How to Make a DIY Wrap Dress With a Cute Ruffle

Tools and materials:

• Satin fabric
• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Sewing pins
• Sewing needle and thread
• Sewing machine with zigzag foot

1. Take your DIY wrap dress measurements

Use a measuring tape to get a measurement from the outside of one shoulder, across and under the opposite arm, across your back, and back up and across to the top of your other shoulder.

For reference, mine was 125 centimeters (49.2 inches).

2. Cut your fabric

Cut a single-layer satin fabric to 60 centimeters (23.6 inches) wide and 125 centimeters (49.2 inches) long – or whatever your above measurement was.

On one corner of the fabric, mark 20 centimeters ( 7.8 inches) in from the corner on both sides and draw a curve to connect those marks.

Cut off that corner on your line.

3. Sew the wrap dress

On the short edge opposite to your curved corner and the long edge above your curved corner, double fold the edges in and pin them in place. 

Then sew those edges on the wrong side of the fabric.

4. Make a ruffle

Cut a 300 x 14-centimeter (118.1 x 5.5 inch) strip of fabric. 

Mark 45 centimeters from one end of the fabric and draw a curved line from that mark at the bottom of the strip to the nearest top corner of the strip. Then cut out that corner.

Lay the strip around the edge of the main piece of fabric, on the two sides that are not yet sewn. Gather up the fabric of the strip so that it fits around the two sides without excess fabric.

Then, hand-stitch a gathering row to secure the gathers.

With right sides together, pin the gathered ruffle to the two unsewn edges of the dress. Sew the ruffle in place on the wrong side of the dress using a zigzag stitch.

Fold up the hem of the ruffle twice and sew the hem.

5. Make shoulder straps

Hold one upper corner of the top of the dress at the top of one shoulder and wrap the dress around your back.

Now bring the opposite corner up to your other shoulder. Going back to your first shoulder, mark the straight side 13.5 (5.3 inches) centimeters from the top.

Take the measurement from the top of the shoulder, down your back, and under your arm to the mark on the side of the dress. My measurement was 34 centimeters (13.3 inches).

Cut two strips of fabric the length of the measurement you just took and 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) wide.

With right sides in, fold and pin each strap in half lengthwise. Then sew them along the open long edge. Turn the straps right side out.

Cut two pieces of thin sewing elastic to fit, with a bit of stretching, from the top of your shoulder around and under your arm. For my wrap dress I needed each piece of elastic to be 27.5 centimeters (10.8 inches) long.

Use a long hook to pull one elastic through a fabric shoulder strap, pinning it at both ends to keep it in place. Then hand stitch the elastic in place at both ends of the strap.

With your wrap dress lying flat, right side down, mark 13.5 centimeters (5.3 inches) from the top on the inside of the side ruffle edge.

Pin one end of a strap at the top of the ruffled edge, right on the ruffle seam. Pin the other end of the strap at the mark you just made, on the ruffle seam. Sew the strap in place at both ends.

Repeat at the opposite top corner of the dress, pinning and sewing the strap on the seam allowance.

For both straps, fold the strap up over the strap end you just sewed, and sew it down again. This makes the stitching nice and clean and the seam extra secure.

6. How to wear your DIY wrap dress

Slip the strap on the unruffled side of the dress over your shoulder.

Wrap the dress around your back and slip the strap on the ruffled side of the dress over your other shoulder.

Adjust the sides and neckline as you like them, and you’re all done! 

DIY wrap dress tutorial

That was easy! Did you notice the gorgeous, scooped back on this summer wrap dress? Please leave a comment to let me know if you tried making this DIY wrap dress and how you liked it.