Knock It Off

Here is my newest knock off. I love to look around for cute clothes from big name companies and try to make my own. I saw this dress at Old Navy and loved it but wanted it in a different print. This is what I came out with.

Adorable right? Yeah she has her eyes closed in both pics but I loved them anyway so here they are. Want to know how to make your own? This is a really easy dress to make.

Here is what you need...tank top, fabric, thread and elastic thread.

I used half a yard of fabric but ended up cutting a bit off for the shirt version, for the dress I used the whole half a yard.

I got my tank tops at Old Navy when they were 5 for $10. This would be great also if you have tank tops with stains on them.

First I serged the top of the whole width of the fabric. Selvage to selvage. If you don't have a serger you can press down 1/4 in. and then another 1/4 in. to hem it.

Now it is time to shirr it. Don't know how? I found a great tutorial here.

I sewed my first line right below my serged edge.

Then I used the edge of my presser foot lined up with the row before it for even lines.

I sewed 5 rows.

Here it is before pressing it to gather it even more.

Pressing it. Don't go back and forth on the stitches. Just press and lift and repeat. (please ignore my dirty iron)

Here it is all shirred!

Fold your fabric right sides together so the selvages are both on one side and sew that side seam.

Put your tank top in between the layers where you want the shirred part to start. I measured down 2 in. from the arm holes. I marked my fabric with a pin so I would know where to sew the side seam. Take the tank out and sew your seam. I sewed a slight A-line here.

Now you will have a tube for the skirt of the dress.

Slip the tank back into the skirt part and pin in place.

Now to sew the skirt of the dress to the tank top.

With a regular straight stitch sew all around the dress 1/4 in. from the top. Again I used my presser foot as my guide.

Almost done! Flip your dress inside out and trim your fabric to the length you want.

For this one I made a shirt so I went a little below the bottom of the tank and hemmed it up.

For the dress do all the steps above just leave it longer. You can cut your tank top bottom off if you want but I just left mine. Less work!

So there it is....My newest knock off. For those of you still waiting for the J. Crew knock off tutorial it is coming. I got frustrated and had to walk away from it for a while then kinda forgot about it. Sorry.

Now I want to see your knock offs! I will be hosting a link party each week where you can link up your knock offs. It can be clothing, decor, a favorite restaurant meal. Anything that you see somewhere else and recreate.

Please in your post give credit where credit is due. I want to see your inspiration!

My plan is to eventually have a giveaway every time I have a link party but that will have to start in a couple weeks. If you are able to donate something for a giveaway email me and we can start that sooner! I will also be giving away some of my own things too.

Rules:

Grab a button from my sidebar and either put it in your Knock It Off post or on your blog somewhere.

Link directly to the post not to your homepage.

This isn't a rule but everyone loves comments! Go comment on as many links as you like.

I'm adding a link to my J. Crew Knock Off to get it started!