Asymmetric Wrap Dress With Ruffles
Asymmetric wrap dress with ruffles is a very practical garment for summer heat, it is an elegant piece which is a lot easier to draft and sew than it may seem at first. The bodice is very easily constructed using a basic blouse pattern, while the skirt has a simple half-circle form with added ruffle. The neckline and wrap sides are also decorated with a ruffle for obtaining a kind of balance of the whole piece which resembles a waterfall with its asymmetry.
Wrap dresses have so many advantages:
- They fit different waist, bust and hip measurements
- You put them on in no time, they are cozy and comfortable
- This model can be easily transformed from an everyday dress that you can wear for work or a walk, to a romantic gown for a night out or a special occasion
- They can be tied at the front, at the back, or at the side
- All in all, if your weight varies like mine, wrap dresses are the ultimate solution for a constantly oscillating waist, hips and bust
Wrap dresses have so many advantages:
- They fit different waist, bust and hip measurements
- You put them on in no time, they are cozy and comfortable
- This model can be easily transformed from an everyday dress that you can wear for work or a walk, to a romantic gown for a night out or a special occasion
- They can be tied at the front, at the back, or at the side
- All in all, if your weight varies like mine, wrap dresses are the ultimate solution for a constantly oscillating waist, hips and bust
level
Intermediate level of sewing skills and beginner level of construction skills. To make this dress you will need intermediate knowledge in sewing and using your home sewing machine. Drafting/tailoring the dress isn’t very complex and it is suitable for beginners with experience.
material
About 3m / 3yd of thin jersey fabric, 1.5yd in width
Machine thread in the matching color
Scissors
Ruler, pencil and a pair of compasses
Tracing paper
Sewing machine
Pins
size
All sizes
The pattern can be adjusted to any size
instructions
Introduction
This tutorial teaches you how to construct a wrap dress with ruffles fitted to your own size. The tutorial does not cover the sewing process in much detail as it is assumed that the sewist is familiar with the assembly process of all dress parts. The pattern shows half of the skirt, half of the back bodice, half of the skirt ruffle, full front bodice, full bodice ruffle and full sleeve. The back bodice and skirt are cut on fold, while the rest of the parts are cut as a whole piece.
The pattern is suitable for any size, and the instructions are a detailed guide for drafting the dress in your size.
Seam Allowances
1.5 – 2 cm / 0.5 – 0-8 in for all seam allowances.
1cm / 0.4in for waistband.
Bodice Construction
The upper part of the dress can be easily constructed with the basic blouse pattern. If you don’t have the basic blouse pattern, you can use one by a Brazilian pattern maker Marlene Mukai, whose patterns I use very often due to their simplicity. On this link you will find drawings for drafting your own basic blouse pattern for sizes 36 to 56, as well as a women’s sizes chart.
Back Panel
For the back piece of the bodice use the basic blouse back pattern and remove the lower part of it below the waist. Keep the dart. See drawings below.
Sleeve
The sleeve alteration concerns only its length and slightly lifted center of the hem.
Shorten the length of the sleeve to your desired length – line AB. Then, at the middle of this line mark dot C. From it measure 7 cm up – dot D.
Cut off/erase the part of the sleeve below line AB.
Freehand draw a curved line whose peak will be in dot D.
Cut off/erase the lower straight AB line.
Front Panel
The front panel is easily constructed with a few changes on the basic blouse pattern like this:
This is the look of the basic blouse pattern. The pattern has 2 darts – the bust dart on the right and the waist dart in the middle. The horizontal dash line is the waistline.
Remove/erase the waist dart but leave the bust dart. Also remove the bottom part of the pattern below the waistline.
Lengthen the new bottom line to the left so that its length is equal to the line DE plus 2 cm/0.8 in. Mark dot A like in the drawing. From dot A measure 2 cm / 0.8 in up and mark dot B.
Draw a straight line from dot C to dot B.
Remove lines AB, AD, the vertical line from dot D, as well as the original curved neckline.
Upper Bodice Ruffle
Constructing the ruffle is also not such a complicated process when you understand its principles. With these simple instructions you’ll be able to construct any kind of ruffle for different purposes, for garments and decorative objects.
First, measure the length of the back neckline (curved line FC) and then multiply this number by 2.
Next, measure the length of line BC on the front panel, also multiply by 2 and add this number to the previously measured back neckline.
The obtained result will be the longer side of a rectangle.
As already mentioned in the previous step, longer sides of the rectangle AB and CD are the total length of the measured neck opening. Short sides AC and BD are 9 cm / 3.5 in long.
Divide the rectangle into 8 equal parts and draw these vertical lines on it.
Cut each vertical line with scissors starting from the bottom line up, but make sure you don’t cut the top line. Spread the panel like shown in the drawing so that the cut sides are 2-3 cm apart.
Lay the spread panel over a new sheet of tracing paper and copy it so that the bottom has one curved line. This is the finished bodice ruffle pattern.
Constructing The Skirt
For drafting the skirt of this dress, I used one of my previous posts for a Half-Circle Wrap Skirt With A Ruffle. Follow the drawing and video below and on tracing paper construct the pattern according to your measurements.
Draw a right angle. Length OA = OG. Calculate this length like this: Waist circumference x 1.4 = W.M. (waist measure). Being a wrap skirt, this garment’s waist must be larger than your actual waist to wrap around your body.
OA (OG) = W.M. x 2 / 6.28
On tracing paper measure this length and mark dots A and G. Using a pair of compasses, from dot O draw 1/4 of a circle from dot A to G.
AB = length from waist to 1/3 of your thigh
GH = from waist to knee
Measure curve AG using your measuring tape and divide it in 3. Mark dots F and D.
Calculate lines EF and CD like this:
EF = GH / 1.2
CD = AB x 1.2
Constructing The Ruffle
Curve HB of the ruffle is identical to curve HB of the skirt. Sides HK and BL are at 90 degrees one to the other. HK = BL = 23cm / 9in.
Draw curve KL so that it’s parallel to curve HB, i.e. make the whole ruffle 23cm / 9in wide.
You have already measured curve HB, so now divide it in 8, and mark all 8 dots. Measure curve KL and divide it in 9, mark all the dots. Connect the dots on curves HB with their corresponding dots of curve KL like shown in the diagram.
Cut the ruffle along its outer edges. Next, cut each of the 8 inner lines starting from curve KL, but make sure not to cut to the end; leave about 2-3mm / 0.1in uncut. Then lay the ruffle on a new sheet of tracing paper, spread the cut pieces 5cm / 2in apart, secure with some masking tape (or selotape) and draw a new ruffle. Curve the bottom edge of the ruffle freehand. Cut the new finished ruffle.
Constructing Tying Ribbons
The waistband with tying ribbons are 4 rectangles 6 x 85 cm / 2.3 x 33.5 in.
Cutting The Fabric
The back bodice and skirt should be cut on fold. Lay the skirt on fold along its GH side. Ruffles, front panels and sleeves are cut on the rest of the material. Lay the skirt ruffle pattern on fabric in any direction and cut it with a back seam. Cut tying ribbons horizontally on fabric
Sewing
IMPORTANT! Use a zigzag stitch for all seams because they tend to break if sewn with a straight stitch on jersey. Sew the dress in the following steps:
- Sew all darts on bodice and assemble the front and back pieces. Press seam allowances.
- Sew in the sleeves, press seam allowances. Use a wider but dense zigzag stitch for the bottom edge of sleeves. Stretch the fabric a bit while stitching to get a wavy hem.
- Pin down the bodice ruffle along the neckline and wrap sides with its right side on the wrong side of the bodice. Stitch down, press seam open and turn the ruffle to the right side. Stitch down narrowly to the seam on right side. Using a wider zigzag, stitch the bottom edge of the ruffle and also stretch the material as you sew to get the same wavy edge.
- Sew the back seam on skirt ruffle and press seam open. Pin down/baste the skirt ruffle face to face onto the bottom edge of the skirt and sew the two pieces together. Press the seam. Check if the waist of the skirt and waist of the bodice match in length. If not, cut excess fabric on one of them to line them up. Using a wider zigzag, stitch the bottom edge of the ruffle and again stretch the material as you sew to get the wavy edge.
- Lay the waist of the bodice to the waist of the skirt face to face and sew them together. Press the seam and then press again down.
- Two and two pieces of tying ribbons lay on top of each other with wrong sides facing and stitch around all edges using a wider zigzag stitch. Again, stretch the material as you sew, but only on long sides. Pin down the ribbons onto the waist sides of the dress and stitch down.
- If your fabric is transparent sew a simple straps dress to wear beneath.
