Free Classic- Style Dress Pattern for Girls

All my readers must be familiar with my easy baby girl dress pattern. This is my most famous pattern to date, having been repinned over 150,000 times.

The pattern has been available only in baby sizes, and I had received various requests to design the pattern for higher ages. So, here I am with the classic yoke-style dress pattern for ages 2 years and up.

Here is a cute little model wearing the dress with the perfect fit.

This is the back- view of the dress pattern with button cosure.

Here is the dress made with a little more twirl in the skirt part and a slightly larger size for the model, allowing room for growth.

The pattern is completely free for ages 2 to 6 years and includes step-by-step instructions and a bodice template. So, keep reading as I walk you through this gorgeous girl’s dress pattern.

You may read the free tutorial below or optionally purchase the pattern in sizes 2 to 6 years, as an ad- free downloadable PDF for $3.99. Add to cart here.

Free Classic- Style Dress Pattern for Girls

Materials Required

Medium- weight cotton Fabric for the dress- requirements specified in the table-3 below.
Sewing Notions.
Fabric Marking Pen.
KAM snaps or ordinary buttons (if you know how to sew buttonholes)- 3 sets.
Bodice Pattern Template. **Enter your email address and click the subscribe button to download the template.

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

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

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

All seams are to be finished by zigzag or serger.

Size Chart

Table-1

Approximate Finished Measurements.

Table-2

Fabric Requirements.

Table-3

Measurements

**The dress is supposed to hit below the knee. Change the length of the skirt piece, if you would like it shorter or longer.

In the table below, “W” stands for the width and “L” stands for the length of the fabric piece to be cut.

Table-4

Gather the supplies. Cut the templates for the bodice front and bodice back from the attached PDF.

Take the dress fabric and the template for the front bodice. Fold the fabric to fit the width of the template and place the template on the fold. Mark around it and cut to get the front bodice piece. Repeat the steps to get the front lining.

Let’s cut the back bodice. Here again, fold the fabric, but this time, place the template for the back bodice, along the edge of the fabric. Mark around it and cut to get two pieces for the back bodice (the back part of the dress is done in two pieces, for button opening). Repeat the steps to get the back lining pieces.

Your bodice-front, lining, bodice –back and lining pieces will look like the picture above.

Cut the skirt pieces referring to the table-4 above.

Sewing

Take the two back bodice pieces and place them over the front bodice piece, with the right sides together, aligning the shoulders and side seams and sew the shoulders shut.

Press the seams flat.

Next, take the lining pieces, fold the lower edges towards the wrong side by 3/8-inch and press to set.

Sew the front and back lining pieces together, just as the bodice pieces.

Place the bodice lining over the main bodice, with the right sides together, aligning the center back, neck and armholes. Pin and sew along the neck and center back, and also along the two armholes. *Note that you need to leave 3/8-inch along the lower edges of the bodice for skirt attachment.

Clip the edges and cut the corners.

Pull the right side of the back bodice out, through the shoulders. Keep pulling the back bodice on either side, till the whole bodice is turned inside- out.

Poke the edges sharp, with the help of a wooden dowel and press taut. Topstitch along the armholes, neck and buttonhole edges, leaving 3/8-inch at the lower edges of the armholes and back bodice.

Let’s sew the side seams of the bodice shut.

Flip the lining upwards. Align the side seams of the back and front bodices together and the side seams of the front and back lining together. The right sides should touch and the folds along the lower edges of the lining intact. Pin the aligned edges (side seams) together and sew along the pinned edges.

Clip the bulk at the seam.

Our bodice is done. We move on to the skirt.

Keep the two skirt pieces layered, with the right sides together and the edges aligning. Sew the side seams on both sides.

Next, we need to gather the skirt. Turn the upper thread tension of your machine to zero and stitch length to the longest to get a basting stitch.

Sew a basting stitch along the upper edge of the skirt and gather it. Adjust the gathering to make it uniform and to fit the lower edge of the bodice.

Let’s attach the skirt to the bodice.

Turn the bodice over to the back. Keep the side seams in place, with the center back edges overlapping and the armholes along the front and back in place. Sew the overlapping edges shut, 0.25- inches above the lower edge.

Keep the skirt on its wrong side. Keep the bodice on its right side, with its shoulders facing the skirt and slide the skirt over the bodice.

Align the ruffled edge of the skirt along the lower edge of the bodice, with the right sides together and pin all along. *Note: take care to keep the lining away and keep the sides seams of the bodice and skirt lined up while pinning.

Turn the machine settings back to normal.

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

Turn the waist seam up, towards the bodice and place the folded edge of the lining over the seam.

Sew along the seam line carefully to sew the lining shut, covering the waist seam (you may use stitch in the ditch method to hide the stitches on the right side). Or you may optionally hand-sew the folded edge of the lining to the waist seam.

Next, we need to hem the lower edge of the dress.

Fold the lower edge of the dress twice by 1/2-inch towards the wrong side and press.

Sew down the hem along the edge of the fold.

Let’s attach the KAM snaps.

Starting from the top edge, make markings at 2-inches gap from each other, on the right side of one of the back piece and attach the KAM snaps. Make markings with a 2-inch gap on the wrong side of the other back piece also and attach the complimentary KAM snaps.