The Tank Top Dress.

During the summer it is rare to see me wearing sleeves. Just about every summer shirt I own is sleeveless, and I've got a drawer full of plain tanks too. So when I saw a cute maxi dress that just looked like a tank top with a skirt sewn on I knew I had to replicate it. After all, I already had the top half of the dress!

I found a blue and green floral linen blend on clearance at Joann's, picked out a matching tank from my dresser, and got to work.

I cut out two skirt pieces, the front and back, from my fabric. I could have just cut one panel and had a center back seam, but I wanted pockets in this dress so I needed side seams. Once I put in the pockets and sewed up the side seams I cut the tank top off at the length I wanted, then pleated the skirt onto it.

Once I sewed the skirt on, the dress could have been done, but I decided it needed something else. So I made a belt out of the left over fabric and some lace.

Next, I sewed belt loops onto the dress to hold the belt in place. (I hate it when belts/sashes slide around)

Then the dress was done! Or so I thought. The tank top was cut to the correct length before the skirt was sewn on, but the extra weight of the skirt sewn on the knit fabric dragged the top down. So I had to take off the skirt, shorten the bodice, and sew the skirt back on. This made the bodice the right length, but there was still one more issue. The weight of the skirt was still pulling the top down, making the bodice too low. I kept having to pull it up! Well that wasn't going to work! So I shortened the straps.

There we go! A cute, comfortable, summer dress!

(excuse the strange look on my face, I actually really like my new dress, the sun was just bright.)