Free Shipping on orders $50 or more! Use code SHIPFREE50 at checkout. (US orders only, does not combine)

News

Making the 107 Afghan Dress Bodice - Tips and Tricks

September 11, 2025 2 Comments

I love our 107 Afghan Dress sewing pattern! It is one of our patterns that invites creativity, embleshments, and unabashed, joyful fabric combinations. It also honors the skill and tradition of women in the Afghanistan region who first created these iconic and stunning dresses.

There are so many directions to take this dress. The pattern has 3 different embroidery options for the bodice (with tons of ideas in each), and embroidery designs you can add to the cuffs as well. Or make your own embroidery designs to add to the bodice, neckline, or cuffs. Or use embroidered ribbons on the front and/or cuffs. And of course, there are tons of ways to combine fabrics in each piece to make something truly unique. You can hardly not make a statement piece with this pattern!

And we do see that some customers find the bodice, in particular, to be a bit challenging to construct. Like many of our traditional/folk patterns, it is not constructed like a typical Western, modern sewing pattern. So, today, I am going to walk you through the construction of the bodice. The skirt is basically lengths of fabric (however long you want them to be) cut to be the width of your fabric and sewn together at the edges, and then gathered at the waist to fit the bodice. And maybe we will cover the skirt in a different post, but today, we focus on the bodice.

You can also see a quick tutorial on how the sleeve comes together here. And in this post, we will cover some of that, but go a little further in depth with the bodice construction.

Fabric Choice and Pattern

One of the fun parts of this pattern is picking the fabric. This is a perfect time to go through your stash and your fabric scraps and pick out what ones are calling to you. Put them all together and see what works. You can have different fabrics for each of the pieces of the pattern. You can even use different fabrics for panels in the skirt. The skirt takes the most fabric, so just keep that in mind when you are going through your fabrics or picking out fabric. For the dress I made here, I used a 2.25 yard piece, which was just enough to make this shorter version. If I wanted a longer skirt, I would have needed at least 3 yards. To make the full-length version, I would have needed at least 3.5 to 4 yards of fabric.

You should also think about fabric weights and textures. Mixing textures is a great idea -- using velvet, cotton, embroidered fabrics, piques, etc. Though I would suggest keeping the fabric weights similar. You don't necessarily want a heavy denim with a lightweight lawn. The bodice, waistband, and gusset are sewn with two layers (though you can also make them with just one), but this is to help provide stability to the skirt, which can be quite heavy, depending on how much fabric you use. So, that is another consideration. I have made this dress before and loved it, but with the shorter skirt that I like, a very lightweight fabric (while practical to sew) feels like I might flash someone easily. This time around, I wanted to try a heavier-weight fabric for the skirt. Which meant I was definitely going to use a double layer in the bodice, gussets, and waistband. And I ended up picking lawns for those fabrics, so the double layer was critical.

Below is the collection of fabric I pulled out as my options for this dress. I narrowed it down to 5 fabrics, one of which was double-sided (floral print on one side, chambray on the other).

pile of coordinating fabrics on the floor

Then, you will want to look at your pattern pieces. I decided to make a size medium even though I measure to fit a size small. I know the bodice is close-fitting (but has no darts or shaping), and with the lawns for the bodice, I didn't want to be pulling on seams to get in and out of the dress. The size small might have been a better choice for fitting me, though. Read more about fitting and sizing this dress up in this blog post.

Once you have your fabric picked out and your pattern cut out, you can cut into your fabric. Cut two of the bodice, waistband, and upper and middle sleeve. Cut 4 gussets and sleeve cuffs (two will face inside and two will face outside). And cut your skirt fabric. These smaller pieces are a great way to use up scraps. You can see that I used a scrap of fabric for the upper sleeve of this dress.

pattern piece on a scrap of light yellow fabric

To cut the skirt, determine how long you want the skirt to be. Cutting the skirt is a place to do a little math. The bodice should end about 1 inch below your underbust. Measure from there to the length you want the skirt to fall, and add 1 inch (or more) for seam and hem allowances. For my skirt, I only had 2.25 yards, so I divided that by 3 (how many panels I wanted in the skirt) and cut the yardage into 27" lengths. If my fabric had been wide (say, 60"), I might have been able to go with just 2 panels and cut a longer skirt (if I had wanted). You don't have to follow the pattern exactly for the skirt -- go with what you want to do for length and fullness of the skirt.

When cutting the bodice, you will also cut out the neckline opening and slit at the same time. Note that the front of the bodice piece is the edge with the rounded neckline. And the back has the slit. I like to wear the dress with the slit in the front (it is more comfortable and flattering, for me). So keep that in mind when you are making the dress. The bodice and sleeves are the same for the front and back. The bodice is not fitted, so you can decide what you want to do. You could even switch the cutting lines for the front and back neckline.

Bodice to Waistband

The first thing to do is to sew each waistband piece to the front of the bodice (you could add the waistband to the back of the bodice if you want to make the back the front, but you will mess up where the notches go, etc, which is not a big deal if you are ok with putting it together without those markings). Anyway, each waistband piece goes to one of the layers of the front of the bodice. Note that the back of the bodice does not get any waistband pieces added to it. This is a mistake I sometimes see, which can mess up how the sleeve fits.

Now place the bodice pieces on top of each other with wrong sides together. Baste them together along the sides, about 1.5 inches from the sides. Then, stay stitch very close to the edge of the neckline through both layers of fabric.

dark blue floral fabric bodice on a green cutting mat

Neckline

The neckline of the bodice is finished with bias tape. You can use store-bought bias tape or make your own. You only need about 36" or less, so making your own is an easy option. You can see a tutorial for how to make bias tape here (and here). And a video on how to make continuous bias tape (especially helpful when you need lots of bias tape or have a small rectangle of fabric to use).

bias tape maker with teal bias on an ironing board with an iron

You will pin the bias tape to the wrong side of the neckline, starting on the rounded edge (or on a long part of the slit) and fold over 1/2" on the end you start to pin down. Pin, and then sew along 1/4" seam line. Then fold the bias to the right side of the bodice and whipstitch, with invisible stitching, the bias to the right side of the bodice neckline. If you have trouble sewing around the bottom of the slit, you can unpick your stitches (I had to do this once), and then stitch slowly around the slit, moving the bias tape around as needed to keep extra folds out of the stitches. If you need to, it may help to hand-baste some of the bias down first so that you are comfortable stitching with a machine.

close up of bias tape around the neckline of the dress

Sleeves

First of all, if you want to make the sleeves in all the same fabric, you can tape the sleeve pieces together (upper, middle, and cuff/lower) together, overlapping seam allowances, and cut all as one piece. I used three different fabrics, so you will see all three sleeve pieces here.

At the top of the upper sleeve, you will make several small pleats. Make 5 for sizes small and medium, and 4 for size large. These pleats can be adjusted up or down to help fit the sleeve when it is added to the bodice, but for now, make the number indicated and baste them in place.

To make a pleat, you can snip into the pleat line by a scant 1/4" and the fold from the line to the dot, matching the line on the fabric to the dot. The pleats should fall from back to front, but it doesn't matter too much (if you put the sleeves on the other way, that is fine). You could also gather this section instead of making pleats if you would rather. The gathers would be adjusted when you sew the sleeve to the bodice in the next step. Again, there are lots of options.

close up of 5 pleats on a light yellow fabric

Once the pleats are done, sew the upper sleeve to the middle sleeve, matching notches. Then sew the middle sleeve to the lower sleeve (cuff), matching notches. You could use French seams here if you want. These seams are straight, and a French seam would give you a nice finish if you have lightweight fabrics. Otherwise, you will need to finish these seams with a serger, zigzag stitching, pinking shears, or another way. Note the sheerness of your fabric when you decide how to finish and press your seams. I didn't like how the light thread of my serger showed through on the lower sleeve, so I removed it. You don't necessarily have to finish the lower seam (between lower sleeve and middle sleeve) because it will be covered by the cuff facing.

Once these sleeve pieces are together, you will add the gussets.

Gussets to Sleeve

This is where the sleeve construction can be a bit confusing, but if you follow the directions and use the notches (and starts and dots) to guide, you shouldn't have any trouble. Place two gussets (layered together) on the upper sleeve with right sides together and with the stars matching. Stitch from the star to the edge along the seam line.

You can see the two layers of the gusset and the stars are going to match.

Now fold the sleeve in half at the shoulder with right sides together, and match the star on the other side of the upper sleeve to the star on the gusset and stitch from the star to the edge on the other side of the sleeve.

matching start on gusset to other side of sleeve

This is what the sleeve will look like when you match the other side of of the gusset to the other side of the sleeve.

Now you will pin the rest of the underside of the sleeve together from the star to the cuff/lower sleeve. Be sure to match seam lines.

sleeve pinned on under side with gusset showing

close up of seamline of gusset and sleeve

You can see the seam line for the sleeve meets at the star on the underarm of the sleeve.

finished sleeve, inside out on a green cutting mat.

Sleeve and gusset sewn together, and sleeve is inside out.

sleeve and gusset sewn together and sleeve is right side out.

Here you can see the sleeve and gusset (right side out). The sleeve pleats at the shoulder and the gusset at the underarm.

Sleeve Cuff

Next, we add the facing to the cuff or lower sleeve. The facings will be the two cuffs you did not use yet. You will sew each together at the short ends. I used a different fabric for my cuff facings because they show when the dress is worn, and I thought a different fabric would be fun. The sleeves are very wide at the bottom, and I have seen other people make this dress into a fitted cuff, gathering the fabric into a cuff they make themself. When this dress is traditionally made, the sleeves and cuffs are even wider and cover the hands (perhaps to show the woman is well off enough to not have to work) and there are hooks inside the sleeve to be able to shorten the sleeve in order to use the hands. Anyway, sew the facings together and place them, with right sides together, over the cuff or lower sleeve (and match seams).

cuff facing over cuff with right sides together

Once sewn in place, press the seam open or to the facing and turn the raw edge of the facing 1/2" to the wrong side.

Now fold the facing up so the folded edge of cuff matches the seam line of the cuff and middle sleeve. Press. Whip stitch in place, being careful to keep the stitches in the seam allowance.

facing folded up to meet seamline and pressed

Sleeve to Bodice

Starting with the bodice, you will pin the lining of the bodice out of the way while we work to add the sleeves. Fold back the lining fabric of the bodice at the basting lines from earlier and pin it out of the way.

bodice with wrong side up and lining fabric pinned out of the way.

Now you will pin the sleeve to the bodice with right sides together. The entire sleeve opening, including the gusset, is pinned and sewn to each whole side of the bodice (including the waistband). You will match the dots on the gusset with the dot on the waistband and the dot on the back of the bodice. And you will match the notches on the sleeve with the notches on the bodice. Pin the sleeve to the bodice and adjust the pleats as needed so that everything matches and lines up.

sleeve pinned to the bodice of the dress

Here the sleeve is pinned to the bodice, with right sides together (sleeve is inside the bodice). The gussets line up with the bottom of the back of the bodice and the waistband at the bodice front. The pleats are at the shoulder. And the bodice lining is pinned out of the way.

You will sew from one bottom edge . . .

. . . over the shoulder . . .

. . . and down to the other gusset edge.

If you are making the traditional dress, you will sew from dot to dot on the gussets (not quite to the edge), but for the more modern dress, you can sew right to the edge on the front and back. For the traditional dress, you will trim the inside layers of fabric by 1/4" and then turn up 1/4" twice for outside fabric (enclosing the inside fabric) and sew a narrow seam. This will then be sewn to the outside of the gathered skirt to provide more stability to the dress for the fuller skirt. But for the modern dress (this one!), we don't need to do that.

Now, unpin the lining fabric inside the bodice and press under 1/2" on the edge of the lining that faces the sleeve so that the folded edge matches the seam line. Then you will whip stitch the sleeve lining to the seam.

sleeve and bodice with lining facing to seamline

Now your bodice is finished and you can work on the skirt section!

I hope this helps you understand this pattern a little more! It is not difficult, but it is not a typical sewing pattern construction.

Let me know what more you would like to see!

2 Responses

Molly

September 18, 2025

I can see how that wording is confusing. The bodice is supposed to be tight to the chest (so close-fitting would be a better word), but it is not “fitted” as in it has no darts or shaping to fit it to the chest. I hope that helps!

Mae

September 17, 2025

“ I know the bodice is fitted…” then later you say “ The bodice is not fitted, so you can decide what you want to do.”
I found this confusing, especially as it does seem the bodice is fitted.