Red carpet allure and glamorous aesthetic: The Dreamline Baby Doll Dress free sewing pattern is a captivating homage to the ethereal beauty of Met Gala fashion!
Crafted from an opulent organza brocade and lined with a lush Bemberg twill, this Helen Castillo x Mood Fabrics collaboration naturally reinvents the classic baby doll silhouette with contemporary finesse.
Between the luxurious fabrics, charming details, and celebrity-inspired style, this baby doll dress is perfect for those looking to make a statement at special events and gatherings.
Whether you’re drawn to its whimsical charm or its potential for red carpet glamour, the Dreamline Baby Doll Dress promises to inspire creativity and captivate the imagination!
Purchase Products Used Below:
- 4 yards of Luminous Silver Double-Layer Organza Brocade
- 3 yards of Lustro Marshmallow Twill Bemberg Lining
- 1.5 yards of Ardea Candy Pink Satin-Faced Polyester Organza
- 1 yard of Off-White Weft Fusible Interfacing
- 1 each of 501 White 24″ Invisible Zipper
- MDF376 – The Dreamline Baby Doll Dress Sewing Pattern (Free download below!)
Alternative Recommended Fabrics:
Incorporating a touch of haute couture to your wardrobe has never been easier, thanks to the wide variety of Free Sewing Patterns that Mood has to offer!
Download your Dreamline Baby Doll Dress Free Sewing Pattern now:
a Helen Castillo x Mood Fabrics Collaboration
How to Sew The Dreamline Baby Doll Dress Free Sewing Pattern
Step 1
Start by laying your lining front and frontside pieces with right sides facing up, align along the notches of their seam and join with a ½” seam allowance.
Step 2
Front and back self-fabric pieces should be fused with interfacing to create better fit and stability. Notice my pins for notch placement, first from the left is ‘center front’ then the following 3 are my gathering start and finish locations.
Step 3
Next join the front to back at the side seams and press open, this step is the same for your self-fabric sewn pieces. The only difference for the front bodice on the lining and the self, is that the lining has a seam and does not require any gathering along the bottom edge. The self-fabric bodice has three notches to place a running stitch between along the hem edge. See photos in self-fabric sewing section of this blog in the next few steps.
Optional: cut your lining bodice front and front side pieces in your self fabric if you do not want to utilize the gathering effect. This will allow you to have a princess seam instead and less texture on the bodice.
Step 4
Attach your shoulder seams together of your lining set/repeat for self pieces and press open.
Your finished bodice lining should look like this:
Set aside your lining bodice to begin the bow tie closure and the self-fabric bodice pieces. This is a good time to consider fit adjustments if necessary, you can use the lining as a fit guide and any changes you make to this bodice, will be exact adjustments on to the self-fabric bodice.
Step 5
Creating the extra long bow ties, with right sides facing, fold lengthwise to create one side of the ribbon that will be sewn and closed. Be sure to reinforce your corners when pivoting at the opposite end of this piece. Clip the seam allowance down to about ¼” and flip right side out, trim, and press flat.
This will join to center back after you bring the self bodice and lining bodices together after the following prep steps for the self bodice.
Step 6
Preparing the self-fabric bodice pieces, be sure to place your running stitch between all three notches indicated on the pattern, in the photos below I add the running stitch between the last two by hand so I can have more control with easing that area when joining the self and lining bodice pieces with a stay stitch later in the steps.
For the self bodice, repeat previous steps, the front bodice piece with the gathering/running stitch along the lower edge allows for a more playful/textured appearance. Use a running stitch between the indicated notches and gently pull to gather that edge, it will align to the hem edge of the bodice lining pieces you have sewn.
Step 7
With ribbon seam facing down, pin the raw edge in place along center back and add a running stitch ¼” from edge, making sure the ribbon is ½” below top edge and ½” above hem edge.
Step 8
Joining the self and lining bodices together along the neckline, pin and align each of your seams as a ‘notch’ then pin all the length in between, sew with a ½” seam allowance without joining both bodice pieces to each other, your center front notch will be where we align the bodices later.
This is also a good opportunity to make any fit adjustments. The back closure of this style bodice has an extra long bow you will cut and sew in the following steps. You could consider adding grommets or lacing up as a closure, or if you add extra seam allowance it can become one continuous center back zipper.
Step 9
After attaching the bodices to one another along the neckline, clip any area of the seam allowance that has curve, follow with an understitch and flip right sides out. The armhole can have a running stitch to join wrong sides together, or use bias tape with ½” seam allowance.
The sleeve ruffles will be added later with ½” seam allowance along the armhole – you determine the fullness and length of the sleeve ruffle when attaching.
See understitch tutorial, with both seam allowances toward the lining, stitch between 1/16” and ⅛” from the original stitch line toward the raw edge of the seam allowance:
Proceed to attaching the bow tie at center back, optional: use loops and lace up as a back closure if you op-out of the large bow tie.
Step 10
Sandwich the raw edges of the bow tie between the self and lining under your seam stitch of the neckline, with the seam facing toward the bottom edge of the bodice, pin in place, and sew with ½” seam allowance, leave the bottom ½” unsewn to attach skirt in the following steps.
Step 11
Sleeve ruffles: with right sides facing press either sleeve ruffle along the fold line lengthwise, sew ½” seam allowance at either short end. Add a running stitch along the raw edge length wise and gather the sleeve ruffles to your desired width, i gathered the sample sleeves to roughly 7-½” wide.
Step 12
Preparing the skirt: with the front skirt and back skirt, lay right sides facing. I like to pin center back so I do not mix up my skirt panels or flip them wrong sides together by accident when sewing. At center front clip a notch at top and bottom of the fold, this will help when aligning self to lining skirt.
Step 13
With right sides of the front and back skirt, sew ½” seam allowance closed and press the seam open, repeat for the lining.
Optional – include pockets:
Pockets must be attached to the self fabric skirt before sewing the side seams of the front and back together. (See inserting side seam pocket tutorial here.)
Step 14
There are a few different approaches to adding pockets to side seams, this can even be done to garments after you have closed a side seam. When lining this dress, the pocket bag will be hidden between the self and lining of the dress, consider an understitch on your pockets at side seams, that way they will lay flat into the dress.
Step 15
Close up the side seams of the lining.
Step 16
Once the pockets are completed on your self skirt, put a running stitch along the top edge of the self skirt and lining skirt individually, these will be gathered to fit the width of the bottom edge of the bodice, align side seams of skirt and bodice as if they were notches – now is when you will utilize your ‘cut on fold’ notch to align center front of bodice to center front of skirt!
Step 17
Pin the bottom edge of your self and lining bodice together, apply a running stitch by machine ¼” from the raw edge – this will keep the raw edges of both layers together and it will also reinforce your bodice stability when attaching the skirt. With bodice right side facing self skirt, pin and join with ½” seam allowance. The lining will cover all of these raw edge in the following steps.
Step 18
Before joining the lining skirt to the bottom edge of the bodice, right sides together, open about 8-10” of your side seam, this is where we will turn the entire dress right side out from, allowing for a fully clean finished garment!
Step 19
From the right side your bodice should look like this, when you lift the bodice it will be clean finished and fully lined as a ‘dress’ until we joining the hems, with right sides together gather the bottom hem of the self skirt and lining skirt with a running stitch, then attach ½” seam allowance, the opening at the lining side seam will be where we turn the dress right side out.
When both skirts are attached to each other it will look similar to this, with your side seam opening as the exit to turn the garment right side out.
- This is a common method for turning out fully lined garments. You will often see the seam is closed from the right side, using a hand-sewn ladder stitch or a machine topstitch to close the seam. In this sample I opted for a topstitch once the dress was turned right side out.
Pro tip:
Attach your zipper BEFORE turning the dress right side out, close the remainder of the center back seam, and then turn out the dress.
The zipper clean finished between lining and self layers once dress it turned out.
Thank you for joining us on this high-fashion adventure as we put together The Dreamline Baby Doll free sewing pattern! Pay attention to the dress’s details, such as finishing the hem neatly and ensuring all edges are well-pressed to elevate the overall look of the garment. Take accurate body measurements and compare them to the pattern’s size chart to select the appropriate size. Consider making a muslin mock-up of the dress to check the fit before cutting into your final fabric.
Regardless if you opt to sew it out of one of our dazzling brocades or select another one of our stunning fashion fabrics, the Dreamline Baby Doll free sewing pattern is a silhouette that is sure to turns heads while allowing you to stand out in any crowd! Create a stunning, bright dress using a light color palette or go for a more mature and elegant look by using darker tones. Feel free to share your results as we love to see each and every creative project that you guys come up with! #MoodDreamlinePattern #MadeWithMood
This dress looks soo good
I can’t wait to try it out
This doesn’t work for anyone larger than a C cup. Cute dress, just not workable if you’re a 34F 🙁
Thnx
Psyched to give this a go.
We are excited for you too! Happy sewing 🙂