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BOW BACK DRESS
STRAPS X2

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BOW BACK DRESS
BACK X4

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BOW BACK DRESS
RUFFLES X3

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 Bow Back Dress by PaperStxrs

Size Chart

Size Numeric Size Bust Waist Hips

X-Small 0-2 30”-32” 22”-24” 32”-34”

Small 4-6 32.5”-34.5” 24.5”-26.5” 34.5”-36.5”

Medium 8-10 35”-37” 27”-29” 37”-39”

Large 12-14 37.5”-39.5” 29.5”-32.5 39.5”-42.5”

X-Large 16-18 40”-42” 33”-36” 43”-46”

Materials

Fabric: 1 Full size sheet. If you choose to not use a sheet, I would guess you would

need about 3 to 4 yards of fabric.

Thread: 1 Spool of thread

Elastic: ¼ Elastic. (You can use the elastic from the fitted sheet).

(links to supplies are also in the YouTube video description box!)

Instructions

Note: These instructions are meant to go along with my video tutorial (linked below) for

extra clarification.

Easy DIY Dress (no zipper & it has pockets!) Tie Back Dress With Ruffles | Step B…

1. Print out all of your pattern pieces and tape the pages together in order with the

following image:

PaperStxrs
 (Note: Make sure the square in the top corner measures out to be 1” by 1” so you

know your pieces are printed to scale, and there will be a small margin on all of

the pages that should overlap until all the lines match up. If you have problems

with the printing, try making sure that you have the settings on “print to actual

size” and make sure the zoom is off so the printer isn’t stretching the pages. You

can also try opening the pattern in Adobe Reader and try printing it from there.)

2. Cut out all of your pattern pieces as indicated on the patterns.

3. We are going to work with the front bodice pieces first, and we are going to sew

all of the darts. The darts are the triangles that are marked out on the pattern,

and we are going to take one triangle and fold it so the sides of the triangles

meet up, and then sew down that line. We are going to do that for all of the darts

on both of the front pieces.

PaperStxrs
4. Then we are going to put the front pieces to the side and sew our strap pieces by

taking one, folding it in half, and sewing it all the way down the long edge. Then

we can turn the straps right side out.

5. Now we are going to pin the straps to one of the front pieces, and the raw edge

of the strap should match up with the top edge of the bodice and should be

pinned about half an inch away from the corner of the armhole. Then we can take

the other front bodice piece and lay it on top, pin their top edges together, and

then sew across the top edge, including the armholes.

6. Next, working with the back pieces, we are going to pin two together and sew all

around the perimeter except for the small straight edge. Then we are going to

turn these pieces right side out.

7. Now we are going to bring back the front piece and open up the side seam and

place the back piece along that edge, matching up the top of the back with the

top seam of the front. Then we are going to fold the other edge of the front piece

on top of the back and sew down the side seams.

8. Then we are going to turn the bodice right side out, and you will want to try it on

and pin the straps to a comfortable length. Once they are pinned we can cut off

the excess, fold up the raw edge, and stitch the straps to the wrong side of the

back.

9. Next we are going to work on the skirts, and the first step is attaching one pocket

piece down either side of our skirts. You will want to place the pocket 6” away

from the waist, then stitch them in place.

PaperStxrs
10. Then we can take our two skirt pieces, put them pretty side to pretty side, and

sew them together down their side seams. When we reach the pocket though,

you will want to pivot your foot and sew around the perimeter of the pocket until

we reach the skirt again, then pivot and sew down the rest of the skirt.

11. Now we are going to sew two parallel basting stitches across the waist of one of

our skirt pieces, stopping at either side seam. (Note: a basting stitch is the

longest stitch on your machine, and you just change the stitch length on your

straight stitch to the longest setting.)

12. Then you can pull on two of the basting threads on the same side of your fabric

to start gathering up your skirt. You want to gather this section of the skirt until it

fits into the front of the bodice, then you will pin these pieces together and sew

them across their waist. You will also want to make your seam allowance on the

skirt a little larger than we normally would so we have enough fabric for the next

step.

13. Now we need to finish up the back of the skirt by creating a casing for some

elastic. So where we stopped sewing the bodice to the skirt, we are going to fold

the top edge of the back skirt over twice, pin it, and sew across the bottom edge

making sure it is big enough for our elastic to fit through. Then we can take our

elastic, put a safety pin on one side, and thread it through our casing. Then you

will want to try it on to make sure it fits comfortably before sewing either side of

the elastic in place at either side seam.

14. And now we can start working on the ruffles. So we are going to take all of our

ruffle pieces and sew them together down their sides to make them into one big

PaperStxrs
 loop. Then we can add two parallel basting stitches across their top edge. (Note:

to make gathering up these long pieces a little easier, you can start and stop your

basting stitches at two points on the ruffles so that it isn't all on one thread.)

15. Now before we start gathering the ruffles, we are going to divide our ruffles and

skirt into four equal sections and pin those sections together to make sure our

ruffles will be even. Then we can pull on our basting stitches and gather up our

ruffles until they fit into the bottom edge of the skirt. Then we can pin and sew

them all the way around.

16. The very last step is to add a hem all across the bottom edge of our ruffles.

And now our dress is done!! Yayyyyy!!

PaperStxrs
Reference Photos:

PaperStxrs