Free Toddler Sun Dress Pattern – Easy Little Girls Summer Dress

Follow along to learn to sew this pretty free toddler sun dress pattern. Sun dresses are so cute and easy to sew. I absolutely love this simple but beautiful little dress, and I’m sharing the free pdf pattern with you so that you can enjoy it too! The pattern is currently available in sizes 2T, 3T, and 4T and is intended for woven fabrics.

I wanted to make a dress for summer that was very comfortable and easy to make, but also had a good fit. So this dress has elastic worked into the back so that it is easy to get into without being complicated to sew, or too loose. It also has bias binding shoulder ties that are of course adjustable, making this dress able to fit your daughter for that much longer. It has a gathered skirt with a slight a-line shape that makes it hang perfectly, as well as an extra ruffle and optional patch pockets.

Supplies and Materials

• Sewing machine with zig-zag stitch
• Basic sewing supplies such as thread, needles, pins, scissors, etc
• Serger optional
• Woven fabric such as quilting cotton, linen, old sheet, etc (I used this cotton print in the color “lilac”) (2 yards of 45-inch wide fabric will be enough for all sizes)
• 1/4-inch elastic (about 2 feet)

Prepare your fabric

Wash, dry, and iron. Always prepare your fabric in the same way that the finished garment will be laundered. This prevents shrinkage on your final product!

Download and prepare the free toddler sun dress pattern

Download the free Toddler Sun Dress Pattern below, then print, tape and cut it out. Make sure to download and then go to your downloads and open it up with Adobe Reader, then print. If you print directly from your browser, there can be scaling problems.

I’ve included all the pattern pieces, as well as a cut chart for the rectangular pieces and elastic. If you plan to use the cut chart for the rectangular pieces, you can just print pages 1-6. Otherwise print all pages.

Cut out and notch pattern pieces

Cut out all your pattern pieces and notch as indicated below. You will be notching the half and quarter points of the bodice waists, skirt waists and bottoms, and the tops of the ruffle pieces. Also mark the pocket placement.

Don’t forget to cut your bias strips on the bias (45 degree angle) of your fabric (more info here on making your own bias binding if you’d like).

By the way, I do think the pockets could be placed around 1 inch lower if you wanted. I just didn’t want them to appear too low on the skirt, but in the pictures of my daughter wearing it, you can see that they are a little on the high side. I think either way is fine!

Pockets

Sew ease stitch on pockets

This is like a gathering stitch, but with a different purpose. Longest straight stitch, no backstitching. Sew 3/8-inch from the edge as indicated below.

Fold and iron pockets

Now we’re going to fold and iron the pockets. First, pull on the bobbin tails of the ease stitches to gather the sides of the pocket slightly. This will help with getting the curved part to cooperate.

Fold the top edge down by 3/8-inch and iron, then fold the edges in, using the line of ease stitching as a guide, and iron. Adjust the gathers if needed so that everything sits nice and flat.

Then fold the top edge over by another 3/8-inch to enclose the raw edge and iron.

Hem top edge of pocket

Edge stitch just the top edge in place. Notice that I sewed both pockets one after the other to save on thread and time. This can be really helpful if you’re sewing a lot of small pieces!

Pin pocket to front skirt piece and sew

Pin the pocket so that the top corners line up with the pocket placement marks. Sew around the edges as indicated in the picture below.

Bodices

Sew top edges of bodice pieces together

Lay the back bodices right sides together, as well as the front bodices. Sew along the top edge with a 1/2-inch seam allowance.

Iron bodice pieces

Turn the bodice pieces right side out and iron so that you can’t see the seam from the right side.

Skirt and ruffle pieces

Gather skirt and ruffle pieces

If you have never sewn gathers, you can check out my full tutorial on gathering here.

Sew two lines of gathering stitches (longest straight stitch, needle tension low, fabric right side up, no backstitching), 3/8 and 5/8-inch from the raw edge.

Pin and gather skirt pieces to bodice pieces

Pin the front skirt to the front bodice, right sides together, matching up notches. Pull on bobbin threads of gathering stitches to gather the skirt to fit the bodice. Use plenty of pins to keep everything in place. The red dotted line is where you’ll be sewing in the next step.

Do the same for the back skirt and bodice.

Sew skirt pieces to bodice pieces

Sew with a 1/2-inch seam allowance, right between your two rows of gathering stitches. I have the hardest time remembering to get pictures of sewing my gathers, so here is a picture from a different tutorial.

Once you’re done sewing, remove the gathering stitches (it only takes a few seconds, check out my tutorial on gathering if you don’t know how!).

Finish seams with a serger or zig-zag stitch

Keep your seams nice and strong by finishing them! I used my serger, but here is a tutorial for finishing seams with a zig-zag stitch if you’ve never done it.

Repeat with ruffle pieces

Repeat the process above of pinning and sewing the gathers with the ruffle pieces. Don’t forget to finish the seams!

Iron gathered seams to top of dress

Iron the waist and ruffle seams up towards the top of the dress. This will help the gathers to fall nicely. Here is a picture of the wrong side of the front half of the dress.

Elasticize the back bodice

Sew elastic casings on back bodice pieces

Sew one row 3/8-inch from the top and another 3/8-inch from the bottom edge of the back bodice, as indicated below.

Insert elastic and pin in place

Use a safety pin to insert your 1/4-inch elastic into the two casings you just made and pin in place.

Sew elastic in place

Sew to secure the elastic ends 1/4 inch from the edges.

Join the front and back of your toddler sun dress together

Pin the front and back of the dress together

Lay the front and back of the dress right sides together and pin. Make sure to place pins exactly at the seams as indicated below. This will help to get the seams lined up. Make sure that the seams do indeed line up perfectly 1/2-inch from the edge, which is where the stitching line will be.

Sew front and back together

Sew with a 1/2-inch seam allowance, starting at the bottom of the skirt and going up to the top. This will ensure that the horizontal seams of the dress stay pointing up, which is important for pretty flowing gathers!

Carefully sew over the pins that are placed at the seams, to make sure that the seams stay lined up.

Then finish the seams you just sewed and press them towards the back of the dress.

Hem skirt

Fold and iron hem

Fold the bottom of the ruffle 1/4-inch to the wrong side and iron, then repeat to enclose the raw edge. Use a few pins to keep everything in place.

Edge stitch the hem in place

Bias binding shoulder ties

Sew bias binding strips together

Lay two pieces of bias binding right sides together and sew with a 1/4-inch seam allowance, then press the seam open. Repeat with the other set.

Iron bias binding strips

Fold the long edges to the center and iron, then fold to the center again and iron. Now you’ve made 3/8-inch double fold bias binding.

Pin bias binding to wrong side of dress

Unfold one edge of the bias binding and match up the bias binding seam to the side seam of the bodice, with the right side of the bias binding to the wrong side of the bodice. (If you’re already familiar with sewing double fold bias binding and like to pin to the right side, go ahead and do that. This is just what I prefer!)

Use plenty of pins and pin all along the armhole. Make sure not to stretch the binding or the armhole (both will stretch easily if you’re not careful). The dotted line is where you’ll be sewing in the next step.

Sew bias binding to wrong side of dress

Sew 3/8-inch from the edge, which will be in the crease of the bias binding.

Fold and pin bias binding to right side of dress

Now wrap the folded edge of the bias binding around to the front, so that you just cover the line that you just stitched. Use lots of pins, and also place a few pins to the ends of the bias binding to keep it folded.

Sew bias binding to right side of dress

Start at one end of the bias binding and edge stitch, sewing all the way to the bodice and then along to the other end of the bias binding. Make sure that you start on the right side of the bias binding, or else you might get to the bodice and realize you’re sewing the wrong side.

This is how I sewed my ends. Because this raw edge is on the bias, it won’t fray.

All done!

Now tie cute little bows in your shoulder ties and you’re all done!