Liz Lisa Style Dress Sewing Tutorial

Happy easter cutie gals!

Finally exams are over and the term has come to a close, and I've been able to spend lot's of time sewing. Because I will have so much time over the holidays, I'm going to try pre-prepare tutorials then, so I can post consistently for you all during term!

Anyways, today I'll be teaching you how to make this beautiful dress, which is a pretty similar copy to this dress from a Liz Lisa 2009 release. This dress was so cute, I chose to wear it as my Easter Sunday dress, paired with a super cute bow.

I've seen many different versions of it, but sometimes its hard to tell which are replicas and which are just using the same fabric but in a different cut.

This dress is absolutely delectable, as i've made it with a very handy elasticated/faux smocked back, a gathered skirt and lace fagoting on the sleeves and close to the skirt hem.

Overall, the construction of this dress is quite straightforward, as we are not adding a zipper in or doing anything fancy with the sleeves (though you can if you'd like!), but it is the pattern drafting which is a bit tricky.

If you've never ever drafted a pattern yourself before and aren't familiar with the general idea of how different pieces would be shaped, I honestly wouldn't recommend doing this, but if you've used a commercial pattern or made your own bodice block before, I reckon you'll get the hang of this easy.

Materials used

Light to medium-weight fabric. I used quilting fabric for this, but anything similar to poplin or flowier would work nicely, just not too light if you want to add lace fagoting. I used around 2m of 110cm wide fabric, but it will vary for everyone.
Lightweight fabric for your lining of the bodice - you won't need much of this at all, probably 50cm of 110cm wide
This type of rectangular lace (if you want to add fagoting),
not the type with pretty edges. You will need upwards of 2x your waist depending on the amount of gathering you put of your skirt. I'd also recommend using a lace wider than 3cm, but no more than 5cm
Around 2metres of 1-1.25cm wide elastic for the smocked back and sleeves
Sewing basics - these are just the things you need for every sewing project and pattern draft

Part 1: Drafting the pattern

For this project, we are going to be using part of a pattern drafting tutorial from StyleByReme on youtube. You're going to follow the video up until the timestamp 11:55 then come back to here - do not cut out fabric yet. However, before you go, there are some changes that I recommend you make because our end product has a slightly different nature than hers.

First off, please learn from my mistakes, do not be switching between inches and centimetres when making this pattern. I did initially because I generally use centimetres and she speaks in inch terms, but just translate all your measurements into inches for the pattern drafting part, it will make your life a lot easier.

Second of all, you are going to need to make this pattern a couple of times to get it right. On the first go, do everything as she instructs, make a mockup from scrap fabric, then see if you need to change as to what I will say next...

1. For some reason, after adding back the dart allowance to the side edge of the front bodice piece, she then adds a further 1.5inches...this then gets copied onto the back pattern piece too, and by the time you've sewn it all, there's an extra 6inches, which is far too much just to be ease. I skipped adding that extra 1.5 inches and it was the final thing I needed to change to get my pattern right.

2. She also adds 1 inch allowance on the back for zipper allowance, which we won't need because we are doing a smocked back, so please don't add it

3. This could be because I have broad shoulders, but when creating the armhole, Miss Reme only goes inwards 0.5inches. I had to go in 2-2.5 inches otherwise my armhole was way too small!!!

4. Do not mark on the back dart, as we will put it in a different spot

4. If you're like me and your boobs kind of go outwards, it's going to be a bit fiddly to get this pattern right, as you are going to have to make the cup's outer curve quite dramatic to allow space, so please keep that in mind.

Now that you've done the basic pattern with our minor adjustments, you should have these three pieces, your front piece, cup and back piece. (I know my back piece has a dart marked, please do not mark it on yours, we will add it later)

One inch from the armhole, make a mark and see how much remains, for me, there was a difference of 13cm
On the bottom of the pattern, mark that difference again, and connect the two dots with a straight line, then mark half an inch on each side of the line to make a dart.
Cut it like I've shown in the picture, getting rid of the little triangle that would've been our dart.
Cut a rectangle that is the top length of the piece you cut just before wide and the 1.5x length of that piece long (13x26cm for me)
Now stick that piece to the part of the back pattern without the armhole, like so
This is going to be what we use for the smocked back
You should have these four pieces now, your side panel, front panel, back panel and cup
Cut your cup, front piece and back piece on the fold, then two side pieces separately
Repeat this method of cutting for your lining pieces

Part 2: Sewing the bodice

Mark out your darts on the front pieces, and sew the darts
Once you've sewn the darts, sew the side panels on either side
I would now recommend you ironing everything down and give your seams a good press. It should look like this now
Get your cup and cup lining, it's going to look really big, I know...
Using a 4mm straight stitch, sew along the top and bottom of your cup, using a smaller seam allowance (I used a 5mm instead of 10mm)
Pull the thread on the top and bottom gently to gather up the cup to match the size of your pattern. It is important to make sure most of the gathers are around the fullest part of your bust (generally around the nipple), try to avoid putting too many gathers in the centre of your chest as you don't need them there and it just fits wrong.
Measure along the top edge of the cup pieces, then add 4-6cm and cut a rectangle that length x 5cm wide. This was 42x5 for me. I'd recommend cutting it on the bias, but if your neckline is straight or generally straight, you don't have to.
Using a bias tape maker or just using the fold method, create 25mm/1 inch bias tape
You'll now have a strip like this to cover the top edge of your cup
So that it is half open, pin the "bias" tape to the back of the cup so it is just covering the gathering stitch, then attach it.
Fold over the other edge of the bias tape, pin it in place, and sew it down to completely hide raw edges and any other stitches.
Pin the cup to the main front piece and sew
Sandwich the cup between the main fabric and lining like so, then sew together to add the lining
Turn everything inside out and it should look neat and tidy like so
It's a bit hard to explain in words, so follow the gif, but put the straight top edge of the side panels wrong side together and sew to line that part.
It'll now look like this. Unfortunately, the way I've done it means we cant enclose the armhole with a lining I don't think, but we'll overlock it later anyways!

Part 3: The smocked back

FYI: For this section, I did make a brief video tutorial on my tiktok which you can use if you aren't understanding the written instructions.

Get your back piece in the main and lining fabric, and put them right sides together
Seam along the top edge with a straight stitch
Open your fabric up, then sew the seam allowance onto the lining to secure it. Once you unfold it, the main fabric slightly rolls backwards, meaning your lining won't show up. this method is called understitching and it gives a nice professional look.
Mark a 1cm wide channel from the top, then make more down the panel 4cm apart. I ended up with 6.
Sew straight stitches along each line to make the channels, starting from the top
Measure half the the length of each channel, then subtract four to calculate the amount of elastic to go into the channels
Insert the elastic into its corresponding channel, making sure you pin it at each end so you don't lose it
Pin one side of the back piece to a side panel, wrong sides together
Sew the pieces together with a very small seam allowance (<5mm) and trim off excess once you've finished
Fold over the pieces so they are now right sides together and seam closed with a 5mm seam allowance, just enough to cover the raw edge

Congrats! You've just made a fabulous smocked back with french seams.

Part 4: The sleeves

Measure how long you need the strap to be. To do this, try on the bodice piece and see how much of your shoulder is not covered. Then, add 15cm to get your strap measurement
Cut out a rectangle with your strap measurement as the length and your desired sleeve length +3 as the width.
Fold the rectangle you just cut in half, and place you side panel 3cm from the top like so
Once you unfold it, the piece should look like this, and you'll need two
Before we start sewing, I'd recommend tapering down the side of the sleeve so that the bottom of the sleeve is your bicep measurement + 15cm
It should now look like this shape - my apologies, I forgot to take a photo before moving on to other steps!
Fold the top edge of the sleeve over 1/2 cm and press it in place.
Fold the edge again, this time 1.5-2cm (It should be your elastic width +0.25cm), this will become a channel for the elastic
Watch the birds outside with your kitty cats
Either roll hem the bottom of your sleeve or attach lace to finish the edge
Cut out two pieces of elastic that are your strap measurement - 20 (or alternatively, your strap measurement -5 before you added 15cm)
Insert a piece of elastic into each channel, pinning it at each side so you don't lose the elastic in the channel
Seam up the side of each sleeve. Of course, I chose to do a french seam to avoid overlocking.
Mark 2.5cm from the bottom of your sleeve the whole way around the inside of your sleeve with tailors chalk
Place your elastic on the line, put the needle down to secure, then pull the elastic as you sew to create tension, that when released, will form gathers. It's easiest to follow the gif below.

Repeat this for the other sleeve, they should look all cute like this now!
Matching the seams, pin the sleeves and bodice together like so
Once you sew the two pieces together, making sure you secure the elastic, overlock the raw edges
You now should have the bodice down pat, but I would recommend now pressing any parts that need pressing, as you can see in the picture, it's looking puffy in the wrong places!

Part 5: The skirt

Well done!! We're now almost finished and hopefully you're happy with what you've made so far, so let's get on with it. First off we are going to calculate our skirt, which will just be a simple gathered skirt.

Stretch out the bottom of the smocked section of your bodice and measure the length, mine was 44cm (This should be close to double of what the back panel is unstretched
Then, measure the bottom of the non-smocked section of the bodice, mine was 46cm
Double the measurement you got for your non-smocked section, the add the length of the smocked section (2*46+44=136) this should be a little more than double your waist. However, I would recommend possibly doing more. As with this project, I've realised that gathered skirts should generally be 2x your hips, not your waist, at least for me. This is because while 136 is definitely roomy for my waist, its only an extra 40cm for my hips.
Use this previous measurement x desired skirt length (I did 36cm) to cut out your skirt piece.
Roll hem the bottom of your skirt
5cm from the bottom of the skirt, pin lace along the entirety of the skirt
Sew down the lace with a matching thread
On the back of the skirt, make a line in the middle of where the lace is, using your stitches as a guide
As carefully as you possibly can, cut along this line
Use an iron to press open the fabric flaps
Then, use the iron again to fold in the raw edges to secure them before we sew, like the bottom
Sew down the folded parts, and be careful that you caught the edge in
Now it should look like this on the front, and just like that, you've successfully fagoted lace!
Now, mark out the length you got earlier of your stretched smocked piece (44cm for me) onto the top edge of the skirt
Then, starting at the other end of the top edge, sew a 4mm stitch with the tension on 9, stopping at the mark you made, since we don't need to gather it - the smocking will do it for us!
Gather up the gathered section until it's your desired length
French seam along the side of the skirt. If you haven't been doing french seams in this project, that's fine, but this is one spot where they are really useful, and they properly secure the raw edge of the lace without making them susceptible to stretching like they would with an overlocked seam.
Pin the skirt to the bodice, right sides together, making sure the ungathered part is pinned to the smocked part only, and the gathered part is pinned to the rest of the bodice
It kind of looks like a big dumpling...yeah...
Begin sewing the skirt to the bodice. When attaching the smocked part to the skirt, make sure to stretch it out as far as it goes, so that you have the full elasticity later on.
Overlock the edge, and you're all finished

I really hope you enjoyed the tutorial, cutie gals. It's definitely the longest one I've ever done, and the hardest, but the result is soooooo cute! As always, if you aren't understanding any part, comment down below or send me a DM on my social medias!

I've been doing my best to try and stockpile tutorials this holidays. Make lots of tutorials so that I won't forget to during school term, and I do have two others prepared, but I will be switching to a triweekly posting schedule, which I'll hopefully be able to stick to!

Have fun, get wild, and be sexy cutie gals!

~ Mina

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Tuesday, 14 April 2026