Maxi Dress with Shoulder Bows and Front Slit

Name: Maxi Dress with Shoulder Bows and Front Slit
Brand: Minerva Patterns
SKU: 5133
Price: 5.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

Pattern #5133

A sleeveless women's dress cut on the bias, with centre front and centre back seams, a front slit from the centre front seam and ties knotted into bows on the shoulder straps. Neckline and armholes are finished with bias binding. Drafted to your own measurements. Recommended fabric: light dress fabrics, such as linen blends.

Tech. Description

Maxi Dress with Shoulder Bows and Front Slit

When To Wear

In hot weather, on holiday or at a summer party.
With flat sandals for the day, or with heeled sandals for the evening.

Key Design Features

Silhouette: Fitted through the bust and waist, widening into an A-line skirt; no waist seam. Front and back are cut on the bias.

Length: Long; the dress is left to hang for a day before the hemline is redrawn.

Neckline: Wide round neckline at front and back, bound with a bias strip turned to the inside and topstitched from the right side.

Sleeves: Sleeveless, with bias-bound armholes. Two ties are sewn on each shoulder strap and knotted into a bow.

Front: Two front pieces joined by a centre front seam, with bust darts pressed upward.

Back: Two back pieces joined by a centre back seam.

Skirt: The centre front seam stops at the slit mark; below it the seam opens into a slit.

Finishing: Slit edges and hem topstitched 1.5 cm from the edge in one continuous line; ties cut with rounded ends.

Level Of Difficulty

Intermediate. Handling bias-cut fabric, levelling the hem after the dress has hung, bias-binding the neckline and armholes, and a neat corner where the slit meets the hem.

Fabric Recommendations

Light dress fabrics, such as linen blends.

Additional Supplies

No notions are listed: the bias strips for the neckline and armholes and the shoulder ties are cut from the main fabric.

Cutter's Must

From main fabric (front and back cut on the bias):
Back – 2 pieces
Front – 2 pieces
Front Neckline Facing and Back Neckline Facing (bias strips for the neckline; total length 102 cm, width 3.5 cm including seam allowances)
Armhole Facing (bias strip) – 2 pieces (56 cm long each, 3.5 cm wide including seam allowances)
Shoulder Tie – 4 pieces (33 cm long each, 4.5 cm wide)

Sewing Instructions

The front and back are cut on the bias. Before hemming the dress, allow it to hang for a day, then redraw the hemline.
Stitch darts on the front pieces, press up.
Above the slit notch, stitch the front center seam and back center seam. Press seam allowances open.
Stitch shoulder seams. Press seam allowances open.
Fold bias binding in half wrong sides together, press long edges inwards so they meet in the middle of the strips.
Baste the bias strips right sides together along the seam line of the neckline and armholes, then join the ends of each strip into a ring. Turn bias binding to the wrong side of the dress, baste. Topstitch the strips from the right side into the seam.
Stitch side seams, hand-sew seam allowances to the strips.
Press the seam allowances of the slit and the dress hem to the wrong side and baste first the hem seam allowances, then the seam allowances along the slit on the front. Topstitch the edges of the slit and the bottom edge from the right side at a distance of 1.5 cm. The topstitch line on the bottom edge ends exactly at the edges of the slit.
Stitch ties right sides together, rounding the ends and leaving an opening of about 5 cm in the seam for turning. Trim seam allowances. Turn ties right side out, press edges. Hand-sew the opening in the seam. Tie the Shoulder Ties in knots on the straps.