LBD #1: DIY Cut Out Back Minidress

16th June 2011

This is the first DIY in the little black dress series. As soon as I saw this gorgeous dress on Rosie Huntington-Whitely (over at one of my favourite inspiration blogs Studded Hearts), I just had to make my own version. I particularly liked how the cut out part of the white Max Mara version came around the front of the ribs so the dress looked ‘cut out’ from both the back and the front.
DIY:
You’ll need – a thrifted dress, scissors, chalk and a needle and thread. I used this dress, which is made out of a thick silk fabric, because I had it already, but you can also use a slinky jersey one for a more sexy look (like Rosie).
1. Put the dress on and get someone to draw the cut out bits on you. You want to draw on an upside down ‘U’ shape which keeps some fabric at the back of the neck so the dress retains its shape. (The bfs chalk marking was slightly lopsided but I managed to correct that once I took it off).
 
You also want to make the ‘U’ shape come around the front of the dress to form the side cut outs. Make sure to get these perfectly symetrical – I used the front seams as an indication.
2. Cut the dress out along the chalk line. Remember you want to be able to open and close the dress at the back of the neck so don’t, whatever you do, cut it all out. As my dress had a zip down the back, I cut it out along with the fabric but I left a small length of extra zip, and then folded the two teeth of the zip over to create a new end to the zip.
3.Sew all the edges of the cut out fabric by rolling over and securing with small stitches. (Long on the inside and tiny on the outside).
4. Sew two sets of hook and eyes onto the back neck fastening to secure the dress. I also cut about a foot or so off the bottom of the dress too and re-hemmed it.

Voila! It turned out a little bit ‘prettier’ than my usual style but its really fun to wear.

wearing: DIY Dress and Reiss Mesh Heels