How I Made a Dreamy & Romantic DIY Cottagecore Dress

Tools and materials:

• Fabric
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Tailor's chalk/pencil
• Pins
• Elastic
• Zipper
• Grosgrain
• Embroidered trim
• Sewing machine

1. Choose the fabric

To make this amazing cottagecore dress, I chose to use this gorgeous, pink, floral, cotton fabric. When sewing your own dress, get creative with color and pattern, and pick a fabric that you love!

2. Cut the fabric

I started by cutting out the fabric, using my pattern pieces. For a look at all the pattern pieces, I used in this project, go to 0:48 in my video.

The top bodice piece that had gathering also needed a base piece without gathering, so I pinned my gathered pattern piece down and cut a base from it. 

3. Sew the bodice

Once I had all my pattern pieces cut out, I was ready to start sewing. I started with the base piece for my top and pinned folds in place to create two pleats.

I hopped on over to my sewing machine and sewed the pleats. They definitely helped create a gorgeous fitted look for my cottagecore dress!

Next, I gathered the spread top piece. I absolutely love gathering! It creates such a beautiful effect and was exactly what I wanted for this dress.

Next, I connected the two top pieces by the neckline. 

Once I had sewed the two pieces together, I opened up the fabric and added another stitch across the neckline. 

I was finally ready to sew around the whole piece. I couldn’t believe how quickly the bodice was coming together! 

I then pinned one of the lower bodice pieces onto the top. Once all the pins were in place, I sewed them on. I then made sure to sew the second lower bodice piece onto the other side of the fabric.

I gave the bodice a topstitch where the top and bottom connected adding a beautiful clean finish! 

It was time to move onto the back and I started by sewing the back darts. Once they were sewed I attached the pieces to the front bodice. 

4. Attach the sleeves

With the bodice put together and looking amazing, I could move on to the sleeves.

I hemmed the bottom of the sleeves and pinned elastic onto both ends making sure they would create a slight gathering to get that perfect cottagecore style. I then sewed on the elastic using a zig-zag stitch. 

I couldn’t wait to attach the sleeves to my bodice. I pinned them onto the armholes and sewed them in place. 

5. Make the circle skirt

My bodice was finally ready and I was so excited to put the rest of the dress together. For a quick guide on how to make a circle skirt see 4:51 in my video.

With my measurements done and my markings and pinnings in place, I started cutting my new circle skirt to add to my amazing dress. I first cut out the smaller semi-circle and then moved on to cut the bigger one. 

Next, I pinned the skirt onto the waistline of my gorgeous new bodice and sewed it on. 

My dreamy cottagecore dress was almost finished but I needed to make a lining for the see-through fabric. I cut out the first piece and then pinned it to the fabric to trace a second piece for the lining. I sewed the sides of the pieces together to make the perfect lining for this dress. 

I then pinned my lining onto the inside of my dress at the waistline and sewed it on. 

6. Add a zipper

It was time to add the finishing touches and close up the back of the dress. I hemmed the bottom and then moved on to pinning the zipper onto the back. I sewed the zipper on and made sure to also sew closed the bottom of the dress. 

7. Add the finishing touches

I then used grosgrain to finish the back neckline. This small detail definitely added to the cottagecore style. 

For the finishing touches, I added this beautifully embroidered cotton trim as a pleated tier. I absolutely love how much this adds to the look of the dress. It just screams cottagecore! 

I decided to cut a strip from the extra trim and add it to the bodice as well. 

I just couldn’t get enough so I mixed in a criss-cross trim across the waistline. Lastly, I added a small silk bow I made from some ribbon to the front of the dress. The small finishing touches definitely created the dreamy style I had hoped for! 

DIY cottagecore dress

I am so in love with this cottagecore dress! What fabric would you use for this piece? Let me know in the comments below!