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 is 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 there 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 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 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 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 healing 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 decades old, very thin cloth diaper.

Once the skirt has been pressed, divide the top edge into quarters and mark with pins. Divide the bottom of the skirt 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.

Nest 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 the eyelets end up in the 'dent' and only have to go through a minimum number of layers.