Buffet Dress - How to make a buffet dress without a sewing pattern!

Sewzy Wong
Apr 15, 2021
2 min read

Love the buffet dresses seen in the Great British Sewing Bee 2021? Want to start making one but don't have a sewing pattern for it? Fret not! You can create a buffet dress or a "tiered dress" without a pattern.

You can make it as long or as voluminous as you like!

This is how I made it:

How to make a Buffet Dress?

Make your own pattern for the front and back bodice. This piece covers your décolleté. To make it, find your favourite non-stretch top from your wardrobe. Place it on a piece of pattern paper and trace the front and back bodice pieces. Slash the pattern from the bottom edge, shortening the lengths of both pieces to just above your upper bust.
Create the tiers. You can make as many tiers as you like. I grew my tiers from a 80cm x 15cm rectangle for the top one, to the "biggest tier" at the bottom at 120cm x 15cm - increasing the width of the rectangle by 20cm each time. For my dress, there are three tiers, and there is a front and back for each tier. This means I cut 6 rectangles: 2x (80cm x 15cm); 2x (100cm x 15cm) and 2x (120cm x 15cm).
Gather the top and bottom of each rectangle to fit the adjacent pattern pieces. Once your dress front and dress back are put together, sew them together by the side seams and the shoulder seams.
Open up the armholes. By now, your side seams are closed but your arm holes are too small! Simply cut open the armhole, and close them with bias binding. Ditto the neckline!