Reformation -Inspired Floral 3-Piece (Skirt + 2 Tops)

There's only 1 thing better than a 2-piece and that's a 3-piece. If I can make a dress in two parts I always will - multiplied usage, infinite possibilities. In this case the guy at the fabric store upsold me and with the 4.5m of floral I had, it was only logical to double up on the tops.

Tutorials take a lot of time & effort to create, and I choose to make mine available for free. If you enjoy this guide, you can support me with a donation that feels right for you, here.

TOOLS:

Fabric (I used a 100% cotton, for maxi skirt and 2 tops I went through almost 4.5 m)  |  Scissors  |  Pins  |  Elastic (enough to go around the waist)  |  Thread & sewing machine

SKIRT

I. First I cut out my skirt pieces. Two like the one shown below for fullness in the skirt.

II. Then placed the two pieces right sides facing, and pinned one side together, sewing down the side and zig-zagging the raw edge.

III. Then cut out my looong ruffle piece. Given that the total length of my skirt hem was about 180 cm (2 x 90 cm), and I did a 1.4 multiplier for the ruffle, my total ruffle length was about 250 cm. To get the overall skirt length I wanted, I made the piece 20 cm wide.

.. Then zig-zagged one of the long edges and added a basting stitch, pulling the bobbin thread after to gather the ruffle. I gathered enough so the total length came down to the length of the hem.

.. And then pinned the gathered ruffle to the hem, right sides facing. Sewed in place.

IV. Next, I went to the waistline and gathered it with a basting stitch just like the ruffle, only less - to a total waistline length of about 100 cm. This measurement depends on your hips - best way to find it out is to make a circle out of your measurement tape, and pass that up and down around your hips. It needs to pass comfortably - for me that's 100 cm.

Then I cut out a 100-cm long waistband piece (7 cm wide), and sewed that onto the waistline, right sides facing.

At which point I had this. I pressed a 1-cm fold at the other end of the waistband, and folded it in half to match the first seam that attaches it to the skirt.

V. Next I completed the other side seam:

.. And because I'm lazy and hate pushing elastic through casings, I like to first insert the elastic and then sew the waistband in place. Boom!

This is what I had after doing the stitch almost all the way. At this point I tried the skirt on, tightened the elastic to a comfortable fit, sewed the ends together, and then completed the stitch. Lastly, I finished the hem with a double-fold.

TOP

I. Here were the first pieces I had cut. Note quantities to make the top fully lined - two for the front, four for the tie-ups at the back (2 for each side), and two for the long rectangular piece which made my shoulder straps.
NOTE: I made this top in 5 'sections' - the front, the sides, and the tie-ups. You could also accomplish the same in only 3 sections - the front, and a longer piece on each side (that wraps around and ties at the back). I cut mine in 5 sections to be more economical with my fabric. In this dress you'll see a similar top, where I made sides/tie-up pieces from single pieces.

II. Then I created my shoulder straps using the method showed in this post. I sewed them in place on one of the front pieces as shown with the dotted line below.

.. Then I layered my front pieces, right sides facing, and sewed along the neckline like this. Note the shoulder straps were sandwiched between. Then turned right sides out and pressed. I repeated this with the bottom edges so only the sides were unsewn.

III. Next I cut out 4 rectangular pieces for the sides:

IV. And cut the 4 pieces for the tie-ups in the back into shape like this (the fabric stretched a bit when ironing, hence the 43 cm length from above vs. the 45 cm in this photo). I took 2 of these at a time, and sewed them together right sides facing.

I turned the tie-up pieces (looking like elf's hats) right side out and pressed. Then took two of the small rectangular side pieces, and placed on each side, right sides facing the right side of the elf-hat-shaped piece. Sewed around as shown below.

.. Aaand just flipped the rectangular pieces over and pressed. After that, I pressed small folds at the sides of the front piece, and inserted the end of the elf-hat-extended piece in between there. Then just pinned that in place and sewed a straight stitch to attach together. Repeated for the other side!

Finally, I tried the top on and determined how long the shoulder straps should be, and sewed them in place.

Since I still had fabric left, I also made a basic tee to go either with the skirt or on its own (in the pics towards the bottom).