How to Make a Life-Size Paper Dress

If you need to find a creative Halloween costume or dress up a clothing store window, a life-sized paper dress can help. Let your children help decorate the dress to add family fun to this craft. Use the craft as a shape lesson for younger kids, as the dress can be drawn by attaching several shapes together. A simple A-line dress is ideal for this craft because it is easily recognizable as a dress, regardless of its decorations.

Things You'll Need

• Roll of white butcher paper
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Ruler or straight edge
• Tape
• Spray adhesive
• Hole punch
• String

Instructions

1. Roll out your butcher paper. Have an adult lie down on the paper. Trace the adult's outline on the paper. This step makes measuring your life-sized dress easier.

2. Measure the distance from the outline's shoulders to its waist, then its waist to its knees, or longer if you prefer a longer life-sized dress. Measure the width of the outline's shoulders and waist.

3. Lay down additional butcher paper. Draw a square that matches the width of the shoulders and the height from the shoulders to the waist. Cut out the square. Cut out a small semi-circle in the center of the top of the square.

4. Add 12 inches to the distance from the waist to the knees. Double the shoulder-width measurement. Draw a triangle as tall as your new height measurement, with the bottom twice as wide as your original shoulder measurement. The triangle will be the skirt. Cut out the triangle.

5. Cut two rectangles 6 inches long and 4 inches wide. These will be your sleeves.

6. Lay your shapes together on another length of butcher paper, forming the shape of a dress. Lay the rectangles at a 45-degree angle at the top corners of the square. Lay the triangle on top of the square, overlapping it by several inches until the waist is the width you need. Fold the bottom corners of the square over the triangle. Tape the paper together as needed.

7. Trace the dress shape onto the butcher paper beneath the shapes. Remove the shapes and cut out your new life-sized paper dress. Decorate with such items as paint, buttons or rhinestones.

Tips & Warnings

• Traditional paper dresses for dolls include rectangular tabs on the shoulders and sides. Add these tabs but leave them undecorated if you're going for a paper-doll look.

• If you need this dress as a costume, glue several sheets of butcher paper together using spray adhesive before making your final cut-out. Use a hole punch to create holes on each side of the neck and attach a string so you can wear the dress around your neck.