I searched a lot and I did not find any dresses with an online tutorial that only used one yard of fabric. With only one yard of fabric, you will have to settle for a pretty skimpy dress. But when you have one yard of nifty novelty fabric laying around, who can resist? I love trippy mushrooms... haha...
What you will need:
1 yard of fabric
1 waist tie
1 zipper
a bunch of thread
some pins
scissors
sewing machine (or a a lot of time to hand sew)
math
Okay, this is the hardest part: the math. You have to measure yourself and figure out how a-line or form-fitting your skirt has to be based on your girth and how long you can afford your skirt to be.
I'm not sure if I can explain this very well, but if you have any question please ask and I will try to fix any parts that don't make sense.
Here is my haphazard layout as an example.
First you have to figure out how long the skirt and the top should be. Measure from where you want the neckline to be to where you want the waist to be. I made the back of my top a couple of inches shorter than the front to conserve fabric. Then measure how long you want the skirt to be. These two measurements together should not be larger than 36 inches, and should be even less if you are going to try and follow my layout.
Measure your boobs at their widest, over your boobs, and your waist. Add a little to each measurement for ease and seams. There are 5 pieces in the bodice. Divide your waist and your over-boob measurements by 5 and make the tops and bottoms of these pieces reflect those numbers.
Take your boob measurement and subtract your over-boob measurement. Divide this number by 2. Make the two side pieces curve out to accommodate your bosom.
And now the skirt. Add a couple of inches to the waist measurement for seam allowance and ease. I chose 8 pieces to make up my skirt, so I divided this number by 8. Then I messed around with the numbers to try and make the skirt as poofy as possible.
If you have a larger waist you will want to make sure you measure your hips, too, because you will not have as large of a difference between the bottom of the skirt and the waist. Make sure you accommodate for this.
Cut out your pieces. This was how my layout turned out on 42" wide fabric and the only scrap piece is the one in the upper-left corner. You could probably make a skinny strap out of it, if you wanted.
Sew all the top and bottom pieces together. Hem the top of the top and the bottom of the skirt.
Try the top and skirt on with safety-pins holding the back together. This in the easiest time to fit your dress. Mine needed some adjustment to the princess seam in the front and the skirt was about an inch larger than the top (so much for my maths).
Then sew the top and the bottom together.
Sew up the back seam of the skirt and insert your zipper.
Gather the front for a sweetheart neckline, tie the ribbon around your waist, and you should be done!
Please show me pictures if you end up deciphering this tutorial!