Sew-it-Yourself Easy Tulle Dress

All three of my girls are girly girls. They love sparkle, glitter, and all things feminine. Combine that with the princess fantasy factor, and what you get is a healthy dose of frou-frou.

So, naturally, they’re loving the tulle trend, which actually seems to never be out of style among the true girly types, especially those like Abby.

She’s been pinning and eyeing tulle dresses and skirts for a while, and what better time than summer to take an afternoon and make one for yourself?

Inspired by this one we spotted at Forever 21, Abby made hers using just a cami, some broadcloth, and some tulle. And don’t tell them, but we actually like ours even better than the original. (For only around $10, too!)

Choose your cami or tank for the top. Then choose a lightweight fabric such as broadcloth for the under-layers of the dress, and some tulle for the outer-layers. Determine the yardage you need by taking a waist measurement at the place on the torso where you want the skirt of the dress to be. Multiply that number by 2 for the under-layer, and multiply it by 3 for the tulle, and that’s the fabric length you’ll need.

We found this cami for only $1.80 at Forever 21, and the color was just right.

Abby tried on the cami, then we measured and cut it at the point where we wanted the skirt to attach, allowing that extra 1/2 inch for a seam allowance. {*Here’s what we found out later, so take this tip: the weight of the fabric did stretch the top down a little after it was sewn on, so keep this in mind when choosing a cami and measuring and cutting.}

Next, we worked on the under-layer. Since this is an adult-size dress, there was no need for cutting the fabric to get it shorter. To make the dress the length we wanted it, all we did was re-fold the broadcloth long-ways, making 2 layers, one a couple inches shorter than the other. No need to even hem the bottom edges! Just iron the fabric out to press in the new fold at the top, then unfold it, and sew the 2 short ends together.

Then re-fold it back and you have a large double-layer “tube”.

It’s the same basic process with the tulle, except there’s no need to adjust the length of the fold, just keep it as 2 equal layers. And DO NOT iron the tulle. Any wrinkles will smooth out eventually.