WEBVTT 00:00:00.099 --> 00:00:03.860 Hello! It’s Annika. Today, I’m going to show you how to turn one dress into two. 00:00:03.860 --> 00:00:05.800 [music plays] 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:18.780 Today I'm going to film myself whilst I try and replicate a dress. 00:00:18.780 --> 00:00:20.390 This dress, in fact. 00:00:20.410 --> 00:00:25.250 I really, really like the style of this dress, and after I posted pictures of me wearing 00:00:25.250 --> 00:00:29.890 it on the interwebs, a bunch of you asked me to make a tutorial for a similar style of dress. 00:00:30.190 --> 00:00:35.339 But I really had no idea how I would make this kind of dress from scratch, so I thought 00:00:35.339 --> 00:00:38.569 then I set about first trying to “reverse engineer” the thing. 00:00:38.569 --> 00:00:42.550 And so this video morphed into a video where I show you some methods and tips and tricks 00:00:42.550 --> 00:00:47.589 for copying how you would go about replicating or "reverse engineering" your own dress. Or 00:00:47.589 --> 00:00:50.469 - I guess this could also work for a shirts, if you don't wear dresses? 00:00:50.469 --> 00:00:51.690 Anyway, let’s get started! 00:00:51.690 --> 00:00:55.989 So, let’s talk about fabrics. The first thing that you want to do is to find a fabric 00:00:55.989 --> 00:00:59.370 type that’s really similar to the one used in the item you’re duplicating. 00:00:59.370 --> 00:01:02.579 The fabric in this pink dress is a light knit with a small amount of stretch to it. 00:01:02.579 --> 00:01:05.059 I’m going to need to use fabric which is similar. 00:01:05.059 --> 00:01:08.600 This fruit-printed fabric is pretty much the same, plus it’s really cute, 00:01:08.600 --> 00:01:10.360 so I’m going to use this. 00:01:10.360 --> 00:01:14.270 Then, I scrutinized the insides of the dress, and I figured out how many individual different 00:01:14.270 --> 00:01:16.180 pieces of fabric the dress was made out of. 00:01:16.180 --> 00:01:20.869 So, I got my dress and some paper to make a pattern on – I’m using wrapping paper. 00:01:20.869 --> 00:01:26.159 And… whoops. These two things have the same exact pattern, so that’s going to be nice 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:27.520 and confusing for the camera. 00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:31.409 I folded the dress in half, with the collar flipped out of the way to expose this full 00:01:31.409 --> 00:01:34.320 bodice piece. I'm copying the front part of the dress first. 00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:37.740 Then, I trace around the bodice. When I get to these parts that are connected to other 00:01:37.740 --> 00:01:42.570 bits of fabric, I use these pins to stab through the fabric on the seamline, and into the pattern 00:01:42.570 --> 00:01:47.439 paper below. This will make small, faint marks onto the paper, and let me trace the proper 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:50.420 shape of this seam. 00:01:50.420 --> 00:01:55.990 So, to recap, I’ve just traced half of this front of the dress onto paper. This middle 00:01:55.990 --> 00:01:59.530 triangle section uses a separate piece of fabric to the main bodice, so I’ll be copying that later. 00:02:00.049 --> 00:02:04.770 Then, I add half an inch of seam allowance to every side of the pattern, except for here, 00:02:04.770 --> 00:02:07.479 because this is where the pattern will lie on the fold. 00:02:07.479 --> 00:02:13.850 Then I cut this pattern piece out, and I do the exact same thing for the back. 00:02:13.850 --> 00:02:17.350 Then I add a half-inch seam allowance, on all the edges except for the one that’ll 00:02:17.350 --> 00:02:21.810 sit on the fabric fold. So notice here, that where the dress was folded, that’s where 00:02:21.810 --> 00:02:25.570 I’m then going to put “cut on fold”, and where I will be placing the pattern on 00:02:25.570 --> 00:02:29.370 the fold of the fabric. And I also make a little note that the stretch of the fabric 00:02:29.370 --> 00:02:33.330 needs to run this way – across the bodice, just like in the original dress. 00:02:33.330 --> 00:02:37.640 Now the skirt is just a gathered rectangle, so instead of wasting paper making a pattern, 00:02:37.640 --> 00:02:41.590 I’m just going to take the length of the skirt, adding 1 inch for seam allowance at 00:02:41.590 --> 00:02:45.510 both the top and bottom. And then I take the width, multiplying by 2 to get the entire 00:02:45.510 --> 00:02:49.590 front and back of the skirt, and then adding a good 20 inches to allow for it to be all 00:02:49.590 --> 00:02:50.770 ruffled and gathered. 00:02:50.770 --> 00:02:55.290 Then I turn the dress inside out and I copy this triangle – with an added seam allowance 00:02:55.290 --> 00:02:59.040 of half an inch all the way around. And lastly, I copy the collar, which I lay 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:03.070 on top of my pattern paper like this. I traced around the collar, and added a seam allowance 00:03:03.070 --> 00:03:07.040 to the outside edge. I added an extra inch of seam allowance because these collar edges 00:03:07.040 --> 00:03:12.100 are going to be sewn to something else twice – so it requires two lots of a ½ inch seam 00:03:12.100 --> 00:03:15.690 allowance. And I’m going to need 4 of these pieces. 00:03:15.690 --> 00:03:18.950 So, these are all the pattern pieces for the top of the dress (and for the skirt, I’ll 00:03:18.950 --> 00:03:22.590 just need to cut out a rectangle) – so, let’s go and cut out some fabric! 00:03:22.590 --> 00:03:32.320 So I use the pattern pieces to cut out the front piece, 00:03:32.320 --> 00:03:40.050 the back piece, two of these triangle bits, 00:03:40.050 --> 00:03:49.460 a rectangle that’s 11 by 60 inches, and four collar pieces, and for this I use 00:03:49.460 --> 00:03:51.460 a different, white cotton fabric. 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:56.400 Then the first sewing step is to place the back and front bodice together, right sides 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:59.000 together, and I sew them together here. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:04.290 Then I place the triangle pieces right sides together, and sew them together across here. 00:04:04.290 --> 00:04:08.010 Note that I’m using a zigzag stitch for all of this, because the material I'm using 00:04:08.010 --> 00:04:10.620 is stretchy. You need to use the right stitch for your material. 00:04:10.620 --> 00:04:15.900 I’m then going to flip the triangle around and sew it together with the wrong-sides touching. 00:04:15.900 --> 00:04:18.400 Then I gathered the long edge of the rectangle skirt piece. 00:04:18.400 --> 00:04:22.790 I did this by sewing long basting stitches along the top edge, then grabbing the top 00:04:22.790 --> 00:04:25.750 stitch, gently pulling on it, and pushing the gathers along. 00:04:25.750 --> 00:04:28.940 I adjusted the ruffles so that the length of the piece would match the circumference 00:04:28.940 --> 00:04:30.030 of the bottom of the top. 00:04:30.030 --> 00:04:35.100 So basically, if I can fold it in two and it matches the top, plus about 1 inch hanging 00:04:35.100 --> 00:04:36.460 over, we’re good to go. 00:04:36.460 --> 00:04:42.810 So then I flip this skirt bit over, and I’m going to sew it to the top right-sides together, 00:04:42.810 --> 00:04:46.840 with the skirt upside-down on the top, like this. 00:04:46.840 --> 00:04:50.130 I’m just going to pin the two together… 00:04:50.130 --> 00:04:55.760 And it needs to get sewn on, all the way around. Where the two ends meet up, they’ll also 00:04:55.760 --> 00:04:58.830 need to be sewn together like this. 00:05:02.080 --> 00:05:02.900 Yay, pretty! 00:05:04.200 --> 00:05:08.340 Now, back to the collar, I’m placing each pair right-sides together, and sewing them 00:05:08.340 --> 00:05:10.180 together like this. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:15.160 I clipped off the corners and the edges here to make the corners look neater, and then 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:20.180 I turn both these collar-tube-pieces the right way around. I use scissors to help me to get 00:05:20.210 --> 00:05:22.220 those corners nice and crisp. 00:05:22.220 --> 00:05:27.320 Then, I have a look at the original dress to see exactly how the collar is attached, 00:05:27.320 --> 00:05:31.340 which is like this – it's actually sewn onto the inside of the dress. The triangle 00:05:31.340 --> 00:05:35.480 also seems to get stitched into this at the same time. So I insert the triangle where 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:39.370 I want it to sit. Then, after I check out the placement of the collar pieces on the 00:05:39.370 --> 00:05:45.770 front, I flip them over to the back of the fabric, and I sew the three pieces together 00:05:45.770 --> 00:05:47.810 all of the way around the collar. 00:05:51.620 --> 00:05:56.840 I end up with this, and to finish this off I sew these two ends together. 00:05:56.840 --> 00:06:03.650 To add cuffs, I cut out a rectangle of stretchy fabric that’s just a bit smaller than the 00:06:03.650 --> 00:06:05.570 circumference of the sleeve opening. 00:06:05.570 --> 00:06:09.450 I sew this into a loop, then I fold it in half lengthways, and I place it around the 00:06:09.450 --> 00:06:14.000 top of the sleeve, so that the raw edges are all matching, and then I sew them together like this. 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:20.830 And the last thing I do is to hem the bottom of the dress, simply by folding the bottom 00:06:20.830 --> 00:06:24.120 edge up into the dress 1 inch and sewing across. 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:26.980 And that’s how I copied this dress. 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:28.300 So - let’s compare the two! 00:06:28.300 --> 00:06:32.030 [music plays] 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:50.870 So that's it! That’s how I reverse-engineered a pattern and made a copy of a dress! 00:06:50.870 --> 00:06:55.230 So they're basically the same - there's some minor differences in that I sewed the triangle 00:06:55.230 --> 00:07:00.150 section a bit too far down, but because this was the trickiest part of this project, I 00:07:00.150 --> 00:07:03.550 really didn't want to redo it, and I think it looks fine so I'm going to leave it as-is. 00:07:03.550 --> 00:07:06.760 The back of the collar could also look a bit neater, but that's something I can improve 00:07:06.760 --> 00:07:07.480 on next time. 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:10.570 [Now go forth and duplicate your own favourite dresses, in all different fabrics!] 00:07:10.570 --> 00:07:15.120 I hope this video was helpful -- if you try it out then don't forget to tag me on instagram 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:19.120 so I can see your results - just tag it with #diyannika. Give this video a thumbs up if 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:21.660 you enjoyed it and I'll see you all next time. Bye!