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DIY Ruffle Dress

DIY Ruffle Dress

 

The beauty of creating your own personalized wardrobe is the ability to allow yourself to experiment.  When I use to shop for clothes, I was very strategic in how I spent my money.  I had to absolutely love something in order to purchase it.  Making your own clothes gives you the creative freedom to step outside your comfort zone and take fashion risks.

Then enters this dress with a million ruffles I probably wouldn’t have looked twice but have since fallen in love.  This dress was made using this polyester twill that will make you throw out your misconceptions about polyester.  Let me start off by saying, the online listing DOES NOT do this fabric justice.  Nothing about it reads polyester or $9.99 a yard.  It’s a medium weight fabric with lots of body and movement which made it perfect for all these ruffles.  It’s easy to sew and cut but a little more challenging to iron so keep that in mind.

The pattern used for this dress was vintage McCalls 4722 which I used because I’ve altered this pattern before and I’m familiar with how the neck and armhole fit.  Any shift dress pattern will work to give you these results.

-Removed the front chest seam

-Cut the front on the fold

-Added a back seam and a 12″ zipper

-Added 10″ to the length

-Cut 2 asymmetric side panels to each side

-Cut 4 5″x80″ ruffle panels, sew 2 of the panels together and attach the panels at seams by pleating, starting at the hem of the front, around the sleeve and ending at the hem in the back.

-Added a 8″x31″ ruffle under the continuous ruffle to provide more volume.

 

Chandler’s dress was self-drafted

Dress-DIY

Heels-Alexander Wang

Sunglasses-Celine

Chandler

Purse-Journey’s

Sunglasses-Target

Oxfords-The Doll Maker

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12 Comments

  1. V
    May 7, 2017 / 3:05 pm

    Love this and all of your diy’s!

    • Nikki
      May 12, 2017 / 11:32 pm

      Thank you so much

  2. Caz
    May 7, 2017 / 3:16 pm

    Beautiful! – both you and your little mini-me princess, lol. What a great hack to the original pattern, and the stripes and ruffles dead on trend right now. <3

  3. Alice
    May 7, 2017 / 3:24 pm

    Gorgeous! There’s a similar top that doesn’t look half as pretty as your dress at Nordstroms for $425.

    • Nikki
      May 12, 2017 / 11:32 pm

      Thank you Alice, that’s the beauty of DIY

  4. May 9, 2017 / 1:14 am

    Two Words…..Simply Gorgeous

  5. Terri K
    May 9, 2017 / 6:01 pm

    Love your creativity, and this dress (and the little one’s) is amazing. How many yards of that Mood stripe do you recommend for a modified sheath dress with the ruffles in the same size as yours, but a bit longer? Have a wonderful mother’s day !

    • Nikki
      May 12, 2017 / 11:35 pm

      Thank you so much.
      I used 3 yards to make both dresses and only had scraps left over, so you should be fine with 2.5 yards.

  6. May 11, 2017 / 2:30 am

    I’m not a big fan of ruffles but your gorgeous dress makes me think twice!

    • Tobi
      May 12, 2017 / 8:29 pm

      I also hate ruffles but this might be the exception. It’s so nice.

      • Nikki
        May 12, 2017 / 11:37 pm

        Thank you

  7. LaDonna Cokley
    May 16, 2017 / 4:18 pm

    Hello Nikki,

    I love the dresses you made for you and your daughter! I am going to attempt to make the style you created for yourself and wear it this weekend. I have a question before I begin creating. Do you cut the asymmetric panels in a triangle or a rectangle shape? I am constantly looking at the photo and I can’t figure it out, lol, please help me! I plan to make mine in black, I thought about using a black denim but, I think that will make the dress to stiff, do you agree?

    LaDonna