Easy Dress Sewing Pattern for Girls, 6 months to 10 years, Chloe Ruffled Sundress

Easy dress sewing pattern for your little girl that can make her twirl, dance and have fun. With the shoulder and chest elastic, this dress is easy for on and off. The simple and cool look of the dress makes it perfect for school or play on warmer days.

This dress does not have curved seams but only straight seams throughout, which makes it perfect for any beginner seamstress. So come on, what are you waiting for? keeping up with fashion need not be expensive this summer season, you can create your own unique style and make your little girl shine on the high street in this new look!

You can follow the written pattern below or purchase an Ad-free PDF for just $2.50, Add to Cart here. The pattern will be e-mailed to you.

Easy Dress Sewing Pattern for Girls

Materials

1) Medium- weight cotton fabric for the bodice-requirement specified in the table below

2) Medium- weight cotton fabric in a contrasting color for the ruffles and chest band- requirement specified in the table below.

3) 3/4 -inch elastic-requirement specified in the table below.

4) 3/8 inch elastic- requirement specified in the table below.

I suggest you read the entire pattern once before starting to get a general idea

All the fabrics used here are of 44/45 inches width.

The fabrics shown here are only for illustration purposes and as such may vary from the original.

The seam allowance is 3/8-inch unless otherwise specified.

* Finished length is from the chest band to the hemline of the dress.

Table-1

Ages	Approx Finished Chest (inches)	Approx Finished Length (inches)
6 to 12 months	17	12.5
12 to 24 months	18	15.5
2 years	19	19
3 years	20	20
4 years	21	21.5
5 years	22	22.5
6 years	23	24
7 years	24	25
8 years	25	26.5
9 years	26	27.5
10 years	27	29

Table-2

Material Requirements

Ages	Bodice Fabric (yards)	Ruffle Fabric (yards)	¾- inch Elastic (inches)	3/8 -inch Elastic (inches)
6 to 12 months	1/3	1/2	18	19
12 to 24 months	1/2	1/2	19	21
2 years	1/2	1/2	20	22
3 years	1	1/2	21	23
4 years	1	2/3	22	23
5 years	1 & ¼	3/4	23	24
6 years	1 & ¼	3/4	24	24
7 years	1 & ¼	3/4	25	25
8 years	1 & ¼	1	26	25
9 years	1 & 1/3	1	27	26
10 years	1 & 1/3	1	28	26

Cutting Layout for Bodice

Cutting Dimensions

Table-3

Ages	Bodice Piece (Length x Width) (inches) (cut 2)	Lower Ruffle (Length x Width) (inches)	Upper Ruffle (Length X Width) (inches) (cut 2)	Chest Band (Length X Width) (inches) (cut 2)	Shoulder Strap (Length x Width) (inches) (cut 2)
6 to 12 Months	20 x 10	39 x 4 (cut 2)	20 x 3.5	20 x 3	18 x 3.5
12 to 24 Months	21 x 13	41 x 4 (cut 2)	21 x 4	21 x 3	18.5 x 3.5
2 Years	22 x 16	43 x 4.5 (cut 2)	22 x 4	22- x 3	19.5 x 3.5
3 Years	23 x 17	44 x 4.5 (cut 2)	23 x 4.25	23 x 3	20 x 3.5
4Years	24 x 18	32 x 5 (cut 3)	24 x 4.25	24 x 3	20 x 3.75
5 Years	25 x 18.5	33 x 5.5 (cut 3)	25 x 4.75	25 x 3	20.5 x 3.75
6 Years	26 x 20	34 x 5.5 (cut 3)	26 x 4.75	26 x 3	20.5 x 3.75
7 Years	27 x 21	36 x 5.5 (cut 3)	27 x 5.25	27 x 3	21 x 4
8 Years	28 x 22	37 x 6 (cut 3)	28 x 5.25	28 x 3	21 x 4
9 Years	29 x 23	38 x 6 (cut 3)	29 x 5.75	29 x 3	21.5 x 4
10 Years	30 x 24	39 x 6.5 (cut 3)	30 x 5.75	30 x 3	21.5 x 4

Sewing

Take the required fabric.

Cut the two bodice, chest band, upper ruffle, lower ruffle and strap pieces, referring to the table-3 above.

Keep the bodice pieces layered, with the right sides together and aligning the edges. Sew both the shorter sides shut.

Next, we do the upper ruffle.

Take the fabric strips for the ruffle, fold one of the longer edges twice by ½-inch, towards the wrong side and press to set.

*You will have to join pieces to get the required length of the ruffle.

For that, open the folds and keep them layered with the right sides together and aligning the edges. Sew the two shorter sides shut to get a fabric ring. Press the seams flat.

Fold the hem back and sew it down along the edge.

We need not gather the ruffle, it would gather up by itself when we insert the elastic into the chest band.

Let’s attach the ruffle to the bodice.

Place the bodice and the ruffle on the right side, with the upper edge of the top facing the hemmed edge of the ruffle and slide the top into the ruffle ring. Pin all around, matching up the side seams.

Sew the ruffle to the bodice, removing the pins as you go.

Next, we need to do the chest band where the ¾- inch elastic is inserted.

Place the chest band pieces layered, with the right sides together, aligning the edges and sew the two shorter sides shut to form a fabric ring.

Fold the chest band tube in half, lengthwise, with the wrong sides together and press to form a crease along the center. Open and fold one of the longer edges towards the wrong side by 3/8-inch and press to set.

Let’s attach the chest band to the bodice.

Place the bodice on its right side. Place the chest band on its wrong side above the bodice, with its folded edge facing the top edge of the bodice and slide the bodice into the chest band. Align the raw edges of the two together and pin all around. Take note to keep the side seams of both the pieces in line while pinning.

Sew the chest band to the bodice.

Fold the chest band over to the wrong side of the top, along the center crease, covering the seam line at the back and pin all around. Sew the chest band down, along the edge of the fold, leaving a gap of about 2-inches to insert the chest elastic.

Next, we do the lower ruffle.

Take the ruffle piece (here again, you will have to join pieces to get the required length of the ruffle).

Do the lower hem, just as we did for the chest ruffle.

Next, we need to gather it. For that, turn the upper thread tension of your machine to zero and the stitch length to the longest, to get a basting stitch.

Sew a basting stitch, along the raw edge of the ruffle, leaving a long tail of thread about 5-6 inches long to pull and gather it.

Pull the thread from the bobbin gently and gather it.

You will get your ruffle like the above. Adjust the gathering to make it uniform and to match it with the lower edge of the bodice.

Turn the machine settings back to normal.

Place the bodice on the right side and the ruffle on the wrong side, with the lower edge of the bodice facing the hemmed edge of the ruffle and slide the bodice into the ruffle ring.

Pin all around, aligning the raw edges and lining up the side seams.

Sew the ruffle to the bodice, removing the pins as you go. Zig zag to prevent fraying.

Turn over to the right side and topstitch along the seam line of the ruffle and bodice to make it neat and crisp.

Let’s insert the chest elastic.

Take the required length of the ¾ -inch elastic referring to the table-2 above and insert it through the chest band casing, using a safety pin. Here I suggest you take the required length of the elastic, keep it around your girl’s chest, see the length and cut off the extra (if there is any). Overlap the ends of the elastic and sew back and forth a few times to join.

Sew the opening in the casing shut.

We need to attach the elastic shoulder strap.

Take the fabric pieces for the shoulder strap, fold the two longer edges inwards to the wrong side by 3/8 -inch and press. Fold it in half lengthwise and press again.

Sew the strap shut along the edge of the folds.

Sew a straight stitch, ½- inch from the sewn edge of the strap. This will form a casing for the elastic.

Take the required length of the elastic, referring to the table-2 above, cut the elastic into two equal pieces (for each of the shoulder straps). Insert the elastic through the casing, using a safety pin.

Secure both the ends of the elastic by sewing and back and forth a few times as shown above.

Repeat the steps with the other strap.

Your straps would ruffle up like the above.

Take the bodice and mark a point on the chest band, about 5 & ½ inches from the side seam (you have to stretch the elastic while taking this measurement). Repeat it on the other side. For higher ages like 8,9 and 10 years, you can increase this measurement by about ½-inch.