All jumped up - how to convert a maxi dress to a jumpsuit

Owing to excessive work and trying to get my ducks in a row to move house, time has been a bit too tight to offer tutorials in full but, in my recent de-cluttering efforts I have managed to get some of the projects I've been meaning to do for months out of the way - or rather been spurred on to do them in order to clear space. One of the projects was a maxi dress I found in a charity shop that I thought would make a stylish jumpsuit, so I converted it.

You need to turn the dress inside out first so that any alterations you make to take the bodice in can be pinned in place and sewn straight away. I find it helps to use a mannequin.

You can draft up a basic trouser pattern - or block - for yourself by using a series of measurements and dimensions, detailed here.

You need to trace the back and front trouser pattern twice on each of the corresponding sides of the dress, making sure they're traced out symmetrically so that both the right leg and the left leg fit correctly. Cut them out and sew them together along the seams as you would if you were making a normal pair of trousers.

If there aren't any fastenings in place, you might need to add them in order to get into your jumpsuit. I attached an invisible zip along the right side seam.

Cutting out the trouser legs along the side seam means that you don't need to include seam allowance or sew the outside seams together. However, cutting the trouser legs diagonally might leave you with excess fabric along the centre front, which you would need to take in for a snug fit.

A photo posted by Charley H (@chiccheatcharley) on Aug 17, 2015 at 3:18pm PDT