Made By Lex

Twisted Strap Maxi Dress

Before I could post the loungewear tutorials I new I had to get the  maxi dress tutorial up. This time I used a couple videos. I hope they are easy to understand. First off, I apologize for doing the tutorial with black jersey. It’s a little hard to see all the details.

Ok, let’s begin. Before we start, simplify this in your head. You’re making a top. You’re making a skirt. You’re connecting them. That’s all. You can do this.

For the top I cut a triangle piece of fabric out. You want it to extend over your shoulder a couple inches and about an inch past your natrla waist. It will be large. That’s ok. Dont worry about that part yet. I put a pin at the top shoulder part so I don’t get confused with what point goes where.

You will need four of these. After I cut the four I put them up on my form so you could see what we’re going for.

The next step is to connect the top of the dress at the shoulders. Here’s what you’ll have.

Now for the twisted shoulder strap. All you need to do is twist each top at the shoulder strap until you like the way it looks.

(note: I wasn’t happy with the way mine looked. They looked really thin. So what I did was twist an extra piece of fabric around it to bulk it up. Just keep that in mind if you want it thicker.)

Now what we’ll need to do is sew the front, back and side seams. Make sure you take in to account how low you want the front and back to be.I made a video to help explain it easier.

pinning

After sewing them together here’s how I refined the armholes.

armhole

Now that the top is complete, we need to attach it to the skirt. Make a waistband that’s slightly larger than your waist. That way it will still be fitted but you can get it over your head. Then gather the bottom of your top so that it fits the length of the waistband. Sew it together.

Last step! Figure out how long you want your skirt. I make it the width of my waist band plus half. Gather it to the width of your waist band and attach.

Here’s the finished dress. I love the look of ease with this dress. It looks relaxed and flowy and still has great style.

I think the twisted straps add a nice, different detail.

That being said, let me point out it’s flaws- My stripes got all goofy and I ended up not being able to do anything about it since I ran out of fabric.

But that being said, I still love the dress and hope people don’t notice when I wear it

I hope you guys have liked the tutorial and go make your own version!

In other news, I have a new line of leather bound scarves  coming out soon! I have a sample sale going on of my Spring/Summer line. Out of these, I have the army/fushcia, navy stripe/silver, black/brown, grey/aqua and orange/silver left. Since they’re my samples they are over half off and on sale for only $30!

Email me at lex@madebylex.com if you want one.

If you head over to my facebook page  you can see some of my new designs for the Fall/Winter line, too. I’d love to hear what you think.

A Few New Designs

Here are a few new shirts that I did that sold before I put them in the shop.  I didn’t get to photograph my sister in them so they don’t show as well , but I still wanted to share them with you.

This one was a various tones of purple, hand dyed. I love the artistic look of it. I’m working on more like these.

This one was black with stripes sewn on on and three gentleman’s buttons. I put the stripes around the back, too.

This is my interpretive heart top. I really *heart* this top.

Back up in the shop are these two tops!

More new things in the etsy shop this week. Thanks for all your support!!

Which ones are your favorites?

Don’t forget to enter the Giveaway for this amazing necklace!

Pratia Tutorial coming VERY SOON! I’ve been working hard on it!!!

Tags: etsy, jersey, knit, shirts, tops
Posted in etsy, Original Designs | 6 Comments »

New to the Store

I’ve begun adding my new T-shirt to my Etsy Store. Here’s a preview…

This one is a white on white shirt. For those of you that know me by know, you know it’s one of my favorite looks.

This one is a hand dyed, gunmetal grey with lots of great details.

This pink shirt has asymmetrical sailor striped pleats.

Go check out more pictures of them and stay tuned for lots more to come.

And just to keep you on your toes, here’s a teaser for a great tutorial I’m finishing up for this AMAZING clutch.

Christmas Cocktail Dress How To

Pin it beginning from halfway on the back of the strap around the front…

…all the way around the neckline and down the middle. Notice I’m pinning it inside out so once it’s sewn you can flip it over without seeing the seam.

Here’s how it will look after you stitch it in place.

Do the same to the other side.

Then take another piece of jersey, double the length of the bodice top.

Ruffle it down the middle.

Pin it down the center of the shirt in between the other two pieces. Stitch it in place.

Here’s how it looks!

And here’s the back. I love how it creates little flutter sleeves.

I want one for myself!

Ruffled Jersey Rosette

Here’s a simple way to updo a shirt that I did for an order this week. I got black jersey that I ruffled into strips. Then I pinned it into little rosette shapes.

Attach more until they are in random swirls on the shirt.

I also added a small one to the pocket on the opposite side.

Right now I am knee deep in Christmas orders and Christmas presents. So this month I will be doing lots of creating, just not too many tutorials because of my very limited time. But I will be posting all my creations still. I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas season!