Medieval Elf Gown Tutorial - 2025

Medieval Fantasy Elf Gowns

In March 2025 SartoriaJ released some beautiful new elves in both SD and MSD sizes. They were shown wearing gorgeous outfits inspired by the elves in LOTR. However many people were very disappointed when the costumes were only available for the larger dolls, with nothing offered for the MSD versions. Which got me to thinking. I'd been wanting to make some 'elf' costumes for two years now, ever since my Elf Agnes arrived. I had even pulled fabrics to make them from. I thought maybe now would be the perfect time to actually make them, release the patterns, and take photos along the way to create a step-by-step tutorial.

These are the two gowns I made...

Starting at the Beginning

I have always loved this Pink Sari Gown, worn by Sarah and every other Fashion sized girl when they first arrived, including Agnes. It was originally intended to be an elaborate contemporary evening gown. But when I needed an extra 'Medieval' style gown for a photoshoot, I made some simple slip-on stretchy tricot lower sleeves to make the gown look more 'Medieval Fantasy'.

But I've found the original separate hanging sleeves to be difficult to deal with, as they snap onto a tight elastic band that is a challenge to put on over the doll's hands - or her hands have to be removed. Which is a pain. So, I thought I should rework the pattern so the sleeves are actually attached to the bodice. So, that's what I did. And while I was at it I made the lower part of the bodice a bit wider. The Pink Sari Gown was made from a pattern originally designed for a Slim Iplehouse FID with medium bust. My SartoriaJ 45APH girls are very close in size, but they do have much larger hips, so the bottom of the bodice could be a bit wider, both to better fit the doll's hips, and to accommodate the thickness of all the gathered skirt fabric.

Developing the New Patterns

Now, making nice fitting doll clothes in quarter scale is a challenge since we have no choice but to work with full size human scale fabrics. Even the finest fabrics available are still four times as thick as a proper quarter scale doll outfit should theoretically be made from. So, to minimize the number of seams, and the resulting thickness, I designed a one-piece bodice pattern to create a lovely close-fitting silhouette. The new pattern is made up of all the separate bodice pieces from the Pink Sari Gown pattern, with one big difference. In order to make attached sleeves, the new bodice needed the back to rise almost to the shoulder to create a half circle armhole curve for the bottom edge of the sleeves to be sewn onto.

So I needed to make a test sample. I traced the pattern template onto medium weight interfacing. This is a very important step as it keeps the bodice fabric rigid and prevents it from distorting due to parts of the pattern being on the fabric bias. For the test bodice I didn't need the top and bottom seam allowances, so just added seam allowances along the front darts...

After sewing the bodice darts, I tested the fit on Naomi. It was perfect. The back of the bodice does not overlap, as it will have eyelets and lace up, making it fit a wider range of MSD size dolls, all depending on how it's laced up.

With the new pattern tested and approved, it was time to start with the good fabric. I decided that I would make two gowns at the same time, both from scarves I'd found at Value Village. One of the gowns would be made from the leftover pink sequinned scarf I'd used for Agnes' pink and gray gown. The underskirt would be from a very fine, plain, pale pink, sari scarf.

The second gown would be from a silky mauve scarf with a wide dangly lace edge. The underskirt would be from a very fine, plain, lavender, sari scarf. I removed the wide lace trim from the silky scarf and would reattach it where needed later.

the Petticoats

Before starting on the two gowns, I first needed to make the petticoats to go underneath. I like to make them first since they will influence the shape of the gown worn over it. And I won't feel like making them after I've finished the dress. So, I cut out two sets of ruffles, and started sewing. I like lace on the bottom ruffles. I know it's not historically correct, but my gowns are 'Fantasy Medieval' and not bound by historical correctness in the first place, so I don't care. I like lace, so I'm using it.

I always make the petticoats with a wide, curved yoke at the top. That moves the bulk of the petticoat down out of the waist area and down to the hips, making for a nicer form-fitting bodice. I also never 'gather' the fabric into a waistband, as I find that gathering makes the fabric bulge out way too much, especially when making doll clothes at a smaller scale. Instead I always pleat the fabric into the waistband in order to keep the bulk down and create a smoother silhouette. I also pleated the lower ruffle by using long needle to fold the fabric under the presser foot as I slowly stitched on the sewing machine.

Getting Started

I've created a pdf with three pattern pages as shown. Note that some of the pieces are actual Patterns with seam allowances included, but all the important pieces are Templates, which do not include seam allowances. Those need to be traced onto the wrong side of the fabric, and cut out by adding extra seam allowances. The traced lines then become the stitching lines.

*Just click on any one to download the pdf, and print out the full size patterns. Note - the Full length sleeve template on the third page is not used for the first two gowns, just for the red, black, and gold version at the very end.

the Bodice

Trace the bodice template onto medium weight iron-on interfacing. Cut it out, adding seam allowances, then press it onto the wrong side of your chosen bodice fabric. Do not cut it out just yet. First pin the reinforced bodice piece right sides together to the lining fabric. Then cut out both fabrics at the same time, so both layers are identical.

Then, before removing pins, machine stitch up the back side, across the top, and down the other back side. Remove the pins, clip the corners and curves, and position the pattern template on the lining side and trace the darts and front seam allowances.

Machine stitch the side and back darts in the lining and reinforced bodice separately, on the wrong sides of each layer. Clip the darts.
The centre front darts are trickier, especially at the top, so it's important to baste them by hand first in order to get a nicely shaped bust. I find it helps to partially clip the curves (part way in) to make the two sides of the dart fit together nicely on the traced stitching lines. Yes, it takes way more time doing it by hand first, but it's definitely worth the extra effort. After basting, then you can stitch the darts on the machine. Then clip the curves all the way.

After sewing the bodice, turn it right side out, work out all the points, and then baste just across the top edge to hold everything in place, and create a nice flat edge. Then press carefully.

the Over Skirt

After making the bodice, the next step was to add the skirt, or if there's going to be more than one layer, then the overskirt first. For the mauve dress I cut the long pointy ends off of the triangular scarf and saved them for the hanging sleeves, then cut the next two sections of the scarf for the over skirt, and hemmed the bottom edges. (the side seams were already hemmed as they were the edges of the scarf)

The centre back of the skirt was stitched together halfway up, and then the long dangly lace was carefully reattached along the outer edge of the skirt, starting at the top on one side, going down and folding the lace at the corner, and hand stitching it to make a nice neat 90 degree corner. Then continue along the bottom, and making another 90 degree corner on the other end.

The lace overskirt for the pink gown was cut as long and wide as the leftover fabric would allow, and I hemmed both side seams.
To attach the skirt fabric to the bodice (just the reinforced bodice layer) I first use pins to mark the centre front of the bottom of the bodice, and then fold the bodice in half to find the middle point between the centre front and the back sides, marking them with pins. Then I take the skirt fabric, fold it into quarters, marking each section with a pin. Then I line up the pins on the bodice and skirt so the fabric is evenly distributed across the bottom of the bodice. Next, I start pleating the skirt fabric and pinning it in place along the bottom of the bodice.

I always pin everything first to make sure the fabric gets evenly distributed. That way should I run out of skirt fabric, or have too much left over by the time I get to the next section, it's easy enough to remove the pins and start over.

My sewing machine doesn't like stitching over pins, so I always baste the pleated skirt to the bodice before machine stitching along the traced seam line on the interfacing. Then I zig-zag to compress bulk at the edge.

The two gowns this far. Note that the two bodices are slightly different, as I had extended the front of the pink one a little. The pattern provided in this tutorial is the one used for the mauve gown

For the pink bodice I extended the bottom of the pattern front. I couldn't extend the bodice all the way around because of the way the side part of the one-piece pattern fits together. If you really want to extend the bodice all the way around, you'd need to divide the pattern up into separate pieces in order to accommodate the flare required at the bottom of each section.

the Underskirts

The sari scarves I chose to use as underskirts were of a very fine fabric as wispy as a spider web, so I went with maximum width at over 2 metres width. (don't try that width with thicker fabrics). I stitched rolled hems at the back edges of the skirts, stitched the two back ends together partway to the top, then stitched a rolled hem along the bottoms of the skirts....

Then the skirts needed pressing. NEVER use an iron directly on the fabric, especially if you don't know the fibre content. Always use a pressing cloth. Mine is a very thin, decades old, cloth diaper.

Once the skirt has been pressed, divide the top edge into quarters and mark with pins. Divide the bottom of the bodice edge into quarters as well, and line up the pins and pin the skirt fabric to the bodice. Then comes the challenging part of pleating the fabric in each section to one quarter of the bodice.

It involved some major overlapping...

Baste all the pleats in place before stitching the seam on the sewing machine. Then zig-zag the edge.

Trying the dresses on Naomi. They are just on loose, and the skirts still bulge out at the hips because the inside hasn't been finished yet.

Next step is to hand stitch the lining inside the bodice to cover the raw edges at the top of the skirt. But before doing that it's very important to trim away a bit of the thick seam where the eyelets will eventually go. It's practically impossible to put a small eyelet through that many layers of fabric. So by trimming away a bit of the seam where the eyelets need to go, they only have to go through a minimum number of layers of fabric.
(I forgot to take a photo of this step, so had to take one showing the lining inside the dress after the gown was already finished)

Hanging Sleeves

It took me a little while to figure out how to make lined hanging sleeves with the lace edges still showing at the front.
I didn't have much of the sequinned pink lace left, and had to figure out how to make two hanging sleeves out of it in order to make the over sleeves as long as possible. I tried stitching the two smaller pieces together, but decided it wasn't going to work.

I ended up cutting some off of the larger piece of lace and stitching it to the wider section of scrap, to make a pair...

I wanted the scalloped edge on the outside of the sleeve front, so that required a different method than a usual lined sleeve. I cut the sleeve lining from the same flimsy fabric as the underskirt. I cut it considerably bigger, then overlapped the lace edge onto the straight grain edge of the lining and stitched it down...

Then I folded the sleeve right sides together along the stitch line, and pinned it. Now you can see why I cut the lining so much bigger. With the fabric being so flimsy it would have been impossible to line up the edges if I'd cut it the same size as the lace sleeve. Then I stitched along the bottom and up the back edges of the sleeve, trimmed the excess fabric, zig-zagged the edges, and turned the sleeve right side out. Repeat for second one.

For the mauve gown I'd cut the ends off of the triangular scarf, and positioned the dangly lace along the side that had straight of grain, and attached the lace on an angle tapering down towards the bottom point....

Then I used the same technique as for the pink lace over-sleeves, and after turning them right side out, I top-stitched the edges.

And because I never consider anything complete without some beading, I beaded the front edges to add a bit of sparkle...

The next step was to make the upper sleeves. The upper sleeve template was traced onto medium weight iron-on interfacing, and pressed onto the dress fabric. Then I stitched decorative trim a seam allowance worth distance from the straight edge.

The reinforced upper sleeve was positioned right sides together on the cotton lining fabric, and the lining was cut out. Then the top edge of the sleeve was machine stitched. After clipping the corners and curves, it was turned right side out and pressed...

Next step was to baste the seam allowance at the bottom edge of the lining. This is to make it infinitely easier later to stitch the lining over the hanging sleeve seam later. Then stitch the upper sleeve side seam...

After stitching the side seams, turn the upper sleeve right side out...

Slide the upper sleeves onto the doll, to determine where exactly you'd like the opening of the hanging sleeves to be, pin the hanging sleeve front and back in place, making sure you create a PAIR, and hand stitch the fullness around the bottom of the upper sleeve by hand...

Now turn the upper sleeve inside out, and hand stitch the lining over the raw edge of the hanging sleeve. Then remove the basting thread in the lining so it doesn't catch the doll's fingers when dressing her.

Turn the sleeve right side out, and repeat for the second one, making sure you make a PAIR.

Finishing

Before sewing the sleeves to the gown, it's important to do any embellishing on the bodice front, as it gets a lot harder once the sleeves are attached and they constantly get in the way. The mauve bodice had lines from the scarf embroidery going haphazard across it thanks to the way it was cut from the fabric...

I needed to embellish the bodice front with more chain stitch embroidery, so had to find matching colours of embroidery thread...

Then I embroidered curlicues on the bodice front using chain stitch.
(I have a step by step tutorial on how to do the Chain Stitch)

I also embroidered the front of the pink bodice to match the embroidery in the lace, and embellished with sequins from the scrap lace. Now is also the time to insert the eyelets along the back, and to stitch the trim at the waist.

Then it was finally time to sew the sleeves on, matching the curves in the bodice and sleeves. Note that the trim at the waist curves below the seam lines at the back, folding in over the top of the skirt. That's so it doesn't interfere with the bottom eyelet.

Trying on the dress...

The next step was to do a row of picot beading around the neckline.
(I have a step by step illustrated guide on how to do Pecot Beading in my Tutorials)

I wanted to add a row of flowers along the neckline, and wanted to use the gold-edged ones I've had for decades, but I didn't have enough pink ones, so I had to dye some white ones with diluted pink acrylic paint...

The flowers were stitched to the bodice with three beads in each centre, starting with the flower in centre front, then going one direction, and then the other. Before doing that I first beaded much of the bodice because I found it too 'plain'. I also embellished the silver trim at the waist and upper armbands with purple beads. I was finding the dangly lace at the tops of the hanging sleeves a bit too 'dangly' so ended up trimming the ends back and securing the cut ends of the lace with FrayCheck.

the Back

Taking a closer look at the back. There are five eyelets on each side. Note that the silver trim curves downward at the back and folds under the top of the skirt.

The gown laces up the back, but the skirt tends to hang open a bit, so I fold a short length of matching colour ribbon, stitch the edges together and stitch it onto one side of the top of the skirt opening. It's for a snap fastener to neatly hold the top of the skirt together.

the Cap & Flower Wreath

I really like the beaded wired cap I'd made for some of Naomi's gowns, and thought the mauve elf gown could use one as well. So I traced the cap template onto medium iron-on interfacing twice. I pressed the interfacing onto the wrong side of the mauve fabric, then cut the two pieces out along with the cotton lining fabric. I stitched the cap together, and then realized I was supposed to attach the trim BEFORE attaching the lining. So I started over and cut out two more cap pieces and lining.

The centre seams of the cap and lining are each sewn together. Then the trim is sewn a seam allowance away from the front edge of the cap. Then the lining is pinned to the cap right sides together, and the outside seam is stitched, leaving an opening at the centre back to facilitate turning the cap right side out. Clip the corners and curves, turn the cap right side out, and stitch the back opening closed. I always baste the finished edges to make nice crisp edges.

Then it's time to add the wiring. I use a medium gauge wire (the label fell off years ago so I don't know the actual size) and start by making a small curl at the end of the wire and stitching it to the centre back of the cap lining, being careful not to stitch through to the good side. Then I stitch the wire to the cap as shown in the photo below, ending with another curl at centre back. Then I start picot beading all the way around...

The good side...

The finished cap showing all the beading.

The pink lace gown demanded a flower wreath instead of a cap. So I crocheted a chain stitch long enough to fit over and around the doll's wig, then single crocheted in every chain stitch, and then a second row of single crochet. The ends were stitched together, and then the flowers were stitched to the head band. After going all the way around, I stitched two pink silk ribbon bows to the back.

Final Details

Both gowns required a jewelled chain hanging from the waist at centre front. So I measured a length of chain, cut it, and added a row of beads and jewelry caps to both ends. I also needed something to go in centre front at the waist, but didn't have anything suitable, so made it from a flattened filagree bead cap, with a large rhinestone and string of gold beads glued to the middle.

The Pink Gown

After stitching the final jewelry to the gowns, and making a simple pair of stretch under sleeves, the gowns were almost finished. I decided the pink lace overskirt wasn't quite long enough, so added a wide pink lace to the bottom to lengthen it. I also wasn't happy with the plain edge of the lace hanging sleeve, so did picot beading along the edge all the way to the bottom.

the Mauve Gown

I felt the mauve hanging sleeve still needed something, so cut another even longer hanging sleeve from pale lavender nylon tricot and stitched it into the inside of the upper sleeve.

And both gowns were finally finished...

A Red Version

I came across a gorgeous red ombre brocade at Value Village, and decided to make a gown using the same pattern for my Queen Monica, who loves the colour red. So I gathered fabrics and trims I thought might work with it...

This dress was made the same way as the elf gowns above, so I'm not going to explain every little detail. The only difference is that this gown has long fitted fabric sleeves and totally different hanging sleeves.

I wanted a dark bodice, so chose a dark red and black brocade, and after reinforcing it with an iron on interfacing, then layered some patterned black tulle over top..

I basted all the edges, as well as the centers of all the darts, to firmly hold there tulle in place....

Then some gold lace was centered and basted onto the centre front panel...and zig-zagged in place

Then the bodice was pinned to the lining fabric, and cut out....

The bodice was stitched together...

the Skirt

I wanted a bit of a train on the back of the skirt, but because of the fancy design along the edge of the fabric, I had to add the extra length at the top of the skirt. However, that makes the top of the skirt fuller than the bottom, so to cut down the amount of excess fabric width at the top of the skirt I stitched a series of large darts, cut away the excess fabric, and zig-zagged the raw edges. Then the skirt actually flared out towards the bottom...

The top of the skirt was pleated onto the bottom of the bodice, stitched, and then the bodice lining sewn in place to cover the raw edges.

the Under Sleeves

I cut out the sleeve lining, and the lower section of the sleeve. Making sure they were a PAIR. Before sewing the bottom wrist seams together, I first cut a length of narrow lace three times as wide as the end of the sleeve. Hemmed the ends and pleated the lace onto the ends of the sleeves between the seam allowance lines.

I stitched the bottom seams. Then on right side of good sleeve fabric stitched the trim at the wrists. Then turned the sleeves right sides together and stitched the sides of the sleeves up to where indicated on the pattern. Clipped the corners, turned them right side out and pressed them. I trace upper sleeve template onto iron-on interfacing, pressed it onto the wrong side of the bodice fabric, and positioned black tulle over the red brocade. Pinned the right side of red upper sleeve under wrong side of sleeve lining, and stitched across top.

Clipped the corners and curves and turned them right side out, and zig-zagged the edge of the upper sleeve. Then it was also the best time to add any beading to the sleeves. I chose tiny 2 mm beads to stitch into the centre of every hexagon design on the sleeves, keeping away from the edges, since my sewing machine doesn't like sewing over beads, and I'm too lazy to switch the presser foot.

Then the side seams of the sleeves were sewn, and zig-zagged, and the lower side flap was hand stitched down onto the lining to provide an overlap for attaching snaps along the edge of the lower sleeves.

the Hanging Sleeves

I decided on a different style of hanging sleeve for this dress, wider at the bottom that at the top. I wanted the edge design of the fabric on the front of the hanging sleeves, but it was way too wide. So I stitched a narrow gold trim down the centre of the edge design...

Then I stitched the two long side seams together..

I folded the sleeve with the trim inside just off centre, and stitched a large curve along the bottom. Cut off the extra fabric, clipped the curve and zig-zagged it. Then turned it right side out through the top opening.

After pressing the hanging sleeve with my steam iron, I picot beaded the entire edge on both of them with gold and black seed beads. Then I hand stitched the hanging sleeve to the sleeve over the seam where the upper sleeve ends, and then hand stitched the trim over top of that raw edge. Then I stitched on the trim at the waist, and attached the sleeves...

Then I finished the neckline. First, I did a picot beaded edge with black and gold crystal beads. Then the same red and gold trim as on the hanging sleeves was hand stitched along the edge of the beading. I started in centre front in order to make sure one of the circle designs in the trim would be entered, then worked out from one side and then the other. I stitched gold beads along the edge of the trim. Then I hand stitched some very narrow white lace inside the edge of the bodice. And I made her two necklaces...

I made a jewel and beaded chain for the centre front and stitched those in place, and the gown was finished.

Another Version

I started gathering the fabrics for two more gowns using my new pattern. I've wanted to make something out of the patterned, multi-colour, sheer, cut velour fabric ever since I found it atValue Village. I figured green and purple would be the perfect compliments....

With the bodice and skirts sewn together, I started working on the sleeves. Because these two gowns were being made exactly the same way as the earlier gowns, I didn't bother taking step by step photos until now. So, with the lower sleeves made, it was time for some 'design work' where I pin things together to see how it would look. I used some Kleenex to simulate white puffs, and pinned fabrics to see how hanging sleeves would look....

I also tried a few other things ... like some large lace leaves, and borrowing a hat ... to see how that would look.

A few weeks later and the main sleeve units are done. It's been taking way longer than usual because I have too many other things on the go. The narrow green ribbons were stitched evenly spaced, directly onto the white puff fabric. The final trim above the puffs is waiting to be added after the hanging sleeves are attached.

The trim at the waist is just pinned and still needs to be stitched on.

I'm making two similar gowns, and didn't think the trim on the skirt was distinct enough, even after adding the gold beads along the front of the trim, so am in the process of adding two rows of beading - larger purple beads in the trim itself, and picot beading with gold and pink along the skirt front edges.

I also didn't like the 'dotted line'' look of the bodice beading, so filled in the spaces between the gold beads with pink beads to create a solid line.

The hanging sleeves are also well under way.

Two sets of dagged sleeves would have been too much work, especially since I plan on beading the edges, and even though I could have fit two sets out of the fancy fabric, there wasn't enough of the wine lining fabric, so just one gown will have the dagged sleeves, and the other will have the more plain ones like the red gown I made. Those will also get beaded edges. So, still lots of beading to do before the sleeves can get sewn together and then attached to the bodice, before the top edges of the bodices can get finished.

I've been working on two very similar Medieval Fantasy gowns for a while. It took a long time due to all the beading. Fortunately I had been working on both of them in tandem up until the hanging sleeves, so after the first gown was finished I didn't have to start right from the beginning with the second one.

The gowns were inspired by a gorgeous multi-coloured semi-sheer velour I found at Value Village, and the first gown has simple, straight, hanging sleeves.

Serena in the first finished gown...

The second gown is almost identical except it has dagged hanging sleeves, which take WAY more time to embroider and bead (several days each)

The next step is to attach the hanging sleeves to the under sleeve and sew the sleeve units to the bodice. Then I can finally embellish the neckline and finish the second gown.