Making a shift dress pattern

Here is the shift dress. There are only two pieces to the pattern, the dress part and the neck facing.  No zips or buttons to worry about. It is dead easy to make.

I made this particular one a bit longer. All you do is cut the dress longer when you cut it from the fabric. This is made in a soft knit fabric. You can experiment a bit in your choice of fabric with a dress like this. But I had to use stiffener or interfacing for the neck facing.

I haven’t explained the neck facing yet. To cut the pattern for the facing, you use the dress pattern you have already made. Pin the neck and shoulder area to the newspaper. Draw the neckline and shoulder outline on to the newspaper. Cut a C shape. (see picture) Also note that this pattern is half of the dress and facing. It is cut on the fold to give the full dress and facing.

Recognise the – OBI belt – from an earlier post? Recognise the – green beads – from an earlier post? This entire outfit was home-made and since the belt was made from left-over fabric and the beads cost the equivalent of a cup of coffee, this entire outfit cost the same as a budget take out meal. You may not like the colours or the length here. The point of this is that you can play with those when you make the dress.

This is Part 2 of the instructions for this dress. Find the rest here – Part 1, Part 3 and Part 4.

The Greenie Galleries at the top of this page have 100s of photos of older and newer projects showing multiple ways to make your own clothing and accessories. There are also ideas to recycle or upcycle.