Wrap Dress Pattern Maker

A wrap dress here is a boxy, roomy bodice joined to a wrap skirt and drawn in at the waist with side ties. Enter your chest and hip measurements and the length, or start from a size, and the bodice, sleeves and skirt are drawn with generous ease.

Choose a round, V or boat neckline, the sleeve length, how much the skirt flares and overlaps, elastic in the waist seam if you want it, and pockets.

Make it yours: Lengthen or shorten the bodice and the skirt at their marked lines, widen or narrow at the side seams, change the neckline, sleeve length and wrap overlap, adjust the tie length and the waist elastic, and add pockets. Check every seam you change still matches the one it joins.

What you can change

Size

• Chest / bust: 70–160 cm (27½–63″). Around the fullest part of the chest, tape level. Your body measurement; the pattern adds the ease.
• Dress length: 70–150 cm (27½–59″). From the top of the shoulder, beside the neck, down the front to where the hem should fall.

Sizes are typed in centimetres, millimetres or inches. The starting size is Chest / bust 96 cm (37¾″), Dress length 105 cm (41⅜″).

Options

• Neckline: round, V or boat
• Neck finish: bias binding or bias facing
• Sleeves: none, cap, short, elbow or long
• Pockets: none, in the side seams or patch
• Corners: square, rounded or angled
• Shoulders: shoulder seams or cut in one
• Switches: Elastic in the waist seam, Flap
• Measurements and counts: Ease at the chest · Shoulder to waist seam · Neckline width · Front neck depth · Sleeve length · Armhole, all round · Sleeve hem, all round · Hip · Hem flare · Wrap overlap · Tie ends · How many · Hand width · Pocket width · Pocket depth · Pocket position

Starting points

These are sizes and settings to begin from, and every one stays fully editable. Type your own measurements, or start from the nearest one.

Cutting list

At the starting size (Chest / bust 96 cm (37¾″), Dress length 105 cm (41⅜″)) the pattern has these pieces. Fabric sizes include seam allowance, interfacing is cut to the stitching line, and pieces cut on the fold are shown opened out. Each size is the width and height of the piece as cut.

You will also need: Thread. The cover page and materials list give the amounts for your size.

The maker’s fabric estimate at this size: Main fabric about 3.7 m of 112 cm fabric.

How it goes together

These are the maker’s own instructions at the starting size. They change with the options you pick, and the PDF carries the full set with the cover, cutting list and materials list.

1. Sew a quick trial bodice and skirt first, in cheap fabric (an old sheet or calico is fine). Sew only the main seams with a long stitch and skip the finishing. Try it on and check that the dress pulls over your head and shoulders, where the waist seam sits, the overlap of the wrap, and the length. Change the size, ease or lengths here and print again if needed, then cut your good fabric.
2. Staystitch the neckline of the front and back: a line of ordinary stitching 0.3 cm inside the edge, so the curve can’t stretch while you work.
3. Put the front and back right sides together and sew the shoulder seams at 1 cm. Finish the allowances together and press them toward the back.
4. Make the binding: join the strips on the diagonal, right sides together, press the seams open, then press the strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together.
5. Bind the neckline: with raw edges level, sew the folded strip to the right side 1 cm from the edge, starting 2.5 cm in from one end of the strip and stopping the same distance short; join the strip's ends on the diagonal to fit, then sew the gap. Wrap the fold over the raw edge to the back and stitch in the ditch of the first seam from the front, catching the fold behind.
6. Open the bodice out flat, right side up. Pin each sleeve’s top edge to an armhole edge, right sides together, with the sleeve’s notch on the shoulder and its ends on the armhole notches. Sew at 1 cm, finish the allowances together and press them toward the sleeve.
7. Fold it right sides together at the shoulders. Sew each side in one seam, from the sleeve hem, round the underarm, down to the waist seam, at 1 cm. Clip the allowance at the underarm corner, finish the allowances and press them toward the back.
8. Sleeve hems: turn the edge under by 0.6 cm, then by 1.5 cm, and stitch close to the inner fold.
9. Pocket bags: lay a bag on the side edges of the back and fronts where the notches are, right sides together, straight edges level and notches matching, and sew at 0.7 cm, just inside the seam allowance. Press each bag out, away from the piece, with the allowance toward the bag.
10. Put each front on the back, right sides together, side edges level, and sew the side seams at 1 cm: down to the upper notch, round the pocket bag, and on from the lower notch to the hem. Finish the allowances and press them toward the back, with the pockets toward the front.
11. Wrap edges: on the straight edge of each front, turn the raw edge under by 0.6 cm twice and stitch.
12. Lap the fronts at the waist so their wrap edges cross by 27.5 cm, the same way round as you’d like to wear it, and baste them together within the allowance. The skirt’s top now matches the bodice’s bottom edge.
13. Make the ties: press the strip in half lengthwise, open it, fold both long raw edges in to meet at the crease, then fold in half again so it is 2 cm wide. Edgestitch along both long sides. Tuck in one end of each and stitch it closed.
14. Baste one tie to the outside of the bodice at each side seam, its raw end level with the bottom edge and the tie pointing up, out of the way.
15. Waist seam: turn the skirt wrong side out and slip the bodice inside it, right sides together, matching the side seams, the middle of the overlap to the centre front and the centre backs. Sew at 1 cm, finish the allowances together and press them up toward the bodice.
16. Hem: turn the edge under by 0.6 cm twice, easing the curve as you go, and stitch close to the inner fold.
17. Try it on: wrap the ties round to the back (or to the front, if you prefer a bow there) and knot or bow them to draw in the waist.

Fabric suggestions

Outer: Soft fabrics that drape: viscose or rayon challis, crepe, cotton lawn or voile, linen, double gauze, light jersey.

Lining: Unlined. Edges are finished with hems, a casing, a facing or binding cut from the same fabric.

Interfacing, padding or other layers: No interfacing. Finish the raw edges inside with a zigzag or overlocker as you sew each seam.

How each fabric family suits it

• Stable woven: great choice. Easiest to sew and press. Prewash: cotton and linen shrink.
• Heavy or stiff: not recommended. A wrap needs drape to hang and overlap well; stiff fabric gapes at the front and makes a bulky waist seam.
• Stretchy knit: works well. Comfortable and doesn’t fray. The roomy shape doesn’t rely on stretch; use a stretch stitch and don’t pull the fabric as it feeds.
• Slippery or fine: possible, with care. Drapes beautifully but shifts as you cut and sew. Cut single layer, pin within the allowance, and use a fine sharp needle.

The maker’s advice adjusts to the fabric family you pick in the Fabric tab.

Printing it

At the starting size the printed pieces take 25 A4 pages, taped together using the page labels, alignment marks and page map. For a print shop, choose a sheet from A0 to a 36″ roll: the pieces are packed onto as few sheets as they will fit on, and if one is too big for the sheet the maker says so. How printing, tiling and the test square work.

Frequently asked questions

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