Square‑Neck Dress with Two Skirts

Some time ago, I saw this dress in a shop and decided to try it on. I liked the design, but two details bothered me: it had sleeves, and the fabric was far too transparent. Since I can now make my own clothes, I took a photo so I could try to replicate it at home.

The neckline was the most challenging part. I wanted to keep the original shape but without the sleeves, and after several attempts I ended up choosing a gathered neckline instead. My starting point was the strappy‑top pattern I’ve used for other projects; this time I added 8 cm at the centre to create the gathers and reused the square‑neckline template I had drafted earlier, adapting the pattern so I wouldn’t have to start from scratch.

I made a copy of the bodice and marked a 5 cm yoke above the waist, which I then cut out. For the skirt, I used my A‑line skirt pattern, keeping the same waist measurement as the bodice. In the original dress, the elastic was sewn directly onto the edge of the yoke, but since some elastics wear out easily, I preferred to make a casing and thread the elastic through it — that way I can replace it whenever needed.

 

What I would change in a future version of this dress

Fabric: I would choose a lighter‑coloured fabric to highlight the two skirt layers. In black, the effect is barely noticeable.

Lining: I would use a different fabric for the lining. Using the same fabric inside and out made the construction more difficult, and the wrong side being so similar to the right side made things even trickier. A lighter lining would also have made the dress less heavy.

Yoke: For the yoke lining, it would have been better to use a bias‑cut strip to create the inner casing. When I folded the edge to the inside, I realised it wouldn’t look good: because the yoke was cut on a curve, the folded edge was wider than the stitching line, which caused the inside of the yoke to form small pleats. I could have minimised this by finishing the edge with an overlock and stitching without folding it, but I really wanted the seams to be enclosed.

Neckline: I should have used a shorter elastic or simply skipped the seam allowance.