To Infinty and Beyond!

Ahh the infinity dress..
To think a dress that can cost upwards of $200 is so cheap and easy to make.
Seriously, you can make it in a few easy steps with almost whatever stretch fabric you have in only about 30 minutes -  if that!
I made these two for myself yesterday and a couple for my mom.

Read on to find out how

Materials:

• Fabric - I used about 3 yards of a 2-way stretch knit for the beige one 
• Scissors 
• Pins
• Sewing Machine
• Circle Skirt Pattern (the instructions for it are below)
• Measuring Tape or String
• Pencils

Steps:
1. To make the circle skirt you need to take the measurement of your natural waist and add 2 inches.

So my measurement is 26" + 2" = 28"

Take this calculation and divide it by 6.2. The number I got was 4.5"

For the length, you can choose whatever you want. Measure from the point of your natural waist to where you'd like the skirt to stop. decided on 25" for the beige dress.

Total measurements for skirt:  25" long by 4.5" wide

This is how you translate that into a pattern.
Take a pen or pencil or any pointy apparatus and poke a hole through the one inch mark on the measuring tape, like so.

Take a pencil and push it through at the number you calculated for the width (in my case 4.5)

Hold the one inch placeholder in the corner of the graph paper (you could also just use newspaper - RECYCLYE, BABY!) and fully stretch out the pencil and at the second mark and use it to create a crescent shape. Check the pic below.

NOTE: Its important to start at the 90 degree angle (the corner) of the page to ensure simplicity and accuracy of the pattern piece.

Remove the second pencil and poke it through the tape at the length meausure you calculated (for me 25"). Draw a semicircle the same way you did in for the first one.

Cut out the pattern only along the lines you just drew. (PS I only have a third line because one of the dresses I made was a two-tier maxi, unless you're making one of those, you only need to have 2 lines at this point.)

  

 Next, take your fabric and fold it in half. Then fold it in half again.
Pin your pattern to the fabric.

  Cut out only along the curved lines. When you open it up you should have a huge circle.















2. The straps come next. For the width measure from your sternum to your armpit on each side of your body for the left strap and right strap.  Since I have no boobies my meausrement was about 8 inches in width. The length of the straps is completely up to you. The longer they are the more wrapping you can do with them! I just decided on 66" in length.

So for straps my measures are: 66" x 8"

Measure out the straps calculations on the fabric. Pin in place and cut them out.

Overlap one end of both straps 3-6 inches. For this one I overlapped 3 inches, for a more covered up look like the black one go six inches up.You'll want to sew up this distance to keep it closed.

Pin the straps to the skirt, right side to right side, only along whichever side you decided was the front. Don't pin it all around the entire circle.

You can also attach a waistband. In my opinion, this is optional, you could always just hem the upper back of the skirt. For the beige dress I did not make a waist band but for the black lace one I did. It's pretty simple. Here's how:

 For the length make it the length of your natural waist and the width whatever you want. Just cut out the waistband, fold it in half and pin the raw edge of the waistband to the raw edge of the waist of the skirt.

SO TO CLARIFY, the waistband should be pinned to the waist of the skirt and both sewn on top of the straps, near the bottom of them. Like so.

Sew the entire garment in one piece with a zigzag stitch and you're done. The straps and waistband will be attached.

AGAIN: If you don't want to make a waistband just fold the back of the waist of the skirt inward and sew all around in one piece using a zigzag stitch, attaching the straps. Like so.

And thats it. You can now fold the straps in whatever way you'd like.

Little story: This dress totally saves you from that "walk of shame" when you've stayed out late partying and have to go to class or something the next morning. Just shower, put your hair in a pony and strap the dress up differently!

Okay, okay, maybe that's not the best plan but, hey, if you're in a jam...

 

Prima