I’ve had this patchwork dress idea stuck in my head for a while and finally made it happen! Sewing this patchwork dress was a multi-day project with several steps, but I really enjoyed the process! In this article I go through all the steps of making a patchwork dress, from cutting out the fabric, piecing the fabric together, cutting out the pattern pieces and all the modifications I made to the pattern to make it work with the patchwork design.
I first had this patchwork dress idea when I saw a dress designed by Dancing Kind, a sustainable slow fashion clothing brand that creates unique, everyday pieces. It doesn’t look like the original inspiration dress is available anymore, but there is a patchwork skirt on their website with the same vibes.
The pattern I used for this patchwork dress is the Liliana Dress by Milaonni Patterns which I have made a few times before. You can see all the other versions I’ve made over at my Liliana Dress & Blouse Review article. I knew I needed a dress pattern that had a fairly simply shape to really let the patchwork fabric shine. I like that the Liliana Dress doesn’t have a waist seam, it isn’t too voluminous (which would mean more fabric needed) and is just 3 pattern pieces – front, back, and sleeve – so I think it worked really well for this project.
A couple of other patchwork projects I’ve made are my patchwork quilt coat made all from scrap fabric, and a patchwork silk scarf dress. My Eva Quilted Tote pattern and my Novi Stocking pattern are great patchwork sewing projects!
Some Things You’ll Need
- Rotary cutter & cutting mat
- Quilting ruler – This 6″ x 24″ ruler was perfect for cutting the long lengths of fabric and a smaller square ruler for the shorter sections of fabric.
- Pins
- Fabric scissors
- Coordinating all purpose thread
- Iron
- Serger – You could use a zigzag stitch to finish all the seams, but a serger really is better for this.
The fabric I used is from the Cottage Indian Block Print collection from Fableism and I purchased a bundle with a 1/4 yard of each print (16 total) from Cottoneer Fabrics. Before I ordered, I did a bit of math to see how much I could get from each 1/4 yard and figured out that I could get a simple dress or at the least, a top from all that fabric.
This cotton block print is slightly heavier than ones I worked with before, but still lightweight enough for a garment. It was wonderful to work with because it held a press really nicely, has a good structure, so the rectangles held their shape well after cutting, and the fabric hardly frayed at all. Even though there are so many colors throughout the different prints, the background is the same which helps them work well next to each other.
Step 1: Prep The Fabric
Since this was going to be a garment, I wanted to prewash all the yardage to help prevent shrinking after making the dress. There was some shrinkage after washing and drying, but not too much, and I was still able to cut the same amount out of it that I had predicted.
All the fabric wrinkled up quite a bit after washing and drying, so next up was to iron each one.
Step 2: Cut Out Fabric
I knew I wanted to use rectangles for my patchwork so I did some planning beforehand to figure out what size and how many I could get from each 1/4 yard. I wanted a finished rectangle of 5″ x 8″, so I cut each rectangle at 5.5″ x 7.5″ and was able to fit 8 per strip. Thankfully the selvage edge was very small and I was able to cut right up to the edge.
Note: There were a few times where I didn’t cut close enough to the selvage and was only able to fit 7 from that strip with a piece leftover that was too narrow. I still used those pieces and just added them at the end of a row or in an area where only a little bit of fabric fabric made it onto the pattern piece.
With the strip folded in half, I started by cutting off a tiny bit of the selvage, mainly just the frayed edge of the selvage.
I then cut a straight edge on one of the long sides of the strip.
Since my quilting ruler wasn’t wide enough, I lined up the straight edge of the strip along the edge of my cutting mat. Then I lined up my ruler along the 7.5″ mark at the top and the bottom and cut.
Next, I cut 8 rectangles at 5.5″ wide from the strips (still folded in half) until I reached the fold.
I repeated those steps for all 16 prints for a total of 128 rectangles.
The only print that was different was this large scale floral that was actually 1/2 yard instead of 1/4 yard. I cut along the section that had most of the print, but still ended up with some mostly white rectangles (see photo below). These ended up being helpful at some parts when only a little bit of fabric made it onto a pattern piece.
Here’s a quick video of the cutting process:
Step 3: Decide On Layout
At this point I was dying to know if I would have enough rectangles to fit the dress pattern pieces. I laid out all the rectangles on top of the pattern pieces to see how many I would need, keeping in mind that once the rectangles were all sewn together, the panel would be slightly smaller.
I had enough rectangles! And with just a few leftover or to fill in any spots that needed it. I started laying out the rectangles to make the panels, trying not to overthink the layout too much.
The front and back Liliana Dress pattern pieces are pretty much the same, just the front neckline is lower, so I laid out two panels the exact same (first photo below). I wanted to make the short sleeve flutter sleeve and the sleeve pattern piece fit on 8 rectangles (second photo below). This is one of those spots where only a tiny bit of fabric was needed in the curves of the armholes.
To stay organized, I labeled the first rectangle of each row and stacked them in order, going from left to right. I also took pictures of each panel before stacking the rectangles in case I need to go back and check the layout.
Step 4: Sew Fabric Together
This was the most time consuming step – sewing all the rectangles together! Strip piecing will be your best friend here and really helps to make the process more efficient. Strip piecing is where you sew continuously from one piece of fabric to the next without stopping to cut the thread.
I had the whole stack of rectangles next to me and started with the first two squares. I placed those right sides together and then sewed along the right side of the rectangles with 1/4″ seam allowance. Since I had an even number of rectangles in each row, it made it easy since I could pair them together for the whole row.
Without cutting the threads between, I moved straight over to my serger and finished the seams. Then I cut the thread in between and sewed the pairs of rectangles together and repeat the process.
I continued in this way until all the rows were sewn together.
When pressing the rows, I pressed each row in the opposite direction from each other so the seams would nest together (ex: press row 1 to the right, press row 2 to the left, press row 3 to the right, etc.).
Then I pinned and sewed each row together and finished each seam with my serger.
Finally I pressed the seams of the rows! I repeated this process for all panels I needed (4 total).
Here’s a quick video of the piecing process:
Step 5: Cut Out Pattern Pieces
Once all of the panels were assembled, I just cut out the pattern like normal! I’ve made the Liliana Dress several times so this was a familiar pattern to me. I did make a few adjustments since I was working around the patchwork design and skipping a few steps in the pattern.
Modifications
I was skipping the neckline ruffle and decided to raise the neckline by 1″ so it wouldn’t sit too low. There are instructions in the pattern on how to do this, but it’s pretty simple! I drew up 1″ from the original neckline onto a scrap piece of paper on the front, back and sleeve pattern pieces. I cut out along that line and used the pattern piece like normal.
For the front neckline, instead of making the keyhole opening as written, I decided to simplify it by using the seam from two rectangles. I serged each edge separately and only partially sewed those together (see photo below).
Then when sewing the center front, I simply folded back the seam and edgestitched it down.
I wanted to make the most of the patchwork fabric, so after laying out the front pattern piece, I lengthened it all the way to the edge of the panel – about 3/4″ was added to the length.
At the corner of the skirt, I simply folded back the pattern piece and cut a gradual line to that point (see photo below).
I also wanted to make the most of the sleeve panel fabric, so I lengthened the sleeves all the way to the edge – lengthened about 1 3/4″. I ended up really liking this change and would do it again on a future version! I didn’t quite cut the sleeves symmetrically, but it really isn’t noticeable when sewn together. 🙂
One last mod I made was to lengthen the ties by cutting them on the fold. I still kept the elastic in the channel, but wanted longer ties just for fun and used two of my favorite fabrics from the collection.
Step 6: Sew Dress
Finally, I sewed the dress as normal! Since I was skipping some steps, like the underbust and waist channels, sleeve elastic and neckline ruffle, it seemed to come together fairly quickly. I did add pockets and used a lightweight white cotton voile for those.
There are a few design options for the Liliana Dress suggested in the instructions, like a bias bound neckline, with brief instructions included. Instead of cutting the neckline ruffle piece, I cut 1.5″ bias tape instead for a slightly slimmer channel, and stitched that to the neckline. Then I folded in over to the wrong side and created the channel for the elasticated ties.
Here’s a quick video of sewing the dress together:
Final Thoughts
And that’s it! Even though making this dress was time consuming, it was so fun to make! I hope that reading through my notes was helpful if you’re wanting to make a patchwork dress, or even another patchwork garment.
While making this dress, I kept thinking of all the hands involved in the process. This block print fabric was first handprinted by artisans in India, then someone had to package it up and ship it over to the U.S. to distribute it. Then, someone at Cottoneer Fabrics, where I bought the fabric, cut 1/4 yard of each print, folded it all up, packaged, and sent it off to me. Lastly, my hands spent hours cutting, ironing and sewing to make this dress. Pretty cool. 🙂
Thanks for reading and happy sewing!
