the dress, the dress

Sunday, June 15th, 2008 | crafting, finished object, sewing

Ooops, I almost forgot to come back and post about it! Usually when I upload photos to Flickr I blog them right away – this time I uploaded photos then ran out of time to blog, time passed…and now here I am.

This dress is AWESOME. It was the first time I made it, and it still only took an hour! Most of that time was cutting and figuring out how things go together.

Just the Facts:
Pattern: Infinity Dress
Fabric: unknown mixed fibres (probably something like cotton/poly/lycra), stretch, $2.99/m from Fabricland, 3.5 m

After reading the entire thread on Craftster about this dress (warning: it’s over 120 pages long!) and seeing all the fantastic versions that people have made, I took the plunge and headed out to my local Fabricland. I found this fabric as a discounted end for just $2.99/m, so it was a great steal. I’ll admit I wasn’t totally sold on the print when I bought it (but hey, it was cheap) but it’s really grown on me and now I love it!

This was my first time sewing with stretch, but it was surprisingly easy – I used my normal machine and zigzag stitch and was just careful not to distort the fabric while sewing. This fabric wasn’t super stretchy or slippery, so everything went quite smoothly. And no hemming, because knit fabric doesn’t fray!

The dress is super simple and is just composed of a skirt, two long straps (each of which is wide enough to cover a boob) and a waistband to finish the back of the skirt. You can make the dress with just one seam if you have enough fabric – I made a circle skirt out of two half-circles, so my dress has two extra seams in it. But this is seriously the easiest, best-fitting, and most flattering dress I’ve ever sewn. Okay, so I haven’t made many dresses, but that’s mostly because when I do and they don’t fit, I get discouraged!

To wear the dress you just pull the skirt on up, however high you want, and use the straps to wrap around you any way you want! For many, many more photos check out that Craftster thread – you can click on “images only” to see just the posts with images (more than ten pages’ worth!). This is definitely my favourite way to wear it, I think, because it’s got some sleeve going on and full coverage in the back.

It’s super comfy too! Ask Dr. Steph, we swapped clothes at knit night this week because she wanted to try it on The straps can be a little fiddly, but it’s really fun to try various ways of putting it on! I’m sure at some point I’ll try actually wearing it out with a more…shall we say risque look.

I love this dress so much, I’m already planning on making more. Starting with one in black…

P.S. Sadly I did not take any photos during WWKIP Day/Stephanie’s Birthday party/Franklin at lettuce knit. But Amy’s got some great ones!

40 Comments to the dress, the dress

1 A.Asena Günergök
June 16, 2008

Very very nice blog and so kute photos. I like very much. So I added your links and a photo in my blog. Please lets see.
see you

2 Ivy Mae
June 16, 2008

It looks great on you! What a cool idea.

3 sari
June 16, 2008

that is really neat.

4 Keatyn
June 16, 2008

Very cool dress. It looks great on you.

5 rowena___.
June 16, 2008

yours is one of my favorite versions of this dress! the fabric is really pretty and you look great in it.

6 orata
June 16, 2008

I LOVE this dress–at the beginning of the post, I was thinking “it looks fantastic, but I bet it’s hard to sew” and when I went to look at the pattern, I was blown away by how easy this looks! And i love the way you’ve tied it–looks great on you.

7 Julia
June 16, 2008

It’s fantastic! I love the color! Really beautiful.

8 Alice from france
June 16, 2008

This dress is just GORGEOUS!!!
I will definitively made one for myself!

9 mezzodiva
June 16, 2008

The DRESS! The DRESS!
It’s Fabulous! You look GREAT in it.

*excuse me – slipping away to see the Craftster thread*

Oops. Danger.

I am now contemplating the risk potential of wrapping such a number around my body which is,um,… to be generous… well, that pretty much says it: generous.

Can I blame you for this?

10 nisemac
June 16, 2008

had to come out of lurking to say i love how it resembles a sari in the back. looks fantastic on you!

11 Estella
June 16, 2008

OMG that dress makes me want to start sewing again! It is wonderful! Can’t wait to see the version in black.

12 Sarah G
June 16, 2008

Also delurking to say how amazing that dress looks! The construction is so clever and I totally have to make it now!

13 Jill B.
June 16, 2008

Thanks for posting a link to that tutorial. I want to make one now! Your dress looks great!

14 Knittripps
June 16, 2008

What a pretty dress! If I could sew, which I can’t, I would make one in black with a red sash.

15 nakiacasey
June 16, 2008

I would have thought that with all that fabric going so many directions that it would look bulky or frumpy. It isn’t at all. It is very flattering on you. Looks great!

16 Jennifer
June 16, 2008

What a neat design. It reminds me a little of baby wraps like the moby wraps. They are just long stretchy pieces of fabric that you can use to carry a baby. Your dress is gorgeous and perfect for summer!

17 Kimberly
June 17, 2008

Your dress is my favorite (and I looked at them ALL last night instead of knitting!!) How come yours looks so much nicer than the rest? Did you do anything differently?

18 WWKIPD « Feather and Fan
June 17, 2008

[...] the sewing front, I saw this infinity dress Cosmicpluto made and I am now obsessed with making one myself. The tutorial is here, and you should [...]

19 Wendolene
June 17, 2008

What a seriously awesome dress! I agree, the print is very cute.

20 gleek
June 17, 2008

how cool! i’ve seen the commercial version of this dress and i’m glad to see that someone figured out how to make it at home!

21 Jennifer
June 17, 2008

Wow! It’s looks great and with the added benefit of looking fabulously comfortable. What a win-win situation.

22 Elizabeth
June 17, 2008

I really like it! What a fascinating construction.

23 Anna
June 17, 2008

Yet another person de-lurk-ifying just to say: that is an amazingly awesome dress – it looks really different and very flattering!

24 Angie
June 17, 2008

I love the dress. You look fantastic in it! Where’s my sewing machine?!

25 Peacock Chic
June 17, 2008

OMG I forgot all about this dress until I saw your fabulous version. This is especially wonderful because I was looking to make a dress for a trip and this something that would yield instant gratification. BINGO!!! Thanks for the inspiration!

26 Elizabeth
June 18, 2008

The dress is wonderful – I can hardly believe it’s made from a few simple pieces. Thanks for the links to the tutorial and the Craftster thread.

27 Sarah
June 18, 2008

Laura – It’s amazing!!!

28 Dr. Steph
June 18, 2008

Wanties. I love it. You must be wearing it all the time.

29 Suzanne V. (Yarnhog)
June 18, 2008

What a neat design! I’d love to see it in black–I’ll bet it could be totally dressy.

30 Vanessa
June 18, 2008

That is one amazing dress! It looks absolutely gorgeous on you, Laura!

31 Suzanne
June 19, 2008

That dress is wonderful! I love your choice of fabric – V.pretty! I have just had a look at all the other dresses on Crafster and every single one of them looks amazing on the maker/wearer! Hurrah for the most flattering dress ever!

32 Hannahbelle
June 21, 2008

Vair vair cute dress! now I want to make one!

33 Seanna Lea
June 21, 2008

I’ll have to try this one. My sewing machine is one of the few things out right now… for those rare bouts of sewing fever I get.

I have another wedding to attend later this year, and it is always hard for me to find something that I want to wear that has appropriate tattoo coverage so I don’t freak the mundanes.

34 TracyKM
June 24, 2008

I like the dress on you! However, having carried my toddler in a DIY stretchy wrap made from a very similiar fabric….all I can think of is that would make a really good post-partum nursing dress/wrap carrier all-in-one, LOL. But I might think about it a bit more as my FabricLand has that cheap knit ends too

35 Jaime
June 25, 2008

This is the cutest dress! I want to make one and I haven’t sewn even a line in years.

36 TracyKM
June 25, 2008

Okay! I took apart the stretchy wrap I made/used when my toddler was younger, and now have a dress too! Is there anywhere with actual instructions on wrapping? I’m getting alot of skin showing on the sides!

37 livininphilly
July 6, 2008

I like the print a lot. I have already made one in a not stretchy fabric and it’s beautiful. I have had a hard time finding prints in stretch knit. I’m making my second tonight!!! This is seriously super addictive once you make one you just can’t stop….

BTW @ mezzodiva, these dresses look great on any body. check out craftster and also a designer called Monif C. She sells one (almost $200!!) for plus size women.