How to Sew the Perfect Sweater Dress

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I have been on a quest to find the perfect sweater dress for years. I’m talking YEARS. Since I have yet to find the perfect ready-to-wear one, this is how to sew the perfect sweater dress.

Sweater dresses are great. It’s a way to wear a dress in cooler temperatures but still, be warm.

Ready-to-wear sweater dresses tend to be clingy and tight. If I size up then I feel like I’m wearing a potato sack and there’s no shape. So the way for me to have the perfect sweater dress is to sew one myself.

Elements of the Perfect Sweater Dress

There are certain elements of a sweater dress that I love and wanted to incorporate.

• sweater knit fabric – the dress needs to be soft and cozy. Therefore the sweater knit fabric needs to be thick enough and substantial enough. Make sure it is not a loose-knit as you will want coverage. Sweater knit fabrics come in a variety of weights – too thin will result in a dress that may be clingy. The sweater fabric I used was 10.5 oz which I found to be the perfect weight for our west coast climate.
• slim-fitting, like a t-shirt dress. Now, of course, your perfect sweater dress can be any silhouette, but the ones that I am drawn to have simple clean lines, but are not boxy, nor clingy.
• cowl neck – all the sweater dresses I love have a cowl neckline. Nothing says sweater dress like a cowl neck. Think of a cowl neck as a drapey turtle neck. The neckline seems to be lower – much like a scoop neck which I think helps you not overheat when wearing a sweater dress. Okay, so you don’t HAVE to have a cowl neck, but the ones I like tend to have that.

Sewing Patterns to Sew the Perfect Sweater Dress

Here are some patterns that I thought about in order to sew the perfect sweater dress.

• New Horizons Knoxville Top – again, this is a top (which is great). I love the twist detail and it has a cowl neck option! I would extend the length to dress length. This was my original plan before the Magnolia Tee version but I found that the bodice pattern with the twist used too much fabric. I only had 2 yards and it wasn’t enough to make a dress.

• Sonia Estep Magnolia Tee – this is a nicely drafted tee that, when extended makes a great t-shirt dress. It’s slim-fitting, but not clingy. The scoop neck makes it easy to accommodate a cowl neckline. This pattern is available for FREE – you just need to get the code from the Sonia Estep Designs Facebook Page. The code is located in the first comment of the announcement post.

So all I had to do was add a cowl neck to the Magnolia Tee. I used the cowl neck pattern piece from the Knoxville Top and simply added it to the scoop neck of the Magnolia Tee and thus, my perfect sweater dress was created. It matched all my criteria.

You’ll notice that I did not add pockets. I have been known to add pockets to everything, but with this particular sweater knit, I was worried about the excess bulk in the hip area. I was also concerned that with this sweater fabric, any extra weight would pull it down and distort the silhouette. If I did add pockets, it would be with lightweight fabric so that it would not be obvious.

Okay, so I was on a sweater dress roll. I decided to try a totally different pattern. One of my favourite dress patterns is this one:

Penelope Dress by Made for Mermaids – this is not a traditional sweater dress as per my description above. It doesn’t have a cowl neck but it has princess seams and they are amazing. They give a body without shape (ahem, mine), some shape! I made this sweater dress using a tricolour hacci sweater knit fabric from So Sew English.

Now you’ll notice that I did add pockets to this pattern. This particular hacci fabric seems a bit more substantial and therefore could withstand the weight of pockets. This particular does not include pockets, but they’re easy to add. Just check out my post on how to add inseam pockets for information.

How to Style Your Sweater Dress

Sweater dresses can be styled in a number of ways during the winter months. It can also be styled as a transition piece during fall. Here are some ideas.

• wear with tights
• pair with sneakers for a street casual look
• with boots – both heeled and flat boots
• consider thigh-high boots – keeps your legs warm and you don’t need to wear tights! This is my personal favourite as I’m not a fan of tights.

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