I absolutely love dresses… and I love the sundress series at Melly Sews (and, just to add to the list of loves, I adore Melissa- did you guys know she was my roomie at SNAP? Love that girl)!

I’m so excited to share this Seaside Stripes dress tutorial as part of the sundress series goodness!

This dress is super simple to make. And by super simple, I mean, it’s basically a big pillowcase with a collar opening (lined with bias tape), sleeve openings (also, lined up with bias tape) that’s cinched with a belt.

As that little description suggests, to make one of these amazingly simple dresses-

Cut two rectangles of fabric (a little longer than the length of a dress that you like). For the width, I just left my fabric the width that I bought it, 42” wide.

Use a cap sleeved dress to figure out the angle of the sleeves, cut (so now you have a rounded rectangle on your top edge).

Trace an existing collar to make your collar opening (I traced the collar on the back side of my cap sleeved dress and used that for both the front and back collar line). It was about 10” wide, for reference. Cut.

Sew the shoulders (but not collar opening) together, right sides facing each other).

Line the collar opening with bias tape (there is a great bias tape tutorial here).

Figure out how low your sleeve opening needs to go (I tried my smock/dress/piece of fabric with a collar opening on and marked with a fabric pen). Sew up both sides to that place. Then line the sleeve openings with bias tape.

Hem.

Cinch with a belt and you’re ready for a beach-y stroll!

Thanks for having me as part of your Sundress Series, Melissa! Friends, be sure to check out Melly Sews for more sundress-y fabulousness.