The Knot Dress was one of the very first sewing patterns I designed for sale almost 3 years ago. And I have decided to offer it here for FREE. With no zipper or button closures, it is super easy to sew and perfect for a beginner seamstress. With ties at the shoulders, back, and skirt – this dress is perfect for every little girl in your life! A great Easter dress or fun Summer sundress.
- Sizes – 2T thru 6T
- Skill Level – Beginner Friendly
- Time Needed – 2 to 4 hours
Little Girl Knot Dress – Free Dress Pattern.
Fabric used in the photos above: Hot Coral Red Pink Navajo Triangles Peach Skin Fabric found HERE.
Download the free Pattern and Instructions HERE.
**I have updated the pattern a little, so you will see a few pages that look out of place. And I also digitized the pattern files replacing the black hand drawn lines. After all, clean smooth lines are always better. It is still an older looking pattern – but this is what they all looked like 4 years ago :).
I simply ask that you refer your friends to this page when wanting to share the pattern! Please do not e-mail the file directly. Why? Because you see those ads on the sidebar? That is how I get paid. ‘Pageview traffic’ is part of my salary, and I appreciate every single person who visits my site! So thank you, thank you for being here and for downloading the Knot Dress, and for referring your friends to this site to do the same. It means the world to me :).
Also – you are more than welcome to sell dresses made by using this pattern. I would be absolutely delighted to know that I am helping a seamstress out there put food on her table in her handmade shop!
Furthermore, Don’t forget about the free matching 18″ Doll Knot Dress I posted about almost 2 years ago!
On a side note…
Why am I suddenly offering this pattern for free? What changed my mind???
With the advancements that have been made in digital sewing patterns, I made the decision to close my pattern shop. Having a pattern shop is wonderful if you are willing to dedicate the time and make it your number one priority. But it was never my dream, I simply got caught up in a ‘pattern designer‘ wave. 2015 is the year of focus for me, having a clear and steady goal. And because of that, I have been slowly removing the extra items from my path that were causing clutter.
Over the next few months I will be releasing patterns that were previously for sale, for FREE here on the blog. With all of my heart, I hope they bring joy to your sewing table.
*That is NOT to say I am discontinuing 5 & 10 Designs. That I DO LOVE. The collaboration between 5 incredible women who push me to think bigger and better. I simply leave the actual pattern creation to women within the group who are more capable than me.
I also think it should be noted that sewing patterns are worth spending money on. A free sewing pattern should never replace the quality patterns talented designers sell them for. Creating a quality pattern is a time-intensive process, in which designers should be compensated for. They take months to create from inception to completion. And if you want the best sewing experience possible, you should invest your money in sewing patterns that have excellent reviews when shopping around. And always, always measure yourself or your child and follow the size chart within that pattern. A good designer will even have a customer service e-mail to answer questions when you have them for sewing up patterns. So please – do not let free patterns on the web fool you into thinking that PDF patterns are not worth their money. The exact opposite is true.
I hope you can all understand – and that I cause no pattern designers grief in my decision. Having been on both ends of the spectrum, I know the inward groan they have when they see the words ‘free pattern’ on-line. I will always have the utmost respect for them.
Thank you so much for stopping by, and until next time…
Happy Sewing!
Jess. What can I say, you rock. Your honesty about your blog, your business choices.. It’s really refreshing. Also, this dress is adorable. It just jumped up my sewing queue!
Thank you so much TJ! I woke up worried how people would perceive this post this morning, and seeing your comment first thing made me feel so much better. You are the best! Thank you so much for taking the time to write and comment. Have a great day!
Thanks for offering this for free or at least for reminding me of the pattern. I think I might even have it already, but never got around to sew it. Now my daughter is 5 already and turns 6 in September. I better get busy sewing it up while it still fits!
Thanks Annika! Just a head’s up, in case you do not get around to it – Chloe is actually 8 (my daughter in the picture). It is an easy pattern to grade yourself – I did it on the fly using this pattern, and it fit her perfectly! 🙂
What a fantastically fun pattern! You are so generous to share it and I can’t wait to make one for each of my girls!
Yeah! Thanks so much Elisa!
This is so sweet! My daughter is slightly too big I think but I’ll keep an eye out for others. 🙂 I love free patterns but I’ll also spend money on something I feel I can use more than once. Love your blog!
Thanks so much!!! You are the best – and just a heads up, the pattern was really say to grade up! My daughter is 8 years old (seen in the photos), and I was able to grade the pattern up on the fly. Fits her great!
This dress is amazing, thanks a lot. I love this post and your honesty.
My girls would fall in love with It, thinking in enlarging one size for my big daughter.
Oh this is so adorable!! I need to get some new good knits and try it out!!
Thank you! Your work is very much appreciated! As a thrifty mom finding a new free pattern that I don’t have to feel guilty about (because how many dresses does she really need 🙂 is so refreshing.
i totally forgot about the matching doll dress! now i really have to make more!
I am so thankful for your pattern but for the life of me I can’t see where a link to download it is on this site. Did I miss it?
Thank you so much for this pattern! I have a young friend, she is 9, who desperately wants to learn how to sew and I need something easy but something that produces a real end product and this looks PERFECT! She is to big for the pattern herself, but the confidence this could bring her will be tremendous. Of course, that is if she actually likes sewing! Thank you for providing such a lovely pattern!
I love this design so much Jess! It really is adorable, and it’s perfect in that knit! I see some in Lola’s near future :).
Thank you for sharing the pattern Jess. All the best on your journey towards your goals!
thanks so much for the knot dress pattern. My girls love it.
The dress looks lovely, I will really enjoy sewing it for Project run and Play!
I am excited to give this a try! My niece will be thrilled that I can make matching doll’s dress for her!
I struggled with printing the pattern until I realized that “Auto Rotate and Center” seems to have been replaced with auto portrait/landscape. I thought I would comment in case anybody else has the same issue. 🙂
Jess, can this pattern be used with cotton, or is it a knit only pattern? Thanks for sharing, adorable on your girl 🙂
So LOVE this pattern. Have fabric for kiddos Easter dress but was not sure what I was going to do til I saw this!! Lovely.
Thank you so much for this pattern! I made it for my daughter with a modified skirt since I only had 1 yard of each fabric. I’d love to share pics of it 🙂
I ALWAYS love to see pics!!! If you want to post them on Instagram, simply tag me @jessrabbott – I always see pics when someone tags me!! Thanks so much! I can’t wait!!!
Hi Jess,
I’m in the process of working on this dress, and I cannot figure out where the bodice straps pattern is located. I didn’t realize it until I got to that part of the instructions. But, neither the back straps nor the bottom straps seem to be the right size. I didn’t see bodice straps in the pattern cut out. Am I missing something? Please direct me. Thanks so much!
Hi Dolly – the bodice straps are actually already on the bodice, which is why the shoulder piece is so long. Hope this helps! Thanks 🙂
Jess, I just want to tell you that you are absolutely amazing! Six months ago I started sewing. The first skirt that popped into my eye after glancing through hundreds of photos is your tulle and fabric skirt, and then I found out I am the lucky girl – you wrote a full tutorial about that! It was so easy to follow though I have never sewed one garment at that point. You truly included every single details that a beginner needs. These half a year I have sewed over 20 dresses for my girl. Sewing makes my life better, and makes me find a special way to bond with my girl. It all starts with your skirt tutorial. I want to thank you for that!
As a beginner, I do rely a lot on the free sewing patterns online. So I appreciate you taking the effort to write all the tutorials, and even release this wonderful pattern for free. But that being said, I totally agree with you that a good sewing pattern worth every single penny. I have a oliver + s book right here on my desk. The details in the book is just marvelous! I also loved 5+10 sewing pattern from the first time I saw it. I just see endless possibilities!!
Again, I just want to thank you again! I am sure there are lots of people out here just like me. You, and all other wonderful sewing bloggers, make our life that much brighter.
where it all starts from
http://i.imgur.com/9WbUXWn.jpg
a few of my recent projects
http://i.imgur.com/Fl9p0Ku.jpg
Thank you for this pattern! I don’t have grandchildren yet, but I keep them for later.
Hi! Thanks for the great pattern. Sewed up quick and easy! I did have to make the bodice smaller and he skirt longer but was a simple fix. It is such a great design! Here is my blog post about making it and the changes I made. http://chrissyweeks.blogspot.com/2015/03/easter-dress.html
Thank you for this beautiful pattern. I made my visiting granddaughter a dress for Easter using Michael Miller Night Flower Fairies fabric. It came out gorgeous. The ties made it easily adjustable, which was very helpful as I did not have her to try on until the day before. A million thanks!
Thanks for the pattern!! I LOVE it!! Just finished my first one. Definitely making the doll dress too!
I’ve always wanted to make this dress but had been waiting for the perfect fabric. Guess what? I found that perfect fabric in Walmart today. Can you believe it? I cannot wait to see my girl try it on tomorrow. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful pattern Jess!
http://i.imgur.com/oP42AsK.png
i really admire your committment to your goals – especially when it means you are putting your money where your mouth is! it’s very generous of you to share your talents so freely. i’m sure all kinds of good will come back around to you for being so kind 🙂
argghhhh. commitment 🙂
Hello Anita – I am sorry the link isn’t working! We are looking into it today. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your time, talent, and for generously sharing this beautiful pattern. I admire you for your choices and wish you much success in your endeavors.
Where did you find that super cute fabric for the dress?
Thank you for this lovely dress!!! I discovered it on pinterest. Soon there will be two happy girls in Germany wearing knot dresses while jumping around 😉
I absolutely love this pattern! Could you tell me what the sizes the gathered skirt should be for each size? I tend to over gather and I don’t want to ruin it!
Absolutely love this pattern!! One of a kind little knot dress. Question though before I begin- is cotton suitable for the pattern or strictly knit fabric? Thanks and best of luck in your future endeavors! Wonderful blog:-) Erica B.
Thank you! Cotton will work just fine 🙂
This looks like a great first sewing project for me! Whereabouts do you find cute fabrics like this dress is made from? Thanks 🙂
I have the pattern For the Knotty Dress sewing ePattern but cannot find the instructions for putting it together. I fave just spent considerable time looking for it to no avail. If you could send me the information I would appreciate it.
The pattern and instructions are in this post above as a link, all a part of one document -click on the larger text that says ‘Download the free Pattern and Instructions HERE.’
Thank you!
I love this dress. Thank you so much for sharing the pattern and tuto. I am sure that my grandchildren will be happy to wear the dress. Greetings from Paris.