DIY Dip Hem Knit Maxi Dress

I whipped up this maxi dress the other night using the same basic pattern I used for my Colorblock T-shirt Dress. The fabric is a magenta knit that I bought while trying to salvage this drape drape dress. I ended up finding a different fabric that was a perfect match for the drape drape. So, this magenta organic cotton fabric has been sitting around for a while without a destination. 

I was so pleased with my colorblock t-shirt dress that I wanted to do it again and I still wanted to perfect a maxi dress pattern after this one came out a little loose. My original sketch of the dress had a fuller waist and skirt than what I ended up cutting. Sooo, it's still not exactly as I imagined. But I'm starting to figure out this pattern. 

I really like the fit of the neckline and armholes. I mean, it's perfect. Really perfect. I've had neckline fitting problems in the past, particularly while using the t-shirt pattern from the BBW Sew U Home Stretch book (see my review). I also used that pattern for this tank top. It's nice, just too wide across the shoulders. Anyway, I seem to have found ideal measurements for my shoulders and neck and couldn't be happier. The other thing that makes me really happy is that it's SOOO fast to make.

I cut strips from an old ribbed tank top to make the binding. This idea was a tip from this book. It worked well except that I had to make 2 seams on the neck edge binding. And it's a little wonky.



I used my new sewing machine's walking foot to stitch the hem and to topstitch the neck and armholes. It worked well and I didn't have to use an tissue paper underneath to keep the fabric moving. The fabric did start to bunch up under the walking foot (on the backside) a couple of times. I just stopped stitching and lifted the presser foot to release the fabric.

 

This dress has a slight dip hem (aka mullet hem or high low hem). It's really easy to make. Just cut it shorter in the front than the back. I wasn't sure are first if I wanted the dip hem so I cut a long length all the way around and then at the very end, trimmed it down.

I'm really happy with how this dress turned out. It's a great basic pattern that I plan on making again. I was kind of worried that it will go out of fashion soon and my dress will too. I suppose I could always just cut it to the shorter length. What do you think of the dip hem? Is it going to stick around for a while?