Sleeveless Princess Seam Full Skirt Dress

Name: Sleeveless Princess Seam Full Skirt Dress
Brand: Minerva Patterns
SKU: 5215
Price: 5.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

Pattern #5215

A long sleeveless women's dress with a fitted princess-seam bodice that dips to a point at the centre front waist, wide shoulder straps and a full gathered skirt. Bodice and skirt are fully lined; a 40 cm concealed zip closes the left side seam. Drafted to your own measurements. Recommended fabric: for the bodice: fancy silk embroidered with beads and sequins, or a printed fabric.

Tech. Description

Sleeveless Princess Seam Full Skirt Dress

When To Wear

Evening parties, proms and celebrations, with a beaded or printed bodice and a satin skirt.
Warm-weather events; add a bolero or shawl over the bare arms when it is cooler.

Key Design Features

Silhouette: Close-fitting bodice shaped by princess seams on the front and back, with a full skirt gathered into the waist seam.

Length: Long, below the calf.

Neckline: Squared front neckline and a V-neck at the back, both faced by the bodice lining and secured with small invisible stitches so the lining does not show.

Sleeves: Sleeveless, with wide shoulder straps; the armholes are finished with the lining.

Front: Middle front and side front pieces joined by princess seams; the waist seam drops to a V at the centre front.

Closure: Concealed zip in the left side seam, sewn in by hand so that the teeth are not visible; the lining is turned under and sewn to the zip tape.

Back: Middle back and side back pieces joined by princess seams.

Skirt: Front and back skirt panels with centre seams, gathered along the upper edge to the length of the bodice edge.

Finishing: Bodice pieces backed with dense, soft interfacing (fused on plain fabric, basted on beaded fabric); waist seam allowance pressed toward the bodice; 1.5 cm turned-up hem.

Lining: Full lining cut from the same bodice and skirt pieces; the lining shoulder edges are turned in and slipstitched edge to edge.

Level Of Difficulty

Intermediate. A lined bodice turned through the shoulders, a V-shaped waist seam, a hand-sewn concealed zip and, with beaded fabric, clearing beads from the seam allowances.

Fabric Recommendations

For the bodice: fancy silk embroidered with beads and sequins, or a printed fabric. For the skirt: dressy, dense silks, satin or sateen. Lining fabric for the whole dress.

Additional Supplies

Lining fabric
Dense, soft interfacing (middle front, side front, middle back, side back)
Concealed zip, 40 cm

Fabric & Materials

Recommended fabrics: fantasy silk fabric embroidered with beads and sequins or printed fabric for the top, elegant, dense silk fabrics, satin or sateen for the skirt. You will need: fantasy silk fabric; silk fabric for the skirt; lining fabric; dense, soft fusible interfacing; a 40 cm long concealed zipper.

Cutter's Must

Attention! First of all, print the paper patterns and lay them out on the fabric width (fabric width can be from 90cm to 150cm) to determine how much material you will need (do not forget to account for paired and symmetrical pieces). From main fabric:

Middle Back – 2 pieces
Side Back – 2 pieces
Side Front – 2 pieces
Middle Front – 2 pieces
Back Skirt – 2 pieces
Front Skirt – 2 pieces

From lining:

Middle Back – 2 pieces
Side Back – 2 pieces
Side Front – 2 pieces
Middle Front – 2 pieces
Back Skirt – 2 pieces
Front Skirt – 2 pieces

From fusible interfacing: Middle Front, Side Front, Middle Back, Side Back. If the fabric has no beads or sequins, fuse the interfacing to the pieces. If it is beaded, baste the interfacing to the wrong side of the pieces and treat them as single-layer pieces from then on.

Sewing Instructions

Recommendations for working with beaded fabrics. The recommended fabric is embroidered with beads and sequins. Before stitching seams, remove beads from seam allowances up to the seam line, and at the seam line, secure them with a couple of stitches to prevent them from coming off. Before stitching seams on a sewing machine, it is advisable to install a special zipper foot so that the foot slides only along the seam allowances where the beads have already been removed. Otherwise, you can sew the seams by hand with small, dense backstitches; in this case, it is not necessary to remove beads from the seam allowances.

Stitch the princess seams on the front and back and the right side seam of the bodice pieces in both the main fabric and the lining.
Place the lining and the bodice right sides together and stitch along the neckline and armhole edges, starting and ending exactly at the shoulder seam lines. Trim the seam allowances close to the stitching and turn right side out. Stitch the shoulder seams of the main bodice. Turn in the shoulder edges of the lining so they meet edge to edge and slipstitch them together. To keep the lining from showing, work small invisible stitches along the neckline and armholes from the right side.
On the Front Skirt and Back Skirt pieces in the main fabric and the lining, stitch the center seams and the side seams, leaving an opening at the top of the left side seam for the zipper. Gather the upper edges of the skirts to the length of the lower edge of the bodice and stitch them to the bodice and the bodice lining respectively. Press the waist seam allowance towards the bodice.
Sew in the zipper by hand so that the teeth are not visible. Turn under the lining and sew it to the zipper tape.
Finish the hem with a 1.5 cm turned-up hem.