Judy wanted a Maxi dress so we went shopping for one. She tried on 18 dresses and not a single one fit. (She's 5' 10" tall and wears a size 4) So she tried one on in a large that was almost long enough and she said I'll just belt it in . Well that might have worked if it wasn't falling off of her back. But she liked the way the loose dress w/ belt looked. So we decided to make her one. All she wanted was a tube with a ruffle at top and straps that where pinched at front and back. So I literally just wrapped the material around her and decided what she thought was enough ease and cut a straight rectangle for the main dress. Cut another rectangle about 4" wide (cut on crossgrain)and width of dress (about 43") sewed them wrong side of dress to right side of ruffle together then flipped ruffle to right side of dress and sewed about 1/2" and made a casing , cut 28" of 3/8" elastic for casing. I tried finishing the ruffle three different ways- on serger, with coverstitch machine, doubled the ruffle- didn't like any of them. Judy said to leave it unfinshed which made me cringe but as she said thats what they are like in RTW at the stores. Still need to add the straps and hem. Will take a picture on Judy when I get it done. I tied a ribbon around the waist because she will were it with a belt and wanted you to get an idea of what it would look like. Oh yeah I forgot to say it's poly knit from Hancocks.