Boho Chic Black Dress Pattern – Great For Casual Fridays

This is the Boho-chic little black dress pattern to make a great casual look for Fridays. This dress is easy to make and even easier to wear.  Notice the gathered sleeves,

the invisible zipper,

and two tiers of ruffles, so you do not spend hours and hours gathering fabric.  And more importantly, it makes a youthful, but appropriately short dress.

It's perfect for the office, for a get together with the girls, to pick up the kids or carry a baby bump and go trick or treating.

I would team this little black dress with booties, stockings and a short leather jacket.

Materials

• 2 – 2 1/4 yards of fabric
• thread to match
• 18-inch invisible nylon zipper
• 1/2 yard of 3/8″ elastic (optional)
• 1 yard of 1/2″ bias tape

Tools

• sewing machine
• overlocker
• invisible zipper foot
• rotary cutter or scissors

My Fabric Recommendations from Fabric.com

Skill Level: Intermediate

Knowledge of sewing an invisible zipper, sewing a dart, and gathering fabric appropriately is a must or a willingness to learn and follow the separate tutorials.

There is no seam allowance on these boho-chic little black dress pattern, I recommend the use of 5/8″.

Here are some helpful resources if you need a quick review:

1.  How to Sew Darts

How to Sew Darts – How to Sew A Skirt Series

2.  Sewing an Invisible Zipper

Sewing an Invisible Zipper video tutorial

3.  How to gather fabric the right way

How to Gather Fabric and Add Ruffles Properly

4.  Attaching a bias tape to a neckline

How to Sew Darts – How to Sew A Skirt Series

How To Download Your Little Black Dress Pattern

We're going to continue to use the new Payhip web store to distribute our patterns.  As most readers know, Craftsy, now Bluprint, has changed a lot and they have stopped designers like us from publishing new patterns on their site, so we've had to move to another service.

Our patterns are still free, but now you now have the option of making a small contribution if you like our work! We'd really appreciate it and it will help is keep going with new and fun designs like this. Even a dollar or two really goes a long way.

Thanks so much in advance for helping us out.  You can use any credit card and you don't need a Paypal account, although you can use one if you have one.

Download Pattern HERE

Please use Adobe Reader to open and print the pattern.  Adobe Reader is completely free and no other software is required.  Print using Actual Size and Landscape Mode.

New Reference Squares

Taping together the So Sew Easy patterns is causing a little confusion among some readers.  I have changed the circle for the one-inch square.  All you have to do is trim or overlap the pages just a bit so the square is formed.  There are lines on the pages to help you to achieve the appropriate alignment.

Pattern Layout

Sizes

This dress is a loose-fitting garment, the following are the finished measurements per size.   Please Allow 4 to 6 inches at the bust of ease.

	S	M	L	XL	2XL
Underbust	32	35 1/2	39	43	49
Bust	38 1/2	42	45 1/2	49 1/2	53 1/2

Cutting measurements for the skirt

Measurements are given in inches. If you need to convert them here is a great resource.  https://www.inches-to-cm.com/

	S	M	L	XL	2XL
Tier 1	49	53	57	61	65
Length	6	6.5	7	7.5	8

Tier 2	72	76	80	84	88
Length	18	18.5	19	19.5	20

How To Sew Your Dress

Note: Apologies! The back and the sleeve are miss labeled, but you will not have a hard time knowing which is which.

For the purpose of this tutorial, I am going to use white thread on black fabric.  Please don't do this to your dress, it looks dreadful, I'm doing it so the thread will show up on the camera.

Step One:  Sew The Dart

Sew the dart in the back and the inverted pleat at the front.

Step Two: Sewing The Bodice

Sew the shoulder and serge the fabric both seam allowances together.  Iron towards the back.

Sew the sides, but just 1/3 up leaving the armhole side open. We're going to attach the sleeves first, then do the fitting before we finish sewing the sides and the armhole.  Serge the side seams open.

Step Three:  Sew The Sleeves

Sew two rows of stitching at 1/4″.

Gather the sleeves toward the center notch.

Pin the center of the sleeve using the notch to the shoulders seam.  Make sure you know which is front and the back of the sleeve.  The front is represented by a notch in your pattern.  Sew the sleeve leaving a gap at the armhole.

Sew the sleeve from the wrist to the armhole leaving about two inches open.

Fitting:  At this point, you can put the blouse on and work out if the sides are comfortable.  If you decide to give yourself a bit more room, here is what you can do:

Reducing the seam allowance to 3/8″ will give you an extra 1/2″ per side, in total will add one inch to the bottom of the bodice.  reducing the seam allowance to 1/4″ will give you an extra 3/4″ per side or 1  1/2 ” to the bottom of the bodice.

When taking out or using the seam allowance to make the dress slightly larger remember to do the same at the sleeve seam so the armhole matches with the bodice.

Likewise, if you decide to bring in the sides a little, you can take in the side, gradually, without changing the size of the armhole.

Close the side seam.

Close the arm seam then sew the armhole.

Serge the sleeve hem making sure the seam allowance is open.

Add the elastic to the sleeve.

Step Four:  Sewing The First And Second Of The Skirt

Please see the tutorial on how to gather fabric properly.  It is imperative you do a good job to avoid the dress looking sad.

How to Gather Fabric and Add Ruffles Properly

Divide both strips of fabric into four equal parts, mark it with a notch, a pin or tailor's chalk.  Pin the left notch the left side seam and the right notch to the right side seam.  Pin the center back to the center back of the bodice.  Gather between these points.  Sew the tiers then serge reducing the seam allowance to 3/8″.

Step Five:  Attach The Invisible Zipper

The use of an invisible zipper foot is imperative if you want very professional-looking results.  Please refer to the tutorial above.  This is an excellent video and worth the effort to watch.

Step Six: Sew The Elastic To The Wrist

This is an optional step:

Serge the hem of the sleeve.  Working with the wrong side of your sleeve.  Insert the elastic on the sleeve and then insert the sleeve in the arm of your machine.

Move the elastic 1/2″ from the serged edge and fold the fabric over the elastic.  Sew at 3/8″ without catching the elastic.

Step Seven: Finishing The Neckline

Work on the right side of the fabric.

Unfold the first crease of the bias tape and pin the edge of the tape to the edge of the neckline, leaving 1/2″ passed the zipper on both sides of the neckline.

Turn the end of the bias tape in.

fold in the bias tape to the wrong side of the fabric and stitch the tape at 3/8″.

This is the end of the tutorial on how to use this boho-chic little black dress pattern.  I don't need to make a hem because I am using a fabric that has a border with embroidery and lace giving my dress a sort of Halloween/Goth look to it.  Perhaps I will wear it when the children in the neighborhood come for trick or treating.

Last year I hid behind the door because I forgot to pick up candy for the children, as they left my door I heard them saying “so lame” and “boring people”, boo!!!!. I felt very guilty for some reason. The following year I was working all day and forgot about trick or treating altogether and just put a bowl of candy outside my door hoping kids would just pick a few and leave some for the rest.  Nope! one child took all the candy and ran away laughing so again I got booed!!!  I'll let you know what I come up with this year.  Now at least I got my dress!

I hope you liked this boho-chic little black dress pattern.  If you feel like it change the fabric to a soft color and you will have a very romantic soft dress to wear.  Don't forget to check my suggestions from fabric.com

Until next time happy sewing!

---

If You'd Like To Support Our Site

If you want to help us continue to bring you a wide selection of free sewing patterns and projects, please consider buying us a coffee.  We'd really, really appreciate it.