it fit the front of my waist and the pockets sat on my hips

Imagine this picture horizontally. I shirred the back of the skirt so that it fit snuggly but I could still get into the dress. This actually was some trial and error. I actually had to rip out the seam from the waist to top of the pocket so I could sew about 8 rows of shirring. Then I resewed the seam from the pocket to the waist.

Next, sew the shirt to the skirt. I tried it on before I did this and marked where I wanted the skirt to sit with tailors chalk. Then I safety pinned the two pieces together and sewed. Be sure to stretch the shirred part of the skirt to fit the shirt so that it is nice and stretchy and easy to get on and off.

I sewed a sash and then hand sewed it to the dress. This took a little while but it was worth it. I ended the hand sewing where the shirring started.

Here is how the sash looks in the back. I just untie it in order to get into/ out of the dress.

The finished product!

I paired it with my boots the first time I wore it and I got a lot of compliments. I love these dresses. I have plans to make a few more for the summer.

How to make a Twofer dress

Ug! I felt like I was drowning in grading and emailing students this week. So, that said, I either wanted to do one of two things: shop for new clothes, or sew something cute. Since money is a bit on the tight side, and I was feeling extra creative, I decided on the later. Enter the "twofer" dress!

What is a "twofer" dress, you ask? Well, it is dress that looks like a skirt and blouse combo. I am a daily (and I mean daily) stalker of modcloth and I drool over their dresses. I find the twofer dresses especially cute, but since I don't have $50+ bucks to shell out over every dress I crave, I decided to try and sew my own.

I made a quick trip to Joann's yesterday afternoon before class an picked out some fabrics that coordinated with a knit shirt from my closet. And JOY! Joann's was having a sale! I got my fabric (1.5 yard for the skirt and 1/2 yard for the belt) for only a little over $7! Add a few spools of thread (also on sale!) and some tailors chalk, my grand total for this project was $10.02!!! WOOT!

So, here is what I did. I first measured my waist and then the distance from my natural waist (where I wanted the skirt to sit) to my knee.

Then I made a really long belt (basically a long tube that I sewed, turned, and sewed the ends in a diagonal)

I then cut two rectangles of fabric for the skirt: width = 2 inches shorter than the circumference of my waist (26") and then the length = the distance from my waist to my knee (25" but I ended up shortening this a lot when I hemmed)

I hemmed the top of each skirt piece and then did eight rows of shirring (see last summer's blog on making an Easy Summer Dress) on each piece. I then sewed each the skirt pieces together (right sides together).

I then sewed the skirt to the shirt. This took a bit of creativity and help from my BFF Candace. She stretched the skirt for me while I safety pinned the shirt to the skirt. After sewing the shirt to the skirt, we hemmed the dress to right at the top of my knee (I just machine sewed the hem).

I tried on the dress and tied the belt in a big, sassy bow! The whole project took me about 3.5 hours and VOILA! Twofer dress! I love it!

A close of up the yummy fabrics! I love this color combo!

This dress is so comfortable! The shirring keeps it close to the body but it is easy to get on and off because of the stretch. I wore my dress today and got a lot of compliments. I have a brown shirt that is the same style as the tourquoise one and I think I am going to make another dress sometime soon!

Sex ed?

Tonight I was talking to the boys and having them repeat all of my siblings names. They were having a lot of fun saying "Chelsea!" "Amberley!" "Kalina!" "Baby Hunter!"

My sister Chelsea is pregnant so I decided to tell the boys. Here is Benji's response:

Me: Benji, there is a baby in Chelsea's tummy!

Benji: Ewwww! Yucky!

LOL. And so it begins....