DIY Butterfly sleeve dress - Step by step sewing tutorial

DIY Butterfly sleeve dress - Step by step sewing tutorial

Welcome or welcome back to my channel. My name is Jess and I love doing DIY, making clothes in a "simply but pretty" way.

In today's tutorial, I'm going to share with you how I made a Butterfly sleeve dress from scratch.

I hope you like it and try it out. Let’s get started!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• 2.5m of thick chiffon fabric

• Pattern paper

• Sewing machine

• Pins

• Scissors

• Ruler

• Long stick

• Elastic band

MAKING THE PATTERNS

Here’s the pattern for the project. To get a clear understanding of all the measurements needed for the pattern, watch the video from 1:09 to 4:37.

Remember, you can adjust these measurements to fit your own dimensions!

THE BACK PATTERN OF THE TOP

1. To make the back pattern, cut a rectangle with 38 cm length, which is the length from the shoulder to under the breast and above the belly button, and 45 cm width, which is half of the bust size plus 4 cm.

2. Draw a straight line in the middle of the rectangle to divide it into two equal parts.

3. At the top of this line, mark at two sides 9 cm, which is half of the width of the neck minus 1 cm for seam allowance. So the width between two marks will be the width of the neck minus 2 cm for seam allowance.

4. After that, mark down at 3 cm on the straight line.

5. Then draw a curved line to connect it to two marks just made before that, so the neck line of the back pattern is formed.

6. From two marks on the width line, mark at two sides 10 cm, so the width between two new marks will be 40 cm, which is the width between two shoulders plus 2 cm for seam allowance.

7. From the top of the length line, mark down at 20 cm, which is the width from the shoulder to over the armpit.

8. Then draw a curved line from this mark to the mark on the width line to create a sleeve line for the back pattern.

9. From the top of the middle straight line, mark down at 20 cm, which is the width from the neck to the middle of two breasts. It's also the depth of the V-neck of the dress that is wanted.

10. Then draw a line to connect this mark to the mark on the neck. It will cut the other width line at the end of the back pattern.

11. After cutting by the drawing lines outside, the back pattern of the dress is completed.

THE FRONT PATTERN OF THE TOP

1. To make the front pattern, move down the shoulder line of the back pattern 2 cm.

2. Then redraw the neckline.

3. And the front pattern is completed after cutting.

THE SLEEVE PATTERN

1. To make the sleeve pattern, draw a circle with the diameter of 76 cm, which is two times the width of the top pattern.

2. Draw a straight line in the middle to divide the circle into two equal parts first.

3. Then from the top cutting point between the circle and the straight line, mark up at 22 cm, which is the length of the sleeve that is wanted.

4. From the lower cutting point, mark down at 8 cm, which is the length of the sleeve under the armpit.

5. Mark at the middle between two marks.

6. Then use it as the center to draw another circle

7. After cutting, draw a curved line at the end of the sleeve and the sleeve pattern is finished.

SEWING THE DRESS

THE TOP PART

Apply all the patterns on the fabric and draw along.

You will need one piece for the back pattern, two pieces for the front pattern, and two pieces for the sleeve pattern.

After cutting, connect the back pattern to two pieces of the front pattern at the shoulder.

Then connect them together at the sidelines.

To make the neck of the dress, cut a long rectangle with 3 cm width and around 114 cm length, which is three times the length of the top pattern.

Connect one length line of the rectangle to the neck and make the first seam.

After that, fold the other length line of the rectangle inside 1 cm first, then keep folding it over the first seam, then make the second seam.

After that, connect two ends of the front pattern where they gap each other together.

Moving to the sleeve, fold the end fabric at the bigger circle inside two times and sew to finish it.

After that, draw a straight line from the edge of the shoulder to the end of the top of the dress.

then cut.

Now connect the sleeve to the cutting line just made before it.

Connect this sleeve to the inside part of the top first, then connect the outside part to them later, so the sleeve will be in the middle of two parts.

And the top of the dress will be finished after sewing.

Remember to re-check the width of the top before moving to the bottom part.

THE BOTTOM PART

Moving to the bottom of the dress, fold the width to the length of the fabric first.

Then measure and mark where is 42 cm, which is the width of the top of the dress that was just checked before.

From this mark, draw a circle line from the top of the folding fabric.

From this mark, also mark down 35 cm, which is the width of the bottom part that is wanted minus the width of the ruffle part.

Then draw another circle line from the top of the folding fabric to this mark.

Then, measure and mark 43 cm on the fabric (top width + 1 cm seam allowance).

After cutting, connect two side lines together and sew.

Measure the width of the ending circle line first.

Then cut a rectangle with 15 cm length and two times the width of the ending circle just checked before that.

Connect two length lines of the rectangle together to have a circle fabric first.

Then at one width line, fold the end fabric inside two times and sew to finish it.

After that, make a loose seam at the other width line to create the gathering fabric there later.

Make sure the final width of the gathering fabric should be the same with the width at the ending circle line.

Then connect them together.

CONNECT THE TOP AND THE BOTTOM OF THE DRESS

Now connect the top and the bottom of the dress together at the waist.

After fixing them together by the pins, draw a line at 2 cm under the end of the fabric line.

Then sew.

Use an elastic band with 1 cm width, so measure the width of the fabric hole to make sure the elastic band can go through it later.

Therefore, don’t forget to keep a small unsewn space when sewing.

Cut a 64 cm elastic band, which is the same size as the waist size, to put through the fabric hole.

Then close the hole after sewing two ends of the elastic band together.

DIY Butterfly sleeve dress - Step by step sewing tutorial

And I’ve finished this DIY — here’s the final result!

This dress looks really nice and honestly just so cute.

I hope you found my step-by-step guide helpful and inspiring.

If you’re interested in making your own, give it a try and let me know how it goes!

Until then, happy sewing!