Made by a Fabricista: YouTube Edition | Spring Goddess Maxi Dress

I’ve been thinking a lot about waste and sustainability lately. As a cosplayer, I often create costumes for events and only wear them a few times before moving on to my next project. For this month’s Fabricista project, I wanted to create something simple that could be used for multiple cosplay looks or as regular clothing.

I chose a beautiful cherry blossom pink 100% silk shantung shirting for my fabric this time around. It’s light and airy, and perfect for a breezy ‘goddess’ inspired maxi.

Check out the video below to see how I made my piece!

I created my pattern using an oversized shirt that I had in my stash and using measuring tape to plan out the length of the dress and sleeves. I used some spare newspaper to draft out my pattern pieces, and cut them out of the silk.

I first finished off the side seams on my serger, and then stitched together the sides of the dress pieces and the sleeves. Then I created a channel for the elastic at the wrists by folding over approximately 1” from the end of the sleeves, sewed it mostly shut while leaving room to feed the elastic through with a safety pin. After the elastic was in place and the remainder of the channel was sewn shut, I attached the sleeves to the dress pieces, and cleaned up the raw edge again on my serger. I followed the same method for creating the channel at the top of the dress, and finished the bottom hem with my serger and a single fold.

For the final look, I created a simple pearl beaded necklace and belt, and made a flower crown using some leftover florals from my stash.