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Free Baby Dress Pattern: The Rose

Baby girl clothes are so much fun.  I have 2 boys so whenever I get the chance to get girly stuff for friend’s babies I take it!  With another little princess on the way I wanted to attempt to make a dress and I came up with this free baby dress pattern that I’m sharing with you all.  The Rose Dress pattern is designed to fit size 0-3 month.

free baby dress pattern

So let me just begin this tutorial by saying that I am not a pattern designer and this is my first pattern outside of my baby bib pattern that I have designed.  So please bear that in mind.

But I did want to share this project and all the details with you all in case you’d like to make a similar dress.
So here’s what you’ll need:

  • fabric- I used woven cotton fabric and lined the dress.  I used 3 different fabrics (top, bottom, and lining of bottom)  All in all you will need less than 1 yard (probably closer to 3/4 yard).  The amount needed of each will depend upon the number of fabrics you use.  I would print out the pattern pieces, cut them out, and then plan out according to which fabrics you want to use.
  • thread
  • buttons or snaps for closure at the shoulders
  • The Rose Free Baby Dress Pattern [Page 1 & Page 2]

Free Baby Dress Pattern Tutorial

  1. Wash, day, and iron your fabrics.
  2. Lay out your free baby dress pattern pieces and cut.  I like to do this using a rotary cutter and mat.  Notice that the top part of the dress and the bottom part of the dress both say “fold” on one edge.  Fold your fabric over (wrong side to wrong side) and position it so that the side marked fold is sitting on the fold.

free baby dress pattern printed out and laid on top of the fabric

So for the dress you will need: 4 pockets, 4 bodices, and 4 skirts

the pieces of the dress cut out of the fabrics

3. Iron all of the pieces that you had to fold over so that you don’t have a crease in the middle.

4. Now take a bodice and pin it to the top of one of the skirts with the right sides facing each other.  Do this for all 4 pairs of bodices and skirts.  Sew a hem along the edge with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

top and bottom pieces of the dress sewn together

5. Press the seams open with your iron.

the seam pressed

6. Take 2 of the pocket pieces and pin them together.  Then sew around the edges with 1/4 inch seam allowance but leave a hole of about 3 inches open so that you can turn the pocket right side out.  Next turn the pocket right side out and iron it flat.

Repeat this process for the other pair of pocket pieces.

making the pocket the two pockets
7. Place the pockets where you want them on the dress. Then top stitch around the edges of the pockets, but don’t stitch across the tops.  Clearly this isn’t going to be a functional pocket so really you could sew it closed if you really wanted to but I did not.

the pockets laid on the front of the dress the pockets sewn on

8. Now take the dress pieces and lay the two outside pieces together with the right sides facing each other. Pin and sew on the right side, leaving a 1/4 inch seam from the edge.

lines showing where to sew

9. Do the same with the lining pieces except pin and sew on the LEFT side of the lining.lines on the left side

10. Take the pins out, open them up and press the seams down.

pressed seam

11. Lay your lining piece and outside piece down together with the right sides facing each other.  Pin and sew along the bottom hem of the dress and along the neckline and arm holes of the bodice.  But leave the sides open and unsewn.

rose dress lines showing what has and has not been sewn

12. Clip the corners of the bodice straps.  This will help you to be able to make the corners nice and square once you turn it right side out.

corners clipped

13. Using the opening on the sides turn the dress right side out.  To help make the corners nice and square I typically use a closed pen to help.  Then iron it.

lining up the sides first side sewn together

14. Fold the dress over so that the lining is on the inside and the outside is on the outside.

lining the sides up

15. Pin two lining pieces together with the right sides facing each other.

16. Sew along the edge of the lining leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance but leave an opening in the middle.

the open side of the dress

17. Turn the dress inside out so that you can pin the outside fabric together along the unsewn edge with the right sides facing each other.  Sew along the edge leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance just like you did for the lining but with no hole this time.

the seam sewn

18. Turn the dress right side out through the hole in the lining.  Then sew the hole closed.  If you want to make the dress reversible you could hand stitch this closed using a blind stitch.  I just sewed it closed by machine because I didn’t intend it to be reversible.

the hole in the side the hole sewn shut

19. Turn it right side out and then iron it.

dress turned right side out

20. Attach buttons or snaps to the shoulder straps of the dress.  I placed my buttons one inch in from the top of the front strap but I positioned my button holes 1/2 inch from the edge of the back strap.  [The dots on the pattern printable are not at this measurement… I changed my mind after I printed it out.  Feel free to put your buttons or snaps wherever you prefer] Please note: As this is a garment for an infant be sure to secure your snaps or buttons securely as they could be a choking hazard.  Always supervise an infant when wearing a garment with buttons.

adding the buttons to the strap buttons sew on

And that’s it!  Let me know if you have any questions.  And if you make the dress… I’d love to hear about what you thought of my free baby dress pattern!

rose dress free baby dress pattern


Maria

Sunday 17th of April 2016

This is adorable! I have two boys but would love to make as a gift. Thanks for sharing!

Cat

Sunday 17th of April 2016

Thanks! I have two boys as well so I love making the girl gifts for friends and family :)

Debra Byrd

Saturday 16th of April 2016

This dress is adorable. I cannot get it to print. It printed one end of the pocket and the top of the shoulder.

Cat

Saturday 16th of April 2016

Thank you! I am sorry that you're having difficulty. Have you checked your printer settings when you try to print? Make sure that you have it set to print in portrait and not landscape setting. Also check the print scale and check that you have it set to print to the standard paper size (8.5 X 11). Try to check on these settings and then hit print preview to make sure that it is set up properly.

Marilou

Monday 4th of April 2016

This is such a cute dress! Is there anyway to enlarge the pattern to size 9-12 months?

Cat

Monday 4th of April 2016

I'm a little bit out of the world of babies but maybe I could make a 9-12 months size pattern some time in the future. I'd have to pull some of the old baby clothes out to try to size it appropriately. I'll see if I can get that done sometime soon. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hilary

Sunday 3rd of April 2016

Hi There, I opened both pages for the pattern. The skirt and pocket on page 2 downloaded but I can't seem to get page 1. It gives me a google account vitrification. How do i download the first page now?

Cat

Monday 4th of April 2016

Hilary, I'm sorry that you are unable to download page 1 but I'm not sure why that would be. I have both pages set up the same way and I set them so that anyone can download them. I even logged out of the google account where I have them and logged into a different account to check and I was able to download both. Other readers have been downloading both pages as well so I'm not sure what is going on. I will email you page 1 to make sure that you can get it. Sorry for any inconvenience. I will keep looking into things to make sure they are working properly.

Carole

Saturday 2nd of April 2016

I printed out the rose dress pattern and it printed slightly smaller than what was on my screen. Is this normal??? It is a darling pattern and just right for a great grand daughter due to arrive in June. I traced what I printed out to the size that was on my screen so I hope it fits. The bottom part needed to go about 1/4 " wider angled to almost 1/2 " up to the waist. However the top part didn't need to go wider (just longer) so I have an adjustment to make here. What are your thoughts?

Cat

Saturday 2nd of April 2016

Carole, hopefully you got my response to your first comment. Just in case you didn't I'm going to repeat it here: "Carole, on both pages of the pattern there is a square that says “1 in” on the inside. Please be sure to measure the square on each page so that what you printed out is the correct size. If it is not 1 inch then check your printer settings as they may need to be adjusted. Hope this helps!"

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Mary Martha Mama