Easy DIY Summer Maxi Dress for Big Beautiful Women

Here is a beautiful summer dress I made for myself. This dress is EASY, Easy, easy!!

I am about a size 18-22. I am starting to earn my spare tire; as I am nearing 50. If you are around my age; you will know exactly what I mean. It is really hard for me to find a dress in the stores that I would be comfortable in or one that I feel would flatter my body type. So I made this one. Without the sash; it looked like a great maternity dress. Since I am well pass the age of childbearing; I added the sash. So if you are looking for a great maternity/maxi dress, this dress would fit you with or without the sash.

My dress form goes out to about a size 16; so the dress is loose on my dress form.

Supplies:

Materials needed: 2-3 yards of stretchy material, thread to match, sharp scissors, and pins. Oh, and of course, a sewing machine. I used contrasting knit material I found on sale at Hancocks. You may need a yard for the bodice and 2 yards for the skirt of contrasting color or patterns. You may need more, if you are tall or want the skirt longer. My goal was to make a maxi dress that is pretty, yet unique. Time to make this dress 1-2 hours depending on your skill level.

Measurements:

Bust all the way around

Measure your waist,

Measure from top of bust to where you would like the waist to fall on the dress. My goal was a high waist/shorter bodice. For this look I measured from the top of my bodice to right under my breasts.

Then measure from your waist to your feet to get your skirt length or if you like your skirts shorter you can cut the skirt to your preferred length. Just make it your own!!

And of course; be sure to measure for your straps.

Cutting out your material:

Now we are just going to cut a bunch or rectangles. No need to figure out angles for this dress.

For the bodice; take your bust measurement divide by 2 and add 1 to 1.5 inches. You can add more; but you probably will end up taking it up at the end anyway. I learned this from experience.

Then you will need the shorter measurement from the top of where you want your bodice to start to your waist. Add 1 inch to this measurement.

For me my bust measurement was somewhere around 44 inches and my bodice was 10 inches. So I cut 4 rectangular pieces that were 23 x 11 inches.

You will need to cut 4 pieces like this.

I wanted my straps to be wide; so that they would be like cute little cup sleeves. You will need to cut 2 rectangular pieces that will be about 6 inches wide by whatever length you want for your straps. My straps were about 12 inches in length and 6 inches wide.

Next you will cut a large rectangle for your skirt using the measurement you used for your skirt length plus 2 inches out of your contrasting material . The width of the skirt will be your waist measurement plus 10 inches.

If you are only going to cut a couple of inches off the sides; then don't! Keep those extra inches to help create a flowing skirt. The only cut I needed for this part; was for the length of the skirt.

Now Sew!

Here is the fun part and it did not take long. For the bodice; take 2 of your rectangular pieces and sew them together with right sides together. I gathered each side about 3 inches on the upper part of my bodice.

Here is a close up of what I did.

Now take the other two pieces for the bodice and sew them right sides together. You do not need to gather the sides on these pieces; as this part will go inside your dress.

Now take your pieces you did for your straps. Finish off the edges with a little hem. I folded the edges up twice towards the wrong side give it a nice finished look on the right side. Remember the right side is the part that everyone is going to see.

Next, take your two bodice sides. Turn one inside out so that the right side is out. Take this piece and fit it inside the other bodice piece. Line up your seams and pin. The seams will fall under your arms. Next you will pin in your straps. Make sure to match up the right side of the straps towards the right side of the bodice with the gathered sides. I placed my straps so that my bra straps fall about in the middle of the straps. I also folded in the hemmed sides of the straps; so it would not show when wearing the dress.

I folded the bodice in half to help me measure up my straps and to make sure each side matched.

I pinned the front of the bodice together with the straps and sewed it all together. Then folded the straps up into the back of the bodice. Pinned the straps in place; matching up to the front. Then sewed the back side of the bodice.

You will notice my straps were kind of long. I didn't really measure them and had to cut off the extra. I wanted my bodice to fall right under my arms. Trim and enforce your seams if you want to. We don't need any extra bumps.

Turn it inside out and this is what the bodice should look like.

Next take your piece for the skirt and fold in half with right sides together. Sew down the side. This will be your only side seam. If you want to leave a split, like I did. Measure from the ground to where you want the split to start; do not sew this part together. Go ahead and sew the rest up to the waist.

Next take your bodice and fit it inside the skirt right sides together. I lined up the seam with a side seam on my bodice; because I wanted my split on the side.

Pin in place. I pinned my sides together and then I pinned my folds in place. I put one in the front and one in the back to form pleats.

Next I took a wide piece of the pink material to make a sash the full width of the material. I sewed the long sides together and turned it inside out. Make sure to fold the seam towards the inside; so that it does not show. I also gathered each end of the sash. You can do this by doing two straight stitches close together. Pull one side of the thread to create gathers in the material. Tie off the thread and you can sew it in place. Next I pinned the sash in place.