Make Your Own Bodycon Dress

1. Fold your stretchy fabric in half, lengthways, right side facing inwards so that you are making a chalk marking on the wrong side of the fabric. Take your close fitting T-shirt (which will form the base your pattern) on and lay it down in the centre of your folded fabric, making sure that it is as smooth, flat and symmetrical as possible. Don’t worry if the garment you are using has been put together in a different way, there are lots of ways of doing things in sewing, and this works too.

2. Create a template. Draw around the T-shirt adding a 1.5cm seam allowance all the way around, then extend the arms to the edge of the fabric at either side, so that you end up with 3/4-length sleeves. You will also need to square them off at the end, so they aren’t sitting at an odd angle. The best way to do this is to ensure that they are parallel to the original T-shirt and not to the edge of your fabric.

3. Create the right length. We all have different shaped bodies, so here you can add to or subtract length to suit. You can do this by pinning this on to yourself and marking the suitable length. Remember to add an additional 5cm to accommodate the lower hem.

4. Check your measurements. Once you have chalked out the pieces use your tape measure to double check that the pieces drawn correspond to your measurements – remembering to include and additional 1.5cm for the seam allowances.

5. Cut out the pieces. As the fabric is folded in half you will be cutting both the front