How To Sew A Princess Seam Dress Pattern. PDF Download.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to sew a princess seam dress pattern for knit fabrics with the cutest ruffle sleeves ever!
This PDF sewing pattern is certainly one of the best sewing patterns for beginners. Especially if you are just starting to venture with knit fabrics.

It is a very comfortable, elegant, and flattering dress that you will love, along with all of its variations that you can use to customize your dress to your own style. Its slim fit accentuates the features of your body. You’ll feel and look amazing!

We will learn everything from selecting your fabrics to choosing the variations of the pattern and, of course, how to make the modifications so you can get this same look. 

Are you ready to make yourself a brand new princess seam dress?

About this Pattern

I am so in love with this new dress I just made!

I spent this last few days working on our cherished Dahlia Dress PDF Sewing Pattern. 

Oh! This pattern is really special to me as it was one of the first ones that we showcased in our PDF sewing pattern shop. 

We recently decided to update it and give it a much-needed love hand so that it can continue to bring joy to our customers. 

We improved the printing options (including projector files!!), added the trim pages, and crafted a new, well-detailed instruction booklet to make it easier for you to sew it from start to finish. 

And I just know you’ll love the new look of this pattern just as much as we do!

To commemorate this update, I embarked on a sewing adventure of my own because I wanted to show you what else you could do with this amazing pattern! 

I chose this wonderful flower print rib knit I found on sale at a local shop, and I put my hands on it.

With every stitch, the fabric transformed into an enchanting princess seam dress that exudes femininity and charm. 

I’m already picturing all the fun times I’ll have wearing this dress – brunch with my friends, walks in the park, and so much more! I can’t wait to wear it and make some great memories.

So, let’s do just that.

Pattern modifications

The only two modifications I made for this pattern were lowering the front neckline a little bit more, around 1-2 inches, and lengthening the skirt about 8 inches.

By the way, we have a great post if you want to learn more about the types of necklines here.

Selecting the Fabrics

The Dahlia Dress Sewing Pattern is made for knit fabrics with at least 50% 4-way stretch. 

This time, we went against our guide about how to choose the best fabrics for dresses and choose this beautiful rib knit fabric. 

I want to be very clear. I do not recommend using rib knit for this PDF sewing pattern. We used it because I fell so in love with it that I couldn’t not do it.

But for this dress, I recommend you use a jersey or a double-brushed knit fabric. You can also read our post about the different types of knit fabrics to get a better understanding of how knit fabrics work.

How to sew a princess seam dress pattern Instructions.

1. Print the Pattern and Cut Your Pieces

Okay, you have two options here. 

You can get our complete version of every-single-variation of our Dahlia Dress Sewing Pattern here for a very affordable price. 

Or, if you are a size Medium-Large and feel confident and want to try making the sleeve and length modifications on your own, you can go ahead and download the free version of this dress here.

Once you get your Dahlia Dress, cut the pattern with the variation of the size of your ruffle sleeve and the longest skirt. 

The longer skirt is knee-length, so if you want it longer, like mine here, add 5 to 8” more to the hem.

2. Sew the Back Panel

Place the center back pieces with the right sides together and sew the back seam. 

Then, open that piece and align the princess seams of the backside pieces to it. First, pin the notches, and then the ends are on the armholes and the waistline. 

Once all the seams are pinned together, serge the princess seams. 

Press the seams flat.

3. Sew the front princess seams

Repeat the steps for the princess seams on the front panel. 

Pin the notches first, then the ends of the armholes and the waistline, and then fit the rest of the seam. 

Serge and press. Help yourself with your pressing tools to press the princess seam curve.

4. Join the front and back panels

Place the front panel over the back panel with the right sides facing together and sew the shoulders and the sides.

5. Form the skirt

Place the front panel of the skirt over the back panel and sew the sides of the skirt.

6. Join the skirt with the bodice

Insert the bodice of the dress inside the skirt to match the waistline seams.

Match the sides first and then the centers of the front and the back. 

Serge the waistline and press the seams down.

7. Join the sleeves

Mark the top and bottom centers of each sleeve on the fabric.

Join the top notch of the sleeve with the shoulder seams and the bottom notch with the side bodice seams. Pin the rest of the armhole and sew it together.

8. Sew the neckline binding

Sew the short ends of the neck binding. 

Then, use your preferred sewing bias tape method to join the neck binding to the neckline of your Dahlia Dress. 

We also have a very specific tutorial on how to sew knit bias binding in our top knit fabric sewing tutorials post if you want to check that one out.

9. Make the hems.

To finish this dress with the cherry on top, we decided to make a lettuce hem on the skirt, and a serger rolled hem for the sleeves. 

And that was it, my friend!! 

I am going to leave you again the link to download our fantastic Dahlia Dress Sewing Pattern. Give it a try, and let me know how it goes in the comments below. 

Happy Sewing!

Get to the pattern page to read the full description: