How to Make a Festive DIY Plaid Christmas Dress for the Holidays
This simple DIY plaid Christmas dress is made from stretchy tartan fabric. It’s festive and comfortable to wear and will take you from casual gatherings to fancy Christmas parties. Follow this tutorial to learn how to make your own Christmas dress.
Tools and materials:
- Tartan fabric
- Scissors
- Thread
- Sewing elastic
- Sewing pins
- Sewing machine
1. Create the bodice pattern
Use a camisole as your template for the bodice of the Christmas dress. Fold your tartan fabric in half, with the front of the fabric facing in.
Place your folded camisole on the fabric, with the folds together, and trace the neckline, armhole, and outside edge of the camisole onto your fabric at the top.
Cut the bodice piece from the fabric.
Use the piece you just cut as a template for the back bodice but cut the neckline of the back bodice lower than the neckline on the front.
2. Sew the bodice
With right sides facing together, sew the two bodice pieces together creating angled side seams so that the bodice will taper in.
3. Cut the sleeve fabric
With the fabric folded and the front facing in, trace the camisole underarm and strap onto your fabric. Then, cut your fabric to the width and length of the sleeve you want, keeping the curve of the underarm and strap that you traced on it.
Make the sleeve wider than the length of the camisole strap, and the outside of the sleeve along the fold of the fabric.
Sew the open side of the fabric, which will be the inside of the sleeve, closed.
4. Make the Christmas dress skirt
With fabric folded and the front inside, trace an A-line skirt shape to the width and length you want, adding in a seam allowance. Cut out the skirt along your traced lines.
Use the first skirt piece as a template for a second piece.
With right sides facing, sew the skirt front and back pieces together.
5. Make the Christmas dress waistband
Cut two waistband pieces to the size you need, allowing for a seam allowance. You will not want to add any interfacing to the waistband because you will lose the stretchiness of the fabric.
With right sides facing, sew the two waistband pieces together.
Now all of the Christmas dress pieces have been cut and are ready to assemble.
6. Attach the waistband to the skirt
Using a needle and thread, gather the waist of the skirt by hand so it matches the width of the waistband.
Fold the waistband in half and sew it to the bodice and the skirt pieces. If you need to, stretch the waistband slightly to catch all of the skirt and bodice fabric.
7. Finish the neckline
Measure two lengths of elastic slightly smaller than the width of the front and back bodice necklines. Pin the elastic in place, folding the bodice over it to make a casing. Sew the casings closed, stretching the elastic slightly as you sew to gather the neckline.
8. Attach the sleeves to the bodice
Pin the sleeves to the bodice, with right sides together. Line up the inner sleeve seam with the bodice side seam, and the front and back of the sleeves with the front and back of the bodice.
Sew the sleeves in place, starting at the inside seam and sewing first from the middle to the front, and then from the middle to the back.
Fold under the remaining raw edge of the sleeves to create casings. Sew the casing seams leaving an opening at the inside armhole seam to insert elastic.
Insert elastic into the casing and sew along the edge of the casing to close the opening.
9. Hem the sleeve
Using the same method as you did with the top of the sleeve, create a casing at the bottom of the sleeve and insert and secure the elastic.
10. Hem the dress
Fold the dress hem under once and sew it in place with a topstitch.
DIY Christmas dress tutorial
This DIY tartan Christmas dress is so cute! If you don’t have a party to go to, you might just want to dress up and stay home. Because of the elastic waistline, you could also choose to wear it as an off-the-shoulder dress.
Leave a comment to let me know how your Christmas dress turned out and where you wore it!
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