How to DIY a Wrap Back Dress

This week's theme is Sea Green and I found this amazing lace green with a super sexy wrap back. It's a pretty simple silhouette with a waist seam and set in elbow length sleeves. This is a great dress to DIY because the alteration is simple and you could control how deep you want the the back. It's not too revealing because it has sleeves and the hem extends past the knee. But the back provides a nice little surprise and the peek-a-boo lace on the sleeves is sweet, pretty and not at all demure.


How to DIY a Wrap Back Dress

Step 1 Our inspiration today is this Midi Length Dress from Asos. Sexy but not too revealing. So perfect.

Step 2 To re-create this dress I was looking for a very basic dress pattern that had elbow length set in sleeves and a waist seam. It was surprisingly not that easy to find. Have you ever noticed that most patterns are sleeveless? It's really shocking. New Look 6824 fits the bill pretty well. I would prefer not to have princess seams but it does have the waist seam and full-ish skirt. My backup pick is New Look 6000, View E. It doesn't have a waist seam but it does have sleeves.

The major alteration you need to make is to the back piece. You will need to extend the back piece to make a wrap shape. As shown above, trace the full back piece and then draw a line from the shoulder to the waist to make the wrap shape. Make the wrap as low or as high as you wish. I used a similar technique to make my Cut Out Back Dress.

Cut two pieces of fabric and lining for back and use the lining like a facing for the upper wrap edge. You can pretty much construct as usual, placing the zipper at the side seam. Instead of the waist pleats in New Look 6824, just make gathers. You could add elastic at the waist which I like to do for a little added comfort.

Step 3 For the fabric I found this gorgeous green lace from Michael Levine. You'll need to use a matching lining for the bodice and skirt. But definitely leave the sleeves un-lined or else you will risk looking dowdy.

Related:
Sewing Posts
DIY Outfit Posts
DIY Fashion Pinboard

--

Follow along with me here:

Bloglovin // Twitter // Facebook // Pinterest // Instagram