I am obsessed with the Susie Lounge Set. I’ve made the bottoms so many times now just as regular shorts for the summer, and more than a few of the tops as my regular shirts. I love it so much, I wanted it to be a dress and add an elastic waist to it. This is now my favorite dress hack ever!
Materials Needed:
- Susie Lounge Set Pattern
- Fabric
- 3/4″ elastic
Get your pattern ready!
If you don’t have it already, you can grab the Susie Lounge Set pattern here. Follow the tutorial to find your size, print, tape, and cut.
Since this is a dress, and you will be folding the waist to add the casing for the elastic, you will need to add length to your pattern pieces. **If you normally adjust your pattern to add height, you will add more. **If you normally take out height, you may not need to take out as much, if any.
I do not normally make any adjustments for height on my patterns. To make this into a dress length that I liked on me, I added 4″ total to the pattern in two different places. So, if you normally add extra length, add an additional 4″ to that. If you take out length, you will still need it to be 4″ longer than your normal length. You can check out the section of the pattern that shows how to lengthen or shorten a pattern.
Cut out all of your fabric pieces and you are ready to get started! Let’s get this dress hack going!
Sewing it up!
Follow the tutorial for the basic garment construction. When you are all sewn up and ready, it’s time to determine your placement for the elastic casing.
- Put your garment on inside out, and find the spot just on top of your hip bones
- Mark those spots with clips or pins and carefully take it off
- Fold the top into the skirt with the right sides together at your marked sides
- Measure both sides from the bottom up to the fold to make sure they are the same length. Make any needed adjustments to make them the same. For reference, mine is a size 2XL and it was 19″ on either side from the bottom to the fold.
Making the Casing
- Measure 1″ down from the fold (see above picture) and sew with a stretch stitch all the way around
- Unfold the dress with the wrong side still out, and press the 1″seam allowance down towards the skirt
- With the 1″ seam allowance pressed down towards the skirt, edge sitch all the way around leaving a 1″ hole on the backside to insert the elastic
- Determine the length of your elastic by putting it around your natural waist and pulling it tight enough to be snug and not slip, but not so tight that it squeezes you
- Using a safety pin, insert the elastic into the opening in the back of the casing, and work it all the way around until it comes out the same hole
- Sew the ends of the elastic together, and finish the edge stitching to close the hole
Beautiful! You are ready to go rock your new dress! DRESS HACK FTW!
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