DIY Dress Sewing Pattern

Easy project to make from scrap yarn and fabric

Today’s simple DIY dress sewing pattern is a great way to use any fabric or yarn scraps. Linen is my favourite fabric of all, not only because it has many great properties but also because it’s the very fabric that was used in victorian times. Linen clothes just have this crafted, natural and historical feel to them. This beautiful DIY dress is no exception! It’s perfect to slip into at home, to wear on warm days in the garden or to be comfortable in while shopping. Linen fabric is very durable so this dress will definitely last.

Make your own easy design

The pattern is really simple to make. All you need is a crochet strap made of easy granny squares and then a couple of linen fabric rectangles. You can even use just one if you prefer not to make any detailing on the dress. I decided to use a couple and join them with a victorian style fagot stitch just to add a bit of embellishment. The linen fabric that I used was a piece of leftover oatmeal linen and the yarn was a beautiful earthy brownish grey wool.

DIY Line Dress

Supplies:

• linen fabric pannels - 150 x 80 cm and 150 x 45 cm (alternatively you can use one 150 x 125 cm)
• sewing tread matching with the linen shade
• silk embroidery floss
• small embroidery needle
• yarn (you can use wool, linen or cotton)
• crochet hook size 3.5

Instructions

I began by ironing the pannels and hemming the long side of both pieces - double fold and press on both long sides of the smaller linen piece, double fold and ress on the bottom long side of the bigger linen piece. Then I stitched the ironed hems on the machine. The next step was to fold both line pieces in half horizontally and stitch the sides together. Usually I like to use an overlock or zig-zag stitch to stitch over any raw edges but this time I didn’t need to worry. Both pannels were the exact width of purchased fabric so the vertical edges were neat.

When stitching the pannels together vertically (right sides facing each other), remember to leave a small slit towards the top of the larger pannel (approx. 10 cm). This is to make sure that you can slip into the dress comfortably.

The gathering

After stitching the pannels together stitch twice along the unhemmed top long edge of the bigger pannel to make gathering. I made the gathers as wide as my above the bust measurement.

Granny squares

To make the dress more decorative around the bust I decided to use crochet detailing. I made several granny quares and stitched them together to make a simple crochet strap. I used 11 granny squares (with a bit of stretch) to fit the above bust measurement. Once I had the strap I attached it to the gathers and stitched over with a machine.

Final details

Finally, measure how long the straps need to be for your figure and use a simple crochet stitch to create them. Also, crochet a couple of ties onto the sides of the strap to close the slit.

The Fagot stitch

If you’ve decided to use two pannels, you will need to attach them to each other using a fagot stitch. This is an old hand stitch technique that I learned from historical costume making and wanted to practice. Bellow is a wonderful video where you can learn how to stitch two pieces together this way.