During my latest trip to the fabric store, I rummaged through the remnant bin as I usually do and found a couple pieces of jersey fabric.  For a couple dollars each, I got about a half yard of red, and a yard of navy blue.  It is so gosh-darned hot around these parts in the summer, I really wanted to make some comfy knit dresses.  I love how easy and cool a jersey dress can be!

I decided to use the remnants I got to make a simple tank dress with a gathered skirt.  Half a yard of fabric is plenty for a simple tank bodice, as is a yard of fabric for a gathered skirt.  So the fabric amounts I had obviously determined the color scheme of my dress, which I thought was very classic and simple.

It is very easy to make a pattern for this dress.  I used a tank top I had in my closet as a pattern for the bodice. I traced around the tank top and cut it a front and back piece aadding a half inch all the way around for seams.  The waistband is just a long rectangle, the same legnth as the waistline, about an inch and a half wide, plus adding half an inch all the way around again for seam allowances.  The skirt is a big rectangle, double the length of waist measurement by the legth you want the skirt, again plus seam/ hem allowances.

I sewed the bodice together using a walking foot and a narrow zigzag stitch, similar to what I did in my tank top.

I sewed the seam on the skirt, and then gathered the skirt by sewing 2 rows of straight stitching 1/4 inch apart with the longest length stitch.  (Do not back stitch here.)  Pull the access strings to gather the fabric. Here is a video on how to gather fabric.

Next I sew the waistband middle seam, then the gathered skirt is sewn to the waistband.  Then the waistband to the bodice.  Then hem.  Then trim the seam allowances to cut out any bulk.  That’s it!

Here’s me in the dress with my new belt I bought for it.  In total, the project was very cheap, I can’t remember exactly the price on the remnants, but it was around 2-3 dollars for each piece of fabric!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave comments or ask questions.  I may do more detailed step by step tutorials on my sewing projects if anyone is interested.