Tulip Quilt Block Dress

If you know me, you know how much I LOVE all things quilts. I love the craftsmanship that goes into them, how each one is unique and the sweet nostalgia they bring. We use quilts all throughout the house. My kitchen curtains are made from a repurposed quilt top, and I have so much fun incorporating old (and new) quilts into clothing. A few weeks ago I had the idea to make some tulip quilt squares and add them to a dress. I wasn’t sure exactly how it would all come together, but once the idea was born, I was all in.

Making the Tulip Quilt Blocks

After looking at a few different patterns, I decided to use this tulip quilt block one. I liked that it had different size options, and you could use a bunch of different fabrics to add texture and variety to the flowers. The instructions were easy to follow, and the final product was exactly what I wanted.

I went with the 12″ blocks, and made 8 of them to go around the bottom tier of my dress. I “shopped” in my scrap fabric box and was able to make a bunch of different colored tulips. My goal was bright, springy colors like yellow, pink, purple and blue. The end result was better than I imagined!

Once all the quilt blocks were finished, I decided the white background needed to be broken up by some color. I pulled out a simple yellow floral fabric that definitely did the job! I trimmed each tulip quilt block to be 10″ x 12″ and cut 2 1/2″ x 12″ strips of the yellow fabric. Then I sewed it all together into a big loop that would eventually be sewn onto to the dress skirt. Now that the tulips were finished it was time to work on the dress!

Making the Dress

For this dress I decided to do a mash up of two of my favorite dress patterns: the top from the Syd Tie Dress and the skirt* (see below about that modification) from the Skyline Dress, both patterns from Syd Graham Patterns. I did a few modifications to the top – buttons and elastic instead of ties, and I shortened the sleeves to make them hit at the elbow. The result was exactly what I was envisioning for this dress, and I LOVE how it all came together.
The fabric for the dress is Essex Linen from Hobby Lobby.

*When it comes to adding the tulips to the skirt, you’ll need to cut the bottom skirt tier to be the same width as the tulip quilt block loop. Make sure you take into account the seam allowance! If done correctly, the tulips should fit perfectly around the skirt tier.

Before fully constructing the dress, I added the tulip quilt block loop to the bottom skirt tier. First I ironed down the top and bottom raw edges of the loop 1/4″. Then I played around with the positioning, and ended up attaching it 6″ below the top of the skirt tier. I measured every few inches to make sure it was placed evenly, and used lots and lots of pins! Once the top and bottom were pinned to the skirt, I topstitched across the top and bottom edges to secure them to the skirt. Then I quilted the tulips by following the outline of the flowers and each side of the blocks and yellow strips. It took a lot of time, but it was so worth it for the final result!

Once the bottom skirt tier was finished, I assembled the rest of the dress following the pattern instructions. This dress probably took me over 24 total hours to complete, but the end product was definitely worth all the effort. This tulip quilt block dress has easily become my new favorite dress, and you know I’ll be wearing it on repeat in the upcoming months!

Looking for some more dress and sewing inspo? Check out this post on Nursing Friendly Dress Patterns. Or you may enjoy my tutorial on how to make a Patchwork Dress!

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Let me know what you think of the dress in the comments below! And if you give one a try, I would LOVE to hear how it went :)