How to Sew a Baby Dress (with Pictures)

2025 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-24 13:28

Learning to make clothes for your baby yourself will save you money, especially bearing in mind that she usually only uses them for a few months. You will save even more if you learn how to make them from old shirts or clothes you no longer use. To make this project you need to have a basic understanding of how to use the sewing machine. You can use the same design to make clothes of different styles. Add buttons, bows and other things to embellish and make the dress more fashionable. Learn how to sew a dress for your baby!

Steps

Method 1 of 2: Making the Dress Pattern

Step 1. Get a dress that fits your baby

Step 2. Keep some shirts that no longer fit

You can also buy some at a thrift store.

Step 3. Spread the shirt out on a work table

Arrange it so that it has no wrinkles anywhere. Make sure the two bottom parts (front and back) are paired.

Step 4. Spread your baby's dress over the top of the shirt

You can align it to use the bottom edge to save time when sewing.

Step 5. Trace the shape of the front of the dress with the dressmaker's pencil

Using a ruler, draw a line up and down on the shirt to mark the center of the dress pattern. If you want, you can change the model a little.

• If you want the dress to fit your child for a while, you can do it by adding 2.5 to 5 cm on the front. The dressmaker's pencil is washable.

  

• If you want, you can change the shape of the dress a little. For example, you could make a skirt a little wider.

  

• Mark the point of the armhole.

  

Step 6. Cut the front of the dress with the dressmaker's scissors

Follow the drawing well, especially if you have edited it.

Step 7. Fold it vertically

Make sure it is perfectly folded in half.

Step 8. Draw the back of the dress following the folded edge, so that they are symmetrical

Step 9. Cut the back of the dress with scissors

Method 2 of 2: Sew the Dress

Step 1. Place the two pieces of the dress so that the outside is facing inwards

Make sure there are no wrinkles. If necessary, you can iron it.

Step 2. Secure the upper edge of the two parts with pins, where there is the neckline

You can widen it a little, but usually children's clothes have a less wide neckline than adult clothes.

Step 3. Sew the two parts of the dress starting from the top edge, leaving approximately 6-7mm of interlocking

Leave a part in the center not sewn, where you can put buttons if you want it to be easier to put on.

Step 4. Buy some ribbons for the opening of the arms and neck or get them yourself

Choose colors that are complementary or opposite to the color of the dress, as you like.

• To make your own ribbons, cut 2-3 cm strips from a T-shirt or other soft fabric. Make sure the length is sufficient before cutting them with scissors. For the hole in the head make them a little longer and a little wider.

  

• Iron the fabric in half lengthwise. You can cut off the excess once you have fixed it in place.

  

Step 5. Spread the dress on the work table so that the front and back are laid out in front of each other, attached by the neckline

The outside of the dress should be resting on the table.

Step 6. Arrange the ribbons along the armholes

Follow the outline of the armholes on both sides of the dress. Then you will sew the two parts together.

Step 7. Pin the ribbon to the inside of the armhole

Make small curls at regular intervals, creating a beautiful effect.

Step 8. Sew the ribbons along the armholes on both sides of the dress

Repeat the operation for the other arm. Always leave 6-7 mm of margin.

Step 9. If the neckline doesn't seem big enough to fit your baby's head through, you can make a button closure on the back of the dress

• Make a line on the back of the dress, where you want to make the closure. Cut along this line.

  

• Fold and iron the fabric inwards to about 6-7 mm on both sides. Sew a square seam around the folded fabric on both sides of the opening.

  

• Attach a series of elastic loops on one side and a series of buttons on the other. You can do this even after you have sewn the dress, so you don't have to worry about getting it under the sewing machine.

  

Step 10. Always keep the dress with the inside out

Pin the ribbon along the neckline so that it follows the entire curve. If you have made the opening for the buttons, make sure there is also an opening in the ribbon.

Step 11. Sew the ribbons inside the fabric, always leaving 6-7 mm of edge

Step 12. Put the front and back together and pin them together

Step 13. Sew them together leaving 6-7mm of edge from the seam

Step 14. Attach the buttons, if you planned to open them

You can do it by hand or with the sewing machine.