Mini Tutorial: Tank Top Dress; Take 2

I made my first tank top dress a little over a month ago, and loved it. I followed the tutorial from Smashed Peas & Carrots. Love the dress, but had tons of hic-cups while constructing it. My friend Anngela at Anngela's Pretty Little Things made a few too. Go check out her blog to see the tank dresses she made. My biggest problem with this dress was the elastic wasteband... my sewing machine did not want to cooperate with it.

A few week's after making the elastic waste-band dress I found this tutorial from Talk 2 the Trees. I liked the fact that I didn't  have to deal with the elastic waste-band.  I gave this dress a try sporadically one evening. I didn't have her tutorial in front of me, but I remembered quite a few of her tips/steps. So I gave it a try like I do most things, and within less than a half hour I had a brand new dress. Granted Talk2theTrees was a bit less expensive, but for about $10 I was pleased to have yet another one of my creations to wear to work or out on the town! I did not make the belt that she talks about in her tutorial, but I did find an awesome red patten leather belt from the thrift store for a dollar!

Here is my mini tutorial on how I made this quick and easy 30 minute tank dress:

Material's needed: 

-1 Tank top; ribbed that stretches

-enough fabric to wrap around you plus an additional 10 inches (measure around your butt and add 10 inches to that number... that way it will accommodate the "junk in the trunk" (you can always add more if you want more room.)

-Thread & Bobin (color of choice)

-Sewing machine, scissors, tape measure

1. Try your tank top on and mark where you want the skirt portion to lay. Whether you want it high or low it's up to you. Next, you'll want to measure your fabric, cut it, and sew the two pieces together. *I folded my fabric in half to make more of a "bubble" like dress plus to give this light weight material a little more oomph. There fore I did not need to hem the bottom. If you do not make it a bubble skirt you'll need to hem the bottom as well. I'd suggest hemming the bottom first then sewing the two sides together. 

2. Once you've sewn the fabric to make what would look like the start of a skirt you'll want to flip it upside down and inside out and pin it to your tank top. *Since I made mine a bubble like skirt I did not have to worry about the inside out portion since it didn't matter which side I used! 

3. Next you will slowly start sewing with a zig zag stitch (this will allow the fabric to stretch a little). Sewing the skirt onto the tank top. Lightly stretching the tank top so that you have some room to be able to get into the dress. Make sure you are sewing as straight as possible (when you flip the skirt over is when you'll really noticed if you sewed straight or not). 

*Here is what it will look like after your done sewing. 

Notice. The bottom of the tank will be exposed and your skirt will be upside down (inside out). 

Now, all you need to do is flip your skirt over (and if you want you can cut the bottom portion of the tank top off). 

Here is the finished product!