Looking for an easy elegant cocktail dress sewing pattern? The Orla dress features adjustable shoulder tie with a slightly high waisted skirt to accentuate your figure.
The silhouette of this dress offers an elegant and chic design that can be either dressy or casual depend on the fabric you choose.
Sew the Orla dress with linen or cotton for casual summer dress look. Using poly or satin, you can transform the Orla dress into a more fancy cocktail dress for special occasions.
How to make a shoulder tie dress? Begin the sewing project by washing and drying the linen fabric as indicated on the instruction for best sewing results. If the fabric needs iron to remove wrinkles, consider laying a cotton fabric over for indirect heating to prevent damaging the surface.
Fashion Wanderer sewing patterns come with ⅜” seam allowance already included on each pattern piece and size. So, download the pattern and select the right size to sew along with the video tutorial or step by step picture instruction booklet to accomplish the dress.
Whether you are beginner or first time dealing with a sewing pattern, sewing patterns are easy to read to assemble the top and skirt of dress pattern to get professional results.
After reviewing the pattern, know your own body measurements for bust, waist, and hip to select from the size guide for optimal fit of the garment.
DIY Shoulder Tie Dress Sewing Pattern
You will love this DIY shoulder tie dress because…
- Orla dress sewing pattern ranges from 0 to 18 to fit a wide range of body sizes.
- Learn to hand gather along the under bust using adjusted stitch length.
- Use Serger machine to overlock stitch for clean finishes.
- Proper way to hem the dress with overlock and straight stitch.
- Insert invisible zipper right way at center back.
- Perfect beginner project to practice sewing straight with regular sewing machine.
This classic shoulder tie dress includes body attached straps that are adjustable to create a bow similar to the Ines dress. The front and back top bodice uses double layer to create clean finishes that makes the neckline more attractive.
This cocktail dress is not complicated to sew and the elegant silhouette that every body type will love to wear anytime of the day.
Utilize this DIY shoulder tie dress sewing pattern and tutorial to customize the length or fabric of your choice.
How to make a shoulder tie dress
If this is new experience with digital sewing pattern, I’ve put together how to assemble the pdf sewing patterns for every Fashion Wanderer pattern to easily get you started.
Know your correct body measurements to choose the right size pattern to sew. In this case, focus on chest, waist, and hip measurement to determine the sizing.
Depending on the width of the fabric you choose, how much fabric you need to make Orla dress may vary. Always follow the instruction booklet to make the right purchase.
In addition, add ½ yard for testing and extra room for mistakes and practice.
In this tutorial, all you need is regular sewing needle, cotton blend thread for linen fabrics, and zipper foot. This will help you to sew smooth and cleanly.
Take your time to prepare your sewing machine by threading the sewing machine and the bobbin properly to prevent the issue including skipping stitches, breaking threads, or old needles to avoid issues with straight stitch lines.
Be aware to test the fabric to find the right tension, stitch length, and types of stitches before beginning the sewing project.
DIY Shoulder Tie Dress Tutorial Material:
- Orla Dress Sewing Pattern
- Linen Fabric 1½ yards for 60” width or 2 yards for 45” width
- 14” Long Invisible Zipper
- (Optional) Lining Fabric
- Sewing machine
- Serger
- Pins
- Water Erasable Pen
Transfer the fish darts location on front and back skirt part of the dress to the fabric by using pin, water erasable pen, and ruler.
Fold the darts in half lengthwise and pin along the marked line to straight stitch.
Press the darts towards the side seam.
Join the front and back skirt of the dress by closing the side seam.
Place the Top pieces together and stitch around ⅜” width, then flip inside out and press.
Straight stitch with wide length stitches to create gathering under the bust notches.
Join the side seam of the dress top and along the waist.
Attach invisible zipper at center back.
Overlock the hem finishes and fold 1” width to straight stitch.
Fold the hemline to finalize the dress.
DIY Shoulder Tie Dress Sewing Tips
Sewing dresses seams complicated as it look. Therefore, as beginner having and following sewing pattern as blueprint is highly recommended. It helps to achieve better fit and high quality execution.
Also, simply following the right type of stitches helps to save time.
Whether you choose linen same as this tutorial, or use a fancy satin or polyester fabric, dry or steam iron to press the seam proper way with fish darts, facing, side seam, and hem while you sew for best results.
Don’t forget to clip the notches before separating the paper pattern and fabric pieces you are cutting. They are essential indication to match each piece the right way.
- Sewing Needle: Generally, for linen, universal needles work well. However, choose a 70/10 or 80/12 for lighter linens that are sheer. For medium to heavy linen, use a 90/14 needle.
- Thread: Always check the blend or content of the fabric. Cotton based thread or even cotton covered polyester thread is ideal for sewing linen.
- Fabric: This tutorial uses light-medium linen fabric. Alternatively, regular cotton that is soft or polyester blend cotton/linen fabric is recommended.
- Stitches: Most of the stitches on this dress use standard straight seams and medium stitch length 2.5 is a good choice. But when creating gathering under the bust, increase the stitch length to 3.5 or 4.0 wide.
- Invisible Zipper: Especially when sewing invisible zippers, change to a zipper foot on the sewing machine. With regular foot, it is difficult to sew close to the zipper tape to create clean edges.
In this tutorial, we will go over how to sew Orla dress using overlock stitches, straight stitch, invisible zipper, and hemming. These are the must-have key design elements that you need to know to complete this dress.
As a beginner, practice if needed to get familiar with the fabric you want to make the Orla dress with. Use these sewing instructions and video guidance for sewing tips and methods to complete an elegant cocktail dress from scratch.
DIY Shoulder Strap Tie Mini Dress
Have you found any easy to sew simple cocktail dresses? If you are looking for a quick dress sewing project that is not too complicated, this DIY shoulder strap dress is perfect for you!
Use these instructions to sew a shoulder strap tie mini dress and create adjustable length with clean invisible zipper to complete the garment. In this tutorial, all the sewing details are beginner level.
From clean finished plunging front and back neckline to under bust gathering, this dress offers slightly high waisted silhouette with fitted hip shift dress that will fit you like a glove. Simply follow this Orla dress sewing pattern tutorial to achieve this elegant dress to wear for going out or even on a special occasion.
Materials
- Orla Dress Sewing Pattern
- Linen Fabric 1½ yards for 60” width or 2 yards for 45” width
- 14” Long Invisible Zipper
- (Optional) Lining Fabric
Tools
- Sewing Machine
- Serger
- Thread
- Fabric Scissors
- Water Erasable Pen
- Measuring Tape
- Pins
- Zipper Foot
Instructions
For this Orla shoulder tie dress tutorial, start by assembling the pattern pieces:
- 4 Pieces of Front Top
- 4 Pieces of Back Top
- 1 Piece of Front Dress
- 2 Pieces of Back Dress
How to Sew Fish Darts On Dress
- Turn the Front Dress right side facing each other and fold along the center front.
- Use a pin to poke a hole to mark the fish dart location on the sewing pattern.
- Flip the sewing pattern wrong side up and pin through the hole to mark the points with water erasable pen.
- Use a straight ruler and connect the points. Do the same on the other side.
- Fold the fish darts in half lengthwise and pin along the pen line.
- Straight stitch from the fish dart notch and end at the point without locking back-and-forth. Instead double tie both ends.
- Press the fish darts toward the side seam and set aside.
- Turn the Back Dress right side facing each other to mark the fish darts.
- Use pin to poke a hole to mark the fish dart location on the right side of the sewing pattern.
- Flip the sewing pattern wrong side up and pin through the hole to mark the points.
- Use a ruler to connect the points. Do the same on the other side.
- Fold the fish darts in half lengthwise and pin along the pen line.
- Straight stitch from the fish dart notch and end at the point without locking back-and-forth. Instead double tie both ends.
- Press the fish darts toward the side seam and set aside.
How to Sew Skirt On Dress
- Place right side of Back Dress facing right side of Front Dress together.
- Close both side seams with ⅜” width seam allowance and overlock to finish.
- Next, overlock the center back seam separately on the right and left pieces to insert the invisible zipper later.
How to Sew Top Part On Dress
- Place right side of Front Top facing each other and straight stitch ⅜” width starting from center front to armhole.
- Flip the Front Top piece inside out and give a nice steam press.
- Next, place right side of Back Top facing each other and straight stitch ⅜” width starting center back to armhole.
- Flip the Back Top piece inside out and give a nice steam press.
- On the Front Top, adjust the stitch length to 3.5-4.0 and straight stitch ⅛” away from cut line between the notches.
- Gently pull the thread to create gathering on both Front Top pieces.
- Place right side of Front Top and right side of Back Top facing each other. Close the side seam with ⅜” seam allowance and finish with overlock stitch.
- Then, overlock at center back of Back Top for later inserting invisible zipper.
How to Sew Shoulder Strap Tie Dress
- Place the right side of Top and right side of Top Dress facing each other and start pinning at the center front to the center back on each side. Adjust the under bust gathering if needed to match the notch so it is equal distance to each other.
- Straight stitch ⅜” width seam allowance and overlock to finish.
- Tuck the seam allowance toward the hem and press.
How to Sew Invisible Zipper On A Dress
- Fold the dress in half so the right sides are facing each other and center back seam is aligned.
- Measure from top edge 14” down and pin both layers. This will be your starting point to close the center back seam. Straight stitch ⅜” width from the pin to the hem.
- Press seam open.
- Measure from the start of the zipper 14” down and mark the zipper tooth with a pin 1” away.
- Stitch back and forth to make a stop at 14” long and cut the zipper at the 15” mark.
- Open the zipper and place the right side of the zipper to the right side of the dress and pin along the zipper tape to make it easy to sew.
- Change the sewing machine to zipper foot and start sewing the zipper tape on both sides. Press the zipper opening to finish.
How to Complete Orla Dress
- Overlock stitch the raw edges of the hemline, then measure 1” width, fold the hemline inside and pin around the dress opening.
- ⅛” width edge topstitch around the hem and press the new hemline.
- Give a nice press all around the dress and tie the straps along the shoulder to enjoy your finished Orla dress.
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