Just because we’re stuck inside doesn’t mean I’m not dreaming about my summer wardrobe. With high hopes that life gets (relatively) back to normal within a month or two, I’m looking forward to the sun! The Poppy Dress is my new warm weather fave. With a deep plunge neckline and voluminous puff sleeves, this dress can be worn on its own with your favorite sandals or even thrown over a swimsuit for the perfect beach look. Make yours in a sateen like ours, or try a lace option for more of a cover-up vibe!
Purchase Materials Used Below:
- 4 yards Mood Exclusive Might of Serenity Yellow Stretch Cotton Sateen
- 2 pkgs Dritz Cover Buttons – 7/8″
-
MDF195 – The Poppy Dress Sewing Pattern (free download below!)
Alternative Recommended Fabrics:
All seam allowances are 1/2″ unless otherwise stated. See chart below for sizing specifications. Note, this specific pattern is available up to a size 30.
First, hem the neckline on the back of your dress with a simple rolled hem.
Next, fold the center front edge of your dress bodice 1/2″ toward the wrong side and press. Fold it under again, following the guide on your pattern, to create the front placket and stitch into place.
Attach your front and back bodice pieces at the shoulders and sides using French seams.
Create your button placket along the center front edges of your skirt panels similarly to how you formed the bodice and then attach your front and back skirt pieces at the sides. Again, French seams are recommended here.
Create your waistband and waistband lining by attach the front pieces to the back at the sides, this time using regular seams. Press your seams open.
Create your waist tie, leaving an opening at the top edge between the guides indicated on your pattern. This portion will be sewn into your back bodice at the waistband next. Notch the seam allowance and press outward, like you see below.
Evenly gather your skirt into your waistband, making sure to keep the button plackets flat and leave 1/2″ of waistband on either side for seam allowance.
Gather the back portion of your bodice into the waist tie and then pin your bodice about 1″ inward from the edges of of the waistband so they don’t overlap like the skirt plackets. Then gather your bodice into the waistband as well. Placing the face to the wrong side of the bodice, sew the waistband lining along the bodice edge as well. Press downward, and then slip-stitch the lower edge of the waistband lining into place.
Next, you’ll want to form your sleeves. Sew the inseam of each sleeve and sleeve lining and press the seams open.
There are a few ways you can create the sleeve. The first option is to gather the sleeve onto the sleeve lining before setting into the armscye. If you go this route, you may want to bind the raw seam edge with bias tape or something similar.
Another option, as seen below, is to gather the sleeve into the armscye first and stitch it into place before adding the sleeve lining. This takes a bit of finagling, but the result keeps the raw edges inside the sleeve lining, keeping the inside of your garment as clean as the outside!
Gather the lower edge of your sleeve onto the lower edge of the sleeve lining and stay-stitch into place. Create your sleeve cuffs and then sew them onto each sleeve at the bottom. Because the sleeve is much longer than the lining, it creates an interesting puff shape, as you can see below!
Lastly, add your buttons and corresponding buttonholes along the skirt placket and hem the bottom edge of your skirt.
Will you be giving the Poppy Dress a try? Let me know what fabric types you’re considering in the comments!
63 comments
This is lovely. Has mood considered releasing A0 files as well for projector sewist? It would be a big help to someone like me who has to go to a print shop to print the files.
Hi
Ask printing company if they will stitch the A4 sheets for you. Most of printing companies is offering it.
I have found company that will stitch A4s at a competitive rate now, but most want two or three times the cost of normal printing to compensate for their work. . I paid £24 to get an a4 pattern printed on ao last year. Also this is no help for people who use projectors.
Hi! I have been in love with this patten since you released it! Thank you so much!
I was wondering if you had tips on how to go about attaching the waist band? I have been stuck on it for a few days now and can’t seem to understand how to do it based on the two pictures! Thank you again!!
Hi Ciera! Apologies, it’s a bit tricky and hard to show in pictures. If it’s easier you can gather the skirt and bodice into a single layer of the waistband and then sew the lining onto the inside separately. At least one edge of the waistband lining will need to be slip-stitched on, or you can use the stitch-in-the-ditch method. I hope this helps!!
I’ll have to give that a try! Thank you so much for responding!
This dress is soon beautufil!!!! Can’t wait to get it printed and try making it!!!!!
Hi Courtney,
I LOVE LOVE this pattern, and I too have completely struggled with this part of putting it together. I understand this way of attaching the skirt to the bodice, but then what do you do with the waist tie?? do you sew it on top? do you have a video tutorial?
AGAIN amazing pattern and cant waiittt to try your shirt dress new pattern!
Hi Alanah! The waist tie should be sewn into the waistband seam as you attach it to the bodice. 🙂
Hello,
I m really in trouble to attach the bodice and the skirt, the bodice length is 30cm longer than my skirt.
Do there are gathers or pliers to do?
Thanks for help
Hi there! As mentioned in the instructions, the bodice should be gathered into the waistband. 🙂
Hello! I might be missing it, but is there a chart that advises how many yards to buy depending on the width of fabric? I am having a hard time figuring out how many yards of 45″ fabric I would need for a size 8.
Hi Janie! You’d need 4 yards for a size 8. 🙂
Thank you! Much appreciated 🙂
Amazing Pattern. can’t wait to start sewing !
just a question. If I have different size to different parts. for example for neck I am 7
bust 12
waist 16
hip 14
what do I do ?
Do I use use each one with the size or average ?
thank you
Hi Kim! I would cut a size 16 and take it in where necessary. 🙂
Hi! Can I use a cotton fabric for this pattern? thank you!
Hi Ella! We used a cotton fabric for this pattern. 🙂
Hello!
Just wondering if i can use a cotton woven for this pattern?
Hi Claudia! Yes, we used a cotton with a bit of stretch for this pattern, but stretch isn’t actually required. 🙂
I love what you’re doing. I want to make custom clothes for myself and you’re providing exactly what I need. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!♡♡♡
How did you do the rolled hem on the neckline? I can’t seem to roll the edge down without it warping. Did you have to cut some slits?
Hi Agatha! Since my fabric had a bit of stretch to it, I didn’t need to add slits, but you certainly can! Another option is to sew bias tape to the face, fold it under and top-stitch it for a clean edge. 🙂
Thank you! I’ll work on it over this weekend and fingers crossed!!
Would there be a way to make this but without buttons going down the front, so that the skirt is solid?
Hi Ab! Yeah, I think that’d look lovely! I’d add an inch to the center front edge of the front skirt and then cut that on the fold – you’ll need to add some sort of closure somewhere though in order to get it over your hips, so I’d suggest an invisible zip at one of the sides. Hope this helps! 🙂
Hi! Just want to confirm that when printing actual size, there’s about a half inch border around the dotted border?
Hi April! There should be a border along the bottom and right edges for overlapping your pages when taping.
Hello, what is the seam allowance on these patterns?
Hi Laura! A 1/2″ seam allowance is included in our patterns. 🙂
Hi,
I can’t find the sizing chart anywhere on this page. I was wondering where I would be able to find this information out?
thanks
Hi Greta! The size chart is above, just under the pattern download box. 🙂
Hey. I want to use this pattern to make my birthday dress but want to make it a patchwork dress. Do you think that’ll be possible here. My gameplan was to make this entire dress from a white cotton bedsheet and then just see patches into place
Hi Urmi – that sounds gorgeous! And I think that would work well. 🙂
Hey. Do I need to print the PDF pattern on Letter size paper or A4 size paper?
Our patterns are sized for US Letter paper. 🙂
Is there an AO print version available? Love this!
Hi Erin! Unfortunately our free patterns are currently available only in US Letter size.
Hi there! For a size 4 would I need the whole 4 yards of fabric or could I get away with less?
Hi Clare! Yes, 4 yards is recommended for sizes 0-14.:)
I love this pattern! Last time I’ve ever sown anything was as a child at school over 20 years ago. I hated it then, but I
ve long had a dream to make my own clothing. So this is the first pattern I’ve ever used and my first ever piece of clothing. I’m now at the shoulders and it’s my fourth day of working on it. It’s been so much fun and the results are becoming way better than expected! I’m using an old cotton bedsheet since this is a way of practice for me. Thank you so much! Can’t wait to find more amazing patterns on this website. <3 What an amazing ride.
Hi! I’m running out of fabric. Could I do the lining of the sleeve in a different fabric since you technically won’t be seeing it? Thanks!
Hi, Caroline – yes, you can! 🙂
Hi I’m looking for a more formal look. Could I use a Stretch Silk Charmeuse for this pattern? Mood has the most fabulous colors of silk! Thanks!
Hi, Megan – that would look gorgeous! The sleeve may have a tad less volume, but I think it would still be stunning. 🙂
Hi, Thanks so much for this pattern. Do you by any chance know what 1,2″ is in cm? 🙂
A 1/2″ is about 1.27 cm. 🙂
Hi there,
Is there a way to close up the deep v-neck some? I love the dress but I personally need it a bit more modest.
Hi, Patrycia! I’ve seen some people add some button loop trim along one side of the V and some cute buttons on the other to keep it closed a bit. 🙂
hi! i was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on the waistband/waist tie area’s construction? i’m pretty confused as to how the bodice and skirt attach. also, how wide should the button placket be? thank you!!
Hi, Melanie! We’re actually hosting a Sew-Along for this pattern on our IGTV page all month long and will definitely be going over the waistband/tie in detail since it can be a bit tricky – so we should have a video available soon! 🙂
This is so beautiful! i happen to have 4 yards of Donna Karan silk charmeuse/georgette- what do you think about using this fabric, and if so, what would you recommend lining with? Thanks!
Hi, Gillian! That’d be absolutely stunning. Since charmeuse/georgette is super drapey, you may want to consider lining the sleeve with something with more volume like an organza!
You may want to make a sleeve head out of the organza and sandwich it between the shoulder seam and a softer lining. You will find it will support the weight of the silk you’ve chosen
Good afternoon Courtney! The dress is gorgeous and I have a lot of Ankara that has this written all over it. I received the link for the dress, however, I cannot open to see that actual pattern files and I’ve tried several formats. Is there another link for this?
Hi, Stephanie! We actually just updated our download system. Would you mind putting the info into the new download box above and trying again? Hopefully you’ll be able to download it without issue then. 🙂
How many yards of fabric do I need if I’m using a 58″ wide fabric?
Hi, Rose! The yardage suggestions are listed in the ‘Shop this Look’ widget. 🙂
The sew along on Instagram has a neck facing but the PDF pattern doesn’t have this, is there an updated version of the download file?
Hi, Andrea! No – Shavonne just mentioned how you could draft one on top of your original pattern in the Sew-Along if you’d like to add one. 🙂
I just made this in a printed rayon viscose, but changed the sleeves to kimono short sleeves and shortened the skirt to midi length. It’s so beautiful, just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration and the fabulous patterns, as always!! <3 Stay safe!
Hi! Was just wondering what sizes are printed on the downloadable pattern? There are about 17 sizes on the size chart (2-30) but in the pattern, there are only 8 lines to follow? How do I know which is which? Thank you!
Hi, Bea! There’s a guide on each pattern piece showing which sizes coincide with each line. 🙂