How NOT to hand-sew a simple cotton dress... but a quarter-circle skirt instead

Despite the title, this isn’t about me making a skirt... but it could have been. The continuation of my sewing practise took place when I found a cotton fabric from which I wanted to make my first dress.

Being new to creating clothes, I didn’t know the easiest way to design a dress pattern from scratch, so I turned to that wonderful, universal language - math. Although, I used the simple, circular type.

But this is where I went wrong. I tried using a quarter-circle SKIRT method to make a dress and it didn’t work... who would have thought?

I assumed it would be a super easy way to make a loose, summer-y dress but I was reminded that simple circles don’t quite describe our bodies! So, if you are new to sewing and want to make a simple summer dress, take note of my mistakes...

Quarter-circle skirt method

To learn how to make a dress (or so I thought), I first learnt how to make a circle skirt. This is the formula I used to figure out the skirt pattern:

C = 2 x π x R.

For a quarter circle (less volume) we change the formula slightly by dividing it by 4:

C/4 = 2/4 x π x R

C_q = 1/2 x π x R.

C_q represents the circumference at the waist of the quarter circle skirt, π is the number 3.14 (roughly) and R is the radius of the circle.

I thought I could use the quarter circle method to create a loose summer-y dress and, for a bit of fun, the full circle formula to create a sort of ruffle at the bottom of the dress.

Now, I took three measurements: the length of the dress minus the ruffle, the height of the ruffle and the circumference around the top of the dress. If it were a skirt I was making these measurements would be the length of the skirt minus the ruffle, the height of the ruffle and my waist circumference.

To use the formula for the dress, the C_q becomes the circumference at the top of the dress. I measured around the top of my bust where I wanted the top of the dress to sit and added 4cm to include the seam allowances (2cm on each end).

83cm + 4cm = 1/2 x π x R

(85cm x 2)/π = R

170cm/π = R

R = 54.11cm.

To find out the circumference of the bottom of the dress (which will become “C” of the ruffle), “R” becomes the radius calculated previously plus the length of the dress:

C_{q, bottom} = 1/2 x π x R

C_{q, bottom} = 1/2 x π x (54.11cm + 55cm)

C_{q, bottom} = 171.39cm.

Instead of making pleats, I want to give the ruffle of the skirt some volume by calculating it’s measurements using the full circle skirt formula:

C = 2 x π x R

171.39cm = 2 x π x R

R = 171.39cm /(2 x π)

R = 27.29cm.

I made a straight cut so the ruffle was no longer a closed circle, pinned the ruffle to the bottom of the dress (right sides facing) and sewed it on with a backstitch.

At this point I could have turned this into a lovely skirt by adding a waistband and a zip as I did with my previous skirt .

Instead, I made a facing for the top of my dress as I didn’t have the material for a lining. This was simply the same shape as the dress only cut much shorter.

My local sewing supply store had no dress strap loop thingys(?!) so I decided to make straps that tie in a bow on the shoulder. After determining the length and width I wanted them, I folded each of the four in half (right sides facing) and backstitched the edges, leaving one end open. Because I closed one end of the straps, I used a chopstick to turn them the right way out. I did this by poking the thinner end of the chopstick into the closed end of the strap by creating a little pocket. Gradually I could slide down the material over the chopstick until the top of the chopstick poked out the open end of the strap, revealing the right side of the material. I folded over the open ends of the straps and stitched them closed. Then I stitched them onto the inside of the top of the dress with a backstitch, two on the front and two on the back, making sure I faced them so the seam would be positioned on the underside when they are tied up. Unfortunately this revealed stitches on the outside of the dress, so I’ll have to come up with a better way of doing this.

As a dress, this wonderful skirt looked like a sack... Even though I used the quarter circle method, as opposed of the full circle, there was still too much material for the dress. Additionally, the circular shape does not quite work around the chest and under the arms as it does around the waist.

Attempting to fix my no-longer-simple summer dress...

Honestly, I didn’t think it was the worst sack-dress in the world, but I wasn’t going for the sack look.

I had to do two things at least: change the shape of the top of the dress so that the underarms and back of the dress came down lower and remove a lot of the excess fabric around the waist.

I struggled figuring out a way to do this and at one point got so overwhelmed I felt like throwing it all in the bin! I did not do this, of course, as this would completely undermine my reason for starting to sew in the first place - to stop buying and throwing out so many clothes. I took a moment, realised it doesn’t matter if I make mistakes - in fact they only help the learning process - and I carried on.

I made very rough measurements and immediately started cutting away at my fabric! Somehow it wasn’t a complete disaster, but I do notice a few things with my final dress that are not perfect. For instance, the top and sides of the dress are a bit crooked and the new side seams create some pulling when I wear the dress. 😅

The geometry of dressmaking or tailoring is quite interesting. Sometimes I found it difficult to visualise how the flat dress pattern would turn into the three dimensional dress, but satisfying when the final curves take form (not that my final dress curves were exactly what I was going for).

Valuable lessons learnt

Summing it all up:

• To avoid making an ill-fitted sack for a dress, use the “circle” methods for making skirts, not dresses.
• Deciding on a clothing pattern from accurate body measurements before making cuts will prevent fabric being cut away that you may need.
• “Eyeballing” measurments onto the fabric might result in a wonky piece of clothing.
• Use already existing patterns if unsure how to make one yourself.
• Consider making a mock-up to reduce your chances of cutting your final piece of fabric incorrectly.

Seems pretty obvious, but somehow I had so much confidence that I skipped these points!