Have you ever dreamed of wearing a dress that feels like it was pulled straight from a fairy tale? Something soft, romantic, and dreamy? I imagine myself picking flowers in my basket and singing around forest animals; yeah, that's the kind of dress I was dreaming of. And this is how I made it happen!
After looking at different options and being faced with dresses that cost thousands of dollars, I could not justify it. So, I crafted a plan and made that dream dress real by designing and sewing my very own cottagecore dress from scratch using Fabric Wholesale Direct‘s lovely fabric selection. If you are looking at fashion fabrics, they are the ones to visit.
In this post, I’ll walk you through my entire process, from inspiration to final stitch. So you can use this version as inspiration for your own magical masterpiece too. Plus the story of why this dress turned out to be so meaningful to me.
What makes a dress ‘dreamy' in my mind?
When thinking about the dress of my dreams, I've been 100% leaning into cottagecore, but I also wanted something that I could feel comfortable in. I am not the shape I used to be in my 20s, and that makes me a little self-conscious.
The silhouette of my dreams helps with all the areas that I don't want to emphasize. So an A-line skirt that is long and wavy was a must.
To me, a dreamy dress has a few essential ingredients:
- Flowing fabric that moves like a breeze
- Flowy, full-length skirts
- Corset-style bodices or smocking for a vintage feel with a sweetheart neckline
- Puff sleeves, bishop sleeves, or ruffles to cover the upper arms (I would rather not emphasize my arms)
- Details that feel personal, romantic, or a little whimsical
My inspiration came from several floral dresses that I've been drooling over on Pinterest, especially anything that itsmilla.com has in their A-dress collection. Those dresses are so airy, feminine, and fun!
While I love florals, I wanted mine in a bold, solid color. Emerald green, to be exact. I love how it plays with the light, especially with layers of chiffon over taffeta.
Gathering Inspiration & Visualizing the Design
Before I even cut an inch of fabric, I spent a lot of time building a mood board full of romantic silhouettes, vintage corsets, and dreamy fabrics.
I set up a bunch of ideas, always circling back to a sweetheart neckline with nice structure, flowy sleeves for drama and softness, a tiered skirt with ruffles that flows, and a structured corset bodice for that elegant, cinched look.
I went into the making portion without having a clear idea of what I wanted the sleeves to look like. I like both options of puffy sleeves and also the flowy off-shoulder option (it's so challenging to decide!!).
Fabric Selection & Materials I Used
Choosing fabric was maybe the most exciting part. And this is the part where destiny came as a big helper. After ordering various samples from FabricWholesaleDirect.com and deciding on the fabrics I am listing below, they contacted me out of the blue wanting to work on a collaboration. So it was a match made in dress heaven!
I decided to use two different fabrics in the same lovely green. Below you can check the exact supplies I used for this project:
- Kelly green polyester chiffon for the outer layer and most of the ruffles because it’s lightweight, sheer, and flows beautifully.
- Emerald green taffeta for the lining under the top layer. This fabric gives structure and a subtle shimmer beneath the chiffon.
- Heavyweight fusible interface to use in the corset part of the dress; this fabric is a soft, non-stretchy, medium fabric that can easily be fused to most textiles for added support and stability.
- Basic sewing supplies: scissors, boning for the corset, bias tape, thread, and a lot of pins.
Tip: Always get a bit more fabric than you think you’ll need. Layers and gathers use up more than you'd expect!
Making a feminine Cottagecore Pattern
Since I wanted a custom fit, I came up with my own pattern. I'll explain how I did that next. But if you'd rather follow an established pattern, I would recommend this summer dress on Etsy. It's very similar to what I made, but you would just have to adjust the length.
To make my pattern, first I made sure I was wearing something tight and wrapped myself in plastic wrap, then I used painter's tape on top of the plastic (because it was what I had around). And used a Sharpie to trace the pattern I had in mind.
As you can see in the picture below, I selected the side that looked the best (since we are going to mirror and repeat the pieces for the bust-corset).
I cut each piece individually and then added markers so I could remember what piece goes where.
I ended up with 3 pieces for the cup, one piece for the front holding the cup, and a back piece.
I also used what paper I had at hand (in this case birthday wrapping paper lol) to trace my pattern pieces, clean the lines, and add seam allowance.
Since I would rather not mess up my pretty fabric, I first tested my pattern using an old curtain that I found lying around. This way I could make any alterations I needed and make sure the pattern would fit me correctly.
Just as I will later do with the pretty fabric, I sewed all my pieces. As you can see, this was an excellent step because I originally forgot to add seam allowance to one of my pieces. This would have wasted some precious fabric if I didn't test beforehand.
Since I ended up using some pre-made cups for the bust, I made sure that my fabric covered everything nicely and that my curve was perfect. I ended up testing with another fabric I had in my scrap-box that was a bit closer to my taffeta lining.
Cutting the Fabric & Assembling the Cottagecore Dress
Now comes the scary part: no matter how many times I test my patterns, cutting the final fabric is always something that gives me a bit of butterflies in my stomach.
The cool part, though, is that for the cups and bust pieces, I first cut my pattern out of the fusible interface, so that I could iron them on my lining fabric.
This part was so easy, and it made me feel a lot better to start with a fabric that is easy to handle and cut.
After that, I started cutting all the rest of my pieces and used the serger to make sure that my chiffon-taffeta sandwich was not going to fray on the edges.
I sewed my lining straight to my cups, so that they would not move when wearing the dress. This was my first time using pre-made cups and it was not as hard as I pictured it in my head.
Once the cups were covered, I made sure to line the opposite sides as well. I am planning for the first time to have the inside fully lined but also have all the seams tucked to the inside to look very nice!
Here you can see how the cups looked on the inside, fully lined and with the center seam so they would not move.
Then it was time for the fronts. After they were attached, I made sure to pin them because instead of topstitching them, I hand-sewed the topstitch so I could hide it as much as possible.
Now it was time for the front piece. Just like with the cups, I cut the pieces out of infusible first, ironed them, and then made a sandwich.
This way I could have a layer of chiffon, a layer of taffeta, the infusible and then another layer of taffeta as my lining. The idea is to have as much structure as possible on these pieces.
Here you can see how I pinned the cups to those pieces so I could sew them after. I also added the back pieces and touched up the top seams so that the full bust and back were ready!
Now is the part that probably took me the longest!! RUFFLES!
For these, I cut straight lines and rolled hemmed the bottoms. I left one yard for the top and sleeves, and that left me with 9 yards (8.23 m) for the ruffles, and let me tell you, I used each inch of that!
I made the bottom piece so that I would have the most ruffles out of them. Then I cut the same length for the second stripe of ruffles, but this time half the length of the first one, so it can have fewer ruffles.
I took over my living room with this part because it would not fit on my table. I spent two days sewing ruffles, measuring, attaching, and then sewing some more ruffles!
Sewing them was very challenging; I ended up having to make the lower ruffles by hand with a loose piece of thread that I tightened as I went. This method is not the fastest, but I was so much happier about how even they were between the points that I measured.
Now for the lining of the skirt, I made ruffles, but I started with a circle skirt so I could try a different method with not as much fabric in the top part of the skirt.
I created a second skirt to go underneath the chiffon skirt with the taffeta fabric so it can have flow and make the whole dress more voluminous!
To make the circle, I folded the fabric into a square first and then kept folding it in half until I ended up with a small triangle. I cut the tip and then measured to make sure that the bottom was even.
For the top portion of the chiffon fabric (the 3rd layer of ruffles), I also did a circle skirt, since this way I can make sure that the top seam that will connect to the bust is not too heavy or has too many layers.
For this step (attach the second row of ruffles to the circle), I had to again take over my living room. Now, since this is chiffon and it's not a starting piece but a round one, the fabric moves like crazy!!.
So to make sure that my ruffles were as even as possible, I used clips as markers and measured so that I could have the same amount of gather in each section.
I used every clip I had to make sure that I had everything secured before lifting it from the floor!
And now the assembly!
I added the lining skirt and the ruffle skirt together, leaving a slit on the back so I can make sure I am able to slip into the dress.
I attached the skirt to the bodice and cleaned the inside seams to make it look nice.
I attached the skirt to the bodice and cleaned the inside seams to make it look more polished.
Finishing Touches
Since I am still not decided on what kind of sleeve I like better, I made two sets of sleeves, one of taffeta, so they can hold the shape, since the chiffon will not bubble by itself.
I want to maybe try to add tulle or another see-through fabric with more shape to try to make another set of sleeves, but I will have to get more fabric to try that; =] my ruffles consumed every inch of the 10 yards (9.14 m) I had!
I decided to do a ruffled back with elastic because I wanted this to be as comfortable as possible since my sample ended up being uncomfortable after prolonged use with the regular corset with binding.
Why is this dress so meaningful to me??
I actually started this dress quite a while ago, full of excitement and big plans to document every step of this dreamy creation, but life had other plans.
During that time, I got incredibly sick. For a long stretch, I wasn’t even able to use my hands, which meant no blogging, no drawing, and no sewing. Something that felt especially hard when creating is such a big part of who I am.
Coming back to this project meant starting over in more ways than one, including making a second set of sleeves. But now, seeing this dress finally come to life feels so much deeper than just finishing a project. It feels like a reflection of everything I’ve had to overcome.
It represents healing, patience, and the slow, beautiful process of finding my way back to creating, to sharing, and to feeling like myself again.
This path hasn’t been easy, and even though I’m not back at 100%, the ability to create in small moments has felt so encouraging. A gentle, ongoing lesson in acceptance. Accepting my new limitations and accepting that I can't have all the answers right away.
I am so happy to be back in this space.
Want to make one as well?
If you're feeling inspired, here are a few points and things that I would recommend:
- Start with a design that speaks to your personal style. I know this kind of dress is not for everyone; the skirt is massive! But you can always make variants of the dresses you like to turn them into your personalized dream dress!
- Source your materials as you gather inspiration, and order samples if possible. Fabric Wholesale Direct has the option so you can order samples of the fabrics that you like. That way you not only can check on the colors but also on the weight, drape, and feel of the fabric. I love to look at their newest fabrics because they keep adding great patterns as well, not just the solids I am so drawn to.
- Be patient; it’s okay to take breaks and redo things. This dress was so much more challenging than I thought at the beginning! I had to take so many breaks!
- Enjoy the process, not just the end result (aka dress). Sewing is all about the process! I love to put on my headphones, set a cool audiobook or podcast, and get in the zone while sewing. Just like with calligraphy, I like to relax and enjoy the process of creating, =] and it's set as my “mental health time”
Do you have questions or want to share your own dreamy creation? Drop a comment below; I’d love to hear from you!
Have a lovely day!