Sew a Princess Dress

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My three-year-old loves princesses of all kinds and dressing up like them whenever she has the chance. We’ve purchased a lot of the Disney princess dresses and have had some gifted to us, but the other week my darling girl wanted a very specific princess dress. She’s been watching Barbie’s Princess and the Pauper (*eye roll* – gift from a friend!) and kept commenting on how beautiful Princess Anneleise’s “pretty pink rose dress” was. I told her we could sew one together and she was ecstatic!

Princess Dress Tutorial from The DIY Mommy

The base of this princess dress is a very simple peasant style dress pattern, and I’ve added some fun embellishments like ruffles, ribbons and a rose. This dress is wide with an elastic neckline and sleeves, so it would grow with a child – comfortably from age 2 to age 5 or so. It’s a classic, shiny pink princess dress, so it could work for any type of little princess!

Materials:

  • 1 yard pink satin fabric (I used cuddle satin for a little extra body and comfort – it has a flannel backing)
  • 1/4 yard white satin fabric
  • a roll of 1/4″ metallic gold ribbon
  • 1/4″ elastic
  • hand-sewing needle

Directions:

Print out these four pattern pieces (make sure that you are printing at 100% size; the final pattern piece has to be taped together): The DIY Mommy Princess Dress 1, The DIY Mommy Princess Dress 2, The DIY Mommy Princess Dress 3, The DIY Mommy Princess Dress 4 & The DIY Mommy Princess Dress 5

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

From the pink satin, cut out the sleeve pieces, back bodice, side front bodice.  Cut the center front from the white satin. From the white satin, cut two 5″ wide strips from the entire width of the satin for the ruffles (not pictured). From the pink satin, cut one 5″ wide strip from the entire width of the satin (for the flower embellishment). For the skirt, measure your child from an inch beneath their armpit to where you want the hem of the dress to fall (if you make the dress long, your child will be able to wear it longer!). Add 3 inches to this measurement (for the waist seam and bottom hem), and cut a full width of the pink satin fabric in this length (my fabric was 54″ wide). Cut this piece in half so that you have a skirt front and skirt back piece.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Take the center front piece cut from white satin, and arrange lengths of gold ribbon cut to size as pictured above (I eye-balled my placement). You might prefer three criss-crosses or only one – it’s up to you and your princess! Pin the ribbon, then sew it to the satin piece with stitches down the middle of each ribbon length.

Princess Dress by The DIY Mommy

With right sides together, sew one of the front side pieces to the side of the center front piece. (For this dress, I used my serger for an all-in-one seam finish, but if you are using a regular machine make sure to finish the seams with a zig-zag stich after sewing). Repeat with opposite side. Press seam open on low heat. Lay a length of ribbon over the seam, cut to size, and sew with stitches down the middle. Repeat with opposite side.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

With right sides together, sew the bodice front to the bodice back at the side seams.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Sew the two long white satin pieces together on one short end of each. Fold in half, wrong sides together and gather along the raw edge. Here, I used my serger to gather quickly by adjusting the tension, but you can also gather with a long running stitch on your machine and pulling the upper thread. Here is an excellent post on gathering techniques.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

With raw edges together, sew the white ruffle to the bottom edge of one sleeve. Cut to fit after sewing. Turn to right side, press lightly, and topstitch about 1/8″ close to seam to keep ruffle flat. Repeat with second sleeve.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Cut two pieces of 1/4″ elastic that are approximately 8″ each. On the wrong side of booth sleeves, draw a straight line with a pencil and ruler that’s about 4″ from the bottom of the ruffle. Attach the elastic to the wring side of the sleeve by sewing a straight line in the center of the elastic, pulling the elastic with your hand as you sew to ruffle the fabric and stretch the elastic to the opposite side of the sleeve. Repeat with second sleeve.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Fold each sleeve horizontally in half with right sides together, and sew each of their side seams together matching the bottoms of the ruffles.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Open up the top of one sleeve and pin its curved edge to the curved sleeve opening of one side of the bodice, right sides together. Match armpit seams. Sew together.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

With raw edges together, sew the white satin ruffle to the lower edge of the bodice. Start on one side seam, fold the short raw edge of the ruffle to the underside. When you reach the beginning again, overlap the end of the ruffle slightly over the beginning and fold the raw edge under again after trimming to fit.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

With right sides together and sandwiching the ruffle in between, sew the front and back pieces of the skirt together at the side seams. Gather the upper edge of the skirt with a serger or regular machine, and pin it to the bodice (pulling or loosening gathers to fit) with the right sides together. Sew.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Turn dress right-side-out and press waist seam lightly. Topstitch about 1/8″ from seam to help ruffle lay flat.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Serge raw edge of bodice neck OR turn over 1/4″ and press. Turn over 1/2″ and press, then stitch close to folded edge to create a casing for the neck elastic. Leave a 1″ opening. Cut a 16″ piece of 1/4″ elastic, and thread through the casing (I use a safety pin on the threading end and a stick pin on the opposite end). Sew the edges of the elastic together securely once threaded and stitch the casing opening shut.

The main dress is DONE! Now, on to the embellishments:

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Fold the 5″ wide strip of pink satin you cut earlier in half lengthwise and gather (like you did with the white ruffles before). I used a full width of my pink satin, then cut the ruffled piece in half – one to use for the dress and one for a hair accessory for later!

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Start rolling the ruffled strip (you’re making a rose from the center out), hand sewing the raw edges together as you go (I just used random stitches, making sure to secure the layers together as best I could).

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Once you’re finished rolling and sewing the ruffled strip to your liking, make sure to secure it at the end with several knots of thread. Leave a long tail of thread and the needle attached to sew the rose to the dress bodice.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Sew the rose to the dress bodice, using the dress picture as a guide. Use lots of hand stitches, and secure it well at the end with several knots.

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

Tie a bow from the gold ribbon, cut it to your desired length, and stitch it to the center of the bottom of the bodice. I machine stitched the bow on, on each side of the knot (you could also hand stich, but I find machine stitching this way keeps the bow tied securely).

Princess Dress from The DIY Mommy

You’re ALL DONE! Share an afternoon tea with your little princess.

14 Comments

  1. I just made this for my 5 yr. Old. I’m a bit rusty at sewing, but I got done with it in a day and my lil girl loves it. The tutorial was easy to follow, I lengthened the bodice and left off the ruffle around the waist and the rose. It was done in blue and silver, with silver trim. Thank you for such a great pattern.

    1. Hi Christina. I love the dress pattern but have reached a point which I do not understand. Why do you cut the skirt panel in half only to sew it back together? And how do you sew the ruffle between the skirt side seams when you have just attached the ruffle to the bodice?

  2. Um, I was wanting to make this dress, I saw the pictures on the FB page, but I cannot see the pattern here . . . .. am I just blind? That is totally possible, since my dad always said I’m blind as a bat. 😀

  3. Just finished making this dress for my three year old daughter’s Halloween costume. She wanted it all pink without any embellishments. I had a little bit of trouble with the waist ruffle…mine wasn’t long enough, so I only put it in the front of the dress. I was using cheap costume satin, so I had a lot of fraying edges, especially when gathering. I should have used pinking shears to do all the cutting. I also added a piece of elastic in the back so cinch it in a little, since it was much too wide for her tiny frame. I’m very happy with how it turned out! Thanks so much for this free pattern, it was exactly what we needed.

  4. Excellent article. Keep writing such kind of information on your
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    I am confcident they will be benefited from this site.

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  7. I have been looking for something like this to make for my granddaughters. They love playing dress up and the ready made ones are expensive, but cheaply made. I have lots of satin left from weddings I have sewn for so that will be perfect! thanks so much!

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