Quick and Dirty Tutorial for my Simple 30s Dress

So I've promised a tutorial on this dress for awhile, and I've been lacking. (And those asking have been so, SO patient, thank you!)

This is a quick and dirty tutorial. I want to do a proper PDF pattern for it, but that's not going to happen until next spring. Sorry, I just can't do any better than this right now.

But the good news is that if you know how to sew and have done a little bit of drafting before, you can pull this together because this really is a simple dress.

So here we go.

Seam allowance is half an inch. I also tell you to use your measurements (and you should), but go up an inch or two because this is meant to skim over your body, not fit perfectly - after all, we're going for simple so there's no zippers.

I sewed this in rayon, and I used between 3-4 yards, as the skirt is cut on the bias. You'll also need 2" elastic that's 2-4 inches smaller than your waist measurement.

#1 is the top. You'll cut out 4 pieces at 12" by 16".

#2 is the waist. You'll cut out four bands. So take your waist measurement, plus 2" and divide by 2. So my band is 3" x 16".

#3 is the front skirt panel. This is cut on the bias! You'll want it smooth across the front - so half your waist, plus 2" (ex, mine again, is 16"). You'll have to measure how long you want it to be/how long floor length is for you. Then, when measuring down, I made a slight taper out at the knees, with a total increase of 10" - 5" on each side.

#4 is the back panel. You'll cut out two on the bias.  Add an inch long dart in the middle, taking out an inch or two, depending on you and your body. Now, this is going to have more dramatic tail; we're doubling the waist at the bottom - again, flaring out from the knees.

Assembly
For the top, you'll stitch each side together 7" from the bottom - leaving a v-neck (and v-back, and room for the armpit). You can adjust how roomy you want everything to be if you'd like, whether that means more or less coverage for you. Then stitch together the shoulders, gather the seams as much or as little as you'd like, and secure the ruching. (For example, once gathered, my shoulder seams are 6".)

Sew the two pieces of waistband to each other to create a casing for the elastic.

Now, since we're using elastic on the waist, there's going to be some ruching. If you want, you can just sew the waist to the top and let the elastic pull and gather however it may, you can also tuck in the excess fabric on the sides, or you can gather the fabric on top underbust and make it look nice and controlled - it's up to you. But you'll need to attach the top to the waistband - making sure to leave room to insert the elastic. (But don't insert the elastic yet!)

Put in your dart, and stitch the skirt together, and then stitch the skirt to the waistband. You're almost done! Just insert the elastic, sew it up, and there you go!

And, you know, finish your seams and hem and whatnot.