How to Make Your Own Off-the-Shoulder Dress - Easy DIY Thrift Flip

Tools and materials:

• White elastic
• Black satin elastic
• Old dress
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread

1. Cut the elastic

Cut two strips of elastic, measuring around 30cm (12inches) in length. 

2. Sew the elastic

Now, sew each strip to each shoulder of the dress. This will tighten the shoulder areas so they won’t be so loose when worn. 

3. Measure & cut the straps

It’s best to get someone to help you with this step. Measure the length of the strap that’s needed to go around your shoulders, as shown.

Now, measure & cut two strips accordingly. 

Next, sew the ends of strips to the dress, and this is how one turned out. What do you think? 

4. Make tubes

Sew two parallel lines on each side seam of the dress. These two parallel seams will form tubes. 

At the end of the dress, sew on a black strip. This black strip will help you feed the black elastic through the side seam tubes. Use a safety pin to maneuver easily through the tube.

Once you get to the other side, pull the string through- you’ll be able to see the ruching occurring already. 

Repeat the same process on the other side of the side seam. 

Now, remove the safety pin, and sew the end of the black strip onto the side seam of the dress to secure it in place. 

Now, using the bottom of the string, pull it up to create that stunning ruche effect. 

How to make your own off the shoulder dress

Voila, we are done! Page up to the top and look at the dress before this amazing transformation - now look at the results! Isn’t it so exquisite?

The best part of this tutorial is that you don’t even need an off-the-shoulder dress sewing pattern - you can literally transform any old dress into something rocking and trendy.