Sewing a dress can seem very intimidating at first.
Unlike shirts or skirts, dresses are a combination of a top and a bottom in one piece. This fact alone is enough to scare away new sewists from dresses entirely.
However, sewing a dress isn't as hard as you think.
That's why in this guide, we'll show you the nine steps to sew your first dress.
You don't need years of experience to do this. Simply follow the steps in this guide, and you'll end up with a simple yet elegant dress you can be proud of.
How to Make a Dress in 9 Steps
Step 1: Pick a Pattern You Want to Sew
There are dozens of different dress styles that you can choose from.
Do you want a long dress, or a short one? Do you want your dress to have sleeves or be shoulderless? Do you want a loose-fitting dress or one that wraps around your body?
The options are endless.
For starters, we recommend finding a dress pattern that's simple and doesn't have too many details.
Some of our favorites for beginners include:
Once you start working on one of these three, you'll quickly realize that sewing a dress is not nearly as intimidating as it seems.
Step 2: Get the Materials and Tools You'll Need
To sew a simple dress, you'll need the following:
- Sewing machine
- Fabric scissors
- Pins
- Measuring tape or ruler
- Iron
- Marking tool
- Seam ripper
You'll also need a good fabric.
For beginners, we recommend using a fabric that's easy to spot the right side from the wrong side and isn't slippery (so you won't have problems with the fabric slipping as you sew). Some of our favorite fabrics for beginners include:
- Cotton is our go-to material for teaching beginners. Not only is it comfortable, but it also gives your dress a very decent look. Cotton is also very easy to tell the right side from the wrong side, doesn't slip, and doesn't stretch too much.
- Linen-cotton blends are great if you want to give your dress a more flowy look. Linens are highly breathable, so they're generally cooler than pure cotton. However, you may want to avoid lightweight linens as a beginner since they can be slippery while sewing.
- Cotton chambray is a fabric that's somewhere in between cotton and denim. It's a bit sturdy, but not too sturdy that it becomes difficult to sew. It's also relatively easy to identify the right side and wrong side of cotton chambray.
Step 3: Take Accurate Measurements
Next, you'll want to measure your
- Full Bust
- Shoulder Width
- Back Length
- Waist
- Hips
- Dress Length
Before you begin measuring yourself, it helps to wear an elastic band around the smallest part of your waist. This will help with taking accurate measurements.
To measure your full bust, wrap your measuring tape loosely around the fullest part of your bust. Be careful to keep the tape straight and parallel to the floor.
For your shoulder length, measure the length from the base of your neck to your shoulder joint.
To find the base of your neck, you can wear a simple chain necklace or bend your neck toward your shoulder to find the crease.
For your shoulder joint, simply lift your arm upwards and feel for the indentation at the socket.
Next, take your back length by measuring from the prominent bone behind your neck to the lower part of the elastic band around your waist.
To measure your waist, simply wrap your tape measure around the elastic band on the smallest part of your waistline.
For hips, measure the fullest part of your hips from the side of your body.
You may also want to measure the distance between your waistline and full hip.
Finally, your dress length will be completely up to you. Measure starting at your waistline, and go as long or as short as you want.
Depending on your dress design, you may also need to measure your
- Sleeve length, and
- Armhole circumference
You can choose what you want your sleeve length to be. But to get an accurate measurement, start measuring from your shoulder joint up to the point you want your sleeves to reach.
Finally, measure your armhole circumference by placing your hand on your bicep and loosely wrapping your measuring tape around both your bicep and your hand. This is to ensure that your sleeves aren't too tight.
You can also measure the widest part of your bicep without your hand, but make sure to add 1-2" of ease if you do.
Step 4: Prepare and Cut Your Fabric
Before cutting your fabric, you'll want to wash and iron it first. Many fabrics tend to shrink when they are first washed. You wouldn't want to sew a carefully measured dress only for it to shrink on its first wash.
Washing your fabric also gets rid of chemicals, prevents distortion when you're sewing, and checks for color bleeding. Meanwhile, ironing your fabric ensures that it's straight for cutting.
Next, place your fabric on a big, flat surface that isn't slippery for cutting. Then, take your pattern and place it on top of your fabric. Since dresses are quite big, you may want to use weights to hold the pattern in place — you may also use pins or fabric clips to hold the pattern in place.
Then, take your fabric scissors and cut carefully in long, smooth cuts. If your pattern already has allowances, then follow those. If not, give yourself around ½" - ⅝" of allowance while cutting.
If you have limited space for cutting, you can also use a chalk marker to transfer your pattern to the fabric before cutting. This way, you don't have to worry about the pattern slipping and getting misaligned with your cut.
Step 5: Pin Your Dress Together
For a simple dress, you should have at least two pattern pieces: the front and the back.
Carefully place these two pieces together with the right sides facing each other. You want the wrong side facing outwards so you won't see the seams once you're done sewing.
Once your fabric pieces are properly aligned, use pins to hold them in place. Place your pins perpendicular to where the seam will go. This allows you to sew over the pins and makes it easy to remove the pins once you're finished.
Step 6: Sew The Side Seams
Finally, take your sewing machine and begin sewing.
For most dresses, you start sewing at the bottom and work your way up. To avoid unraveling, start with a short backstitch before using a straight stitch all the way up. Always remember to give yourself some seam allowance. Your pattern will tell you how much allowance to leave, typically ½" - ⅝".
If you're sewing a simple, strapless dress, sew all the way to the top of one side first. Then work on the other side, and your dress should already have its shape.
If you're working on a dress with sleeves, start by sewing from the bottom of the dress up to the bottom of the armhole. Then, sew from the top of the armhole to the neckline. This will form the armhole, where you can then sew in the arm sleeves.
Step 7: Work on the Arm Sleeves
Arm sleeves can be very tricky to sew, especially for beginners.
Arm sleeves typically come in four pattern pieces: left front, left back, right front, and right back. To start, align and sew the front-back pieces together to form a sleeve. Remember to sew this with the wrong side facing out to hide the seams of the finished sleeve.
Then, you'll want to finish the raw edges of both your sleeves and the sleeve hole of the dress. You can do this by sewing them in a zigzag stitch or by using a serger.
Next, carefully place your sleeve inside the sleeve hole of the dress — with the sleeve sewing line under the main dress piece. Don't panic if you find that the sleeve is wider than the sleeve hole; most sleeve patterns are like this by design.
Once it's in, hold the bottom of the sleeve with the bottom of the sleeve hole together. While holding this in place, flip the dress again so it now has the wrong side facing out. Then pin your sleeve in place, starting at the bottom and making your way around. You can also baste stitch the sleeve in place to avoid the fabric slipping.
Then, slowly sew the sleeve to the sleeve hole. You want to do this slowly to avoid puckers in the sleeve. If you see one forming, adjust the fabric as needed.
Again, sewing arm sleeves can be tricky. That's why we created a complete guide that will show you the entire anatomy of a sleeve. You can find that guide here.
Step 8: Finish the Neckline and Bottom of the Dress
There are many ways you can finish both the neckline and the bottom of your dress.
For the neckline, one of the easiest ways to do this is by using bias tape. Start by staystiching the neckline to avoid distortion as you sew. With the wrong side facing out, align the bias tape with the opening of the neckline, and sew about ¼" away. Slightly stretch your bias tape while sewing.
Once that's done, press the bias tape towards the seam using your iron. Then, double-fold the bias binding and use pins or fabric clips to hold it in place. Then, carefully sew that into your dress, and you'll be done.
There are several other ways that you can finish the neckline of your dress. You can see some of the easiest ways to do this in this video:
Note: If your dress doesn't have sleeves, you can also use these techniques to finish the sleeve holes.
In the same way, there are also several ways you can finish the bottom hem of your dress. One of the easiest and cleanest ways to do this is by using a double-folded hem. Double-folded hems are not only sturdy but also give your dress a very clean finish.
To sew one, start by folding the raw edge up once (about ¼" - ½") and pressing it with your iron. Then, fold one more time and then stitch close to the inner folded edge.
Step 9: Test and Clean Up
By now, you should have a full dress. But before you celebrate and wear it to your next outing, you'll want to test it first.
Try on your dress, and if you find that any parts are too tight, remove the stitches and adjust as needed. This is why it's so important to have a seam allowance as you sew. In the same way, if any parts are too loose, remove the stitches and sew a tighter line.
This is the magic of sewing your own clothes. Anytime something doesn't fit, you're completely free to adjust it as needed.
Once the size is right, finish by cleaning up any loose threads.
Easy Dress Patterns for Beginners
eDress
Dresses don't get any easier to sew than this. The eDress is one of the most basic yet elegant dress patterns you can get.
With a straightforward design, no sleeves, and a simple neckline, the eDress is the perfect project to take on for first-timers. Just follow the pattern, and you'll end up with a beautiful piece to add to your wardrobe.
You can get the eDress pattern here.
Gardenia Dress
If you're looking for something with a little more style but is still super easy for beginners to sew, then you should check out this Gardenia dress.
Like the eDress, the pattern of the Gardenia dress is incredibly simple. The armholes are slightly extended, but you don't have to sew sleeves. The neckline also uses a bias binding.
The only small detail that the Gardenia dress has is a tie on the side of the dress. However, once you get the pattern, you'll quickly realize this is super easy to sew.
So go and grab the pattern here.
Cityscapes Dress
If you're up for a little more challenge, then you can take on this Cityscapes dress.
The Cityscapes dress works best with knitted fabric, which is slightly more difficult to work with than woven fabrics. Aside from that, this dress also has long sleeves, so you'll put your sleeve skills to the test with it.
That said, if you're looking to take your skills to the next level, this is a great project to take on. And when you're finished, you'll find yourself with a beautiful dress to use for any occasion.
You can get the Cityscapes dress pattern here.
3 Common Mistakes to Avoid While Sewing a Dress
Here are some common mistakes we see beginners make when sewing a dress.
- Skipping Staystitching - Some beginners see staystitching the neckline as a time-consuming extra step that can be skipped. However, curved edges can easily stretch out if not staystitched, giving your dress a saggy, unprofessional look.
- Not Adding Enough Seam Allowance to the Bottom - You usually want to give yourself more seam allowance at the bottom of your dress or skirt. This is because most hemline finishes require you to fold the fabric a few times. If you're not careful, this can end up making your dress shorter than you want.
- Crooked Seams - Dresses require you to work with bigger pieces of fabric. One mistake plenty of beginners make is rushing through sewing the side seams and ending up with crooked lines. The good news is that this isn't too hard to fix. Simply use a seam ripper and redo the stitch carefully.
The Next Step: Make a Dress With More Style and Details
Sewing a dress is a lot less scary than it might seem at first.
With a simple pattern, even the most inexperienced sewist can make something lovely.
Once you're done creating your first piece, you'll no doubt be pumped to take on more challenging and fashionable projects.
Well, if you'd like to learn more about how to do just that, then you should join our Sew Confident Workshop, where you'll find an entire library of cool projects, big discounts on patterns, and access to a lively community of new and experienced sewists.