Patternmaking Guide: Special Occasion Dresses

This guide is about special occasion dresses drafted from the basic bodice pattern. There are two fitted styles; a pencil dress with pleated side panel details, and a halter neck dress with a decorated neckpiece, 

and two looser fit styles: a cape dress that can also be made without the cape, and a mock-up wrap dress with gathers and a flounce detail. You can make it either with or without the flutter sleeves. 

The dresses can be made in any length you prefer.

While making these patterns, you’ll also learn about slits and how to line dresses.

There are several suitable materials for these dresses, varying from crepe de chine and chiffon to silk Mikado and shantung. However, you can also pick simpler and easier-to-work-with fabrics than the ones suggested.

Due to the complexity of some of the dress details, and also the complexity of fitting the dresses, this Patternmaking Guide is classified as "Intermediate" in difficulty. It will be accompanied by the Basic Bodice Block -guide.

Who is this product is for?

For anyone who has already sewn a few garments using commercial patterns and is now interested in learning how to draft their own unique patterns. 

Who isn’t this product for?

Although the pattern making instructions provided are very detailed, complete-beginner sewers may find drafting these patterns quite challenging. Even a small understanding of garment construction will be extremely helpful. Also, these e-guides do not include instructions on how to sew the garments, so this might become a problem.

What is included in the e-guide order?

Each guide comes with the corresponding basic pattern instructions. So, in this case, the  basic bodice guide. This way you’ll be able to draft the basic block that is needed for making the dress patterns, should you not have one yet. The basic pattern guides also include additional patternmaking instructions related to the subject.

Notice, that none of the patternmaking guides include the actual patterns. Instead, there are step-by-step instructions on how you can draft the pattern yourself using your measurements. The instructions consist of pictures and text and are limited to patternmaking only, so there are no sewing instructions. However, there is a Facebook group where I provide support if you need help with this. I've also included some extra resources on a separate PDF that you might find helpful.

You will get two versions of each PDF, metric and imperial; I know how difficult it can be to draft patterns and trying to convert measurements at the same time!

Copyright

The patternmaking guides are for your personal use only, please do not publish or share the files or parts of them anywhere. Also, the garment designs provided are for personal use only, however, if you create your own pattern designs with the help of the instructions, this rule no longer applies to the resulting garments.

Return Policy

Due to the nature of digital goods, and the fact that you receive immediate access to the files, I cannot offer refunds or exchanges on the e-guides. So, please review the product information carefully before purchasing.

However, if there is a fault with the files or you get the incorrect items, do request a replacement.