I decided to  NOT use a pattern for this dress. My original idea was to have the top fitted and the bottom portion gathered, however once I began making it that idea changed QUICKLY !!

I changed my pattern design because I didn\’t like how the dress fell with the gathers AND I discovered that in order to even get into the dress I would have to add elastic around the waist….. I can not tell you how many dresses I have made with elastic around the waist…. so I opted for something different

I used a long sleeve fitted t shirt ( Walmart )  to make the pattern for the top. The fabric I used was a Ponte fabric. It had  one way stretch so , because of this I had to add darts in the front and back to get that snug fit .

I cut the tshirt to the length where I wanted the top piece to stop and the skirt portion to began . Once I had the tshirt cut the way I wanted I \” took it apart\” ( by cutting it at the seams) to get all my pieces for the crop top portion of the dress.

I measured from where the crop top ended down to the floor . I also took a measurement around the area where the crop top ended to know how big to make the skirt opening . I drew that measurement out on the fabric ( horizontally) then used the waist ( area where the crop to ended)  to floor measurement to know how long to cut it ( I always add one inch for seam allowances).  I then drew a line from the end of my waist measurement down to the floor measurement. To get the circle affect I drew the line slanted from the waist all the way DOWN and OUT to the floor measurement.