Summer Dress With Puff Sleeves and Corset Detail

Tools and materials:

• Fabric
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Pattern - It is a romper, though, and I wanted to make a dress, so I will combine the body with a half-circle skirt.

Print the pattern 

Because we’re replacing the shorts with a half-circle skirt, you only need to print out pages 1 through 18 and 32-35.

Cut the half-circle skirt

You need to know your waist radius (this can be looked up online). Mark your waist radius from the corner of your fabric. Then add your desired length to the waist radius and mark this from the corner as well. 

Cut out corset pieces

With the fabric folded in half, cut out the corset pieces and sew them together.

Cut out the upper part of the bodice and sleeves

Before cutting out the upper bodice pieces, I made some facing for the front and back. I did this by tracing the shoulder and front seam of the front bodice. For the back, I traced the shoulder and neckline, making the pieces as wide as the shoulder seam. I also cut out the sleeves and the sleeve hem band.

Attach the facing

Lay the facing right sides together with their respective pieces, sew down the center seam for the front bodice, and sew along the neckline for the back bodice. When done, flip the facing over and top-stitch the facing to the main bodice at the very edge of the shoulder seam.

Gather the front bodice pieces and the sleeves

Sew along the edge of the fabric. Once you get to the end, make one stitch out and then sew right back next to the stitch you’ve just made. When this is done, you can pull the loose threads, and the fabric will gather up. 

Iron the sleeve hem band

Fold it in half, iron it, and then I folded it in half again by folding up the sleeves towards the middle and then iron it again so that you get a nice strip of fabric.

Attach hem bands to sleeves

Pull-on the bottom of the sleeves until you gather the bottom of the sleeves to a length that fits with the sleeve hem band. Then once those are the same length, align the lower crease on the sleeve hem band with the bottom of the sleeve. Sew in the crease and then fold down the rest of the hem band and topstitch it down.

Sew the side seams 

Sew the side seams of the sleeves together, and then sew the front and back bodice together at the side seams and the shoulder seams. 

Join corset to bodice

Take the simple corset piece and find the middle. Then put one of the bodice pieces right sides together with the corset piece, making sure to overlap the middle point on the corset piece by the seam allowance. You then want to gather the front bodice pieces to a point where the length of the front and back bodice matches the length of the corset piece. And then you want to sew them together. After attaching the first corset piece, take the other corset piece and sandwich the other bodice pieces between the corset pieces. Then sew along the edge again.

Attach the skirt

Take your half circle skirt and find the middle point. Then line it up, right sides together, with the corset piece, and then attach the skirt by sewing from the middle and out. After this, zigzag the raw edges to make the dress look neater.

Attach the sleeves

Turn the sleeves inside out, pull the bodice through the sleeves, and match up the side seams and shoulder seams. Again, you want to gather the sleeve down until the sleeve head is the same size as the armhole curve, and then you want to sew around to attach the sleeves.

Attach the zipper 

With the zipper facing down, line up the left side of the zipper with the right side of the dress and sew that down. Then line the right side of the zipper with the left side of the dress and sew that down. 

Close the back seam 

Pull out the zipper after putting the skirt right sides together and then sew as close as possible to the zipper stitches you made earlier. 

And voila! It’s stunning!