I made yet another empire dress a few weeks ago. I did not wear it to work right after, which is a clear indication that I really didn’t “feel” the dress. I don’t know what that means and I can’t explain it.
OLD DRESS
NEW DRESS
I think I should work on my posing. Gaah, I’m getting sick of my face.
And look, here is the dress, having coffee with me.
This is very easy. The difficult part is protecting your ripper and your sewing machine from the thick fabric.
The lucky pair of jeans that I reconstructed was this:
I bought this more than five years ago. It’s large not because I lost weight. It doesn’t fit me well because when I was still an undergrad I had no idea how to buy a pair of jeans that hugged my legs in all the right places.
TUTORIAL
1. Measure your skirt length. 
2. Cut. Do not forget hem allowances. 
Read the rest of the tutorial HERE.
Gathering fabric is a great way to create volume in a dress. For great gathering effect, it is better to use your sewing machine. Hand-stitching the pleats would just result to frustration and wasted time, especially if the fabric that you want to gather is very wide.
For a flowy dress bottom, cut a rectangular fabric. The part that you’ll gather [and attach to the bodice] should be more than the total width + 1″ but less than twice the total width.
Sew this part. Cut the thread without fastening it. Pull the bobbin thread. This will make your fabric gather nicely. Stop pulling when you reach the exact width for your dress. Attach to bodice by sewing over the same sewing line.
SAMPLES
HAPPY SEWING!
n. ‘dE-”ri[ng]
A D-ring is a metal ring shaped like the letter D. Should not be confused with “d ring,” which is the innermost ring of Saturn.
Oh, the many uses of this industrial wonder! As shown in the second picture, it can be used as buckle for belts, bag straps, bag locks, etc.
*photos courtesy of u-handbag.com and yogaaccesories.com