Reversible Dress Tutorial

Here are the steps I follow for making an adorable reversible dress.  There's a photo for each step, and it appears above the text that describes it.  Each photo is clickable to see a bigger, more detailed version.

If you get stuck at any point, have suggestions or if it worked well for you, please, please, please leave a comment or e-mail me.

1.  Cut out a front and a back for both the inside and outside of your dress.  You can just use a pattern for any baby/toddler size jumper dress. 

2.  Put the front and back of each dress together with right sides facing.  Sew the right side seam on one dress and the left side seam on the other.

3.  Open the dresses and lay one on top of the other with right sides facing.  The sewn seams will line up in the middle and the fronts and backs of each dress will line up.

4.  Sew the dresses together at the bottom.  I leave a 2-3 inch opening in this seam to flip the dress back to right side when it's done.  If you do not leave the hole here, you can leave one when you close the side seams, however, this will require you to hand stitch the hole closed when you are done.  I am a terrible hand stitcher, so I leave the hole at the bottom so I can machine stitch it closed.

5.  Sew the top of the dresses together from one armpit all the way around to the other.  At this point I put the ribbon in for the straps (you can use ribbon, make straps out of coordinating fabric, or just sew the the shoulder pieces shut and add a snap or button when you've completed the dress). 

If you choose tie straps, place them inside each of the 4 shoulder pieces with only a small part of them sticking out for sewing in place.  I make my straps or ribbons ~19 inches long. I also sew back and forth over the straps to ensure they don't tear.

Notch around the top, especially in the armpits to allow the finished dress to move more freely.

  

 

7.  Now go ahead and flip the dress right side out.  It is time to sew the side seams.  Fold the dress in half - now the right sides of one dress are facing (in this case the flowered side).

Sew the inner seam together from armpit to bottom., so it's completely closed.

8.  In order to get the right sides together and sew the side seam of the second dress, you will need to shove the dress inside like a pillowcase.   It will be inside out again at this point.  Stitch the second side seam closed.

9.  Now you can go ahead and find the hole you left and flip the dress right side out.  You are almost done!

10.  Press the dress very well now.  Be sure to press the hole you left well with the raw edges in nicely so you can't tell there is a hole there.  Edge stitch along the entire bottom of the dress.  This will close up the hole.  Edge stitch along the top of the dress too to give it that nice finished look and keep both sides nicely in their place.  (If you left the hole in the side seam you can go back and hand stitch that hole).

YOU DID IT!