Short summer dress with sleeves, mini to knee

A short summer dress with sleeves gives you bare legs and covered shoulders. Most hot days ask for exactly that. We sew them as minis and knee-length cuts with anything from a small flutter sleeve to a full one gathered on a cuff, and since they’re warm-season styles, the cold months are a fine time to settle on a cut.

Flutter, tie or cuff, and what each sleeve does

Start with the smallest. Our flutter sleeve only covers the top of the shoulder and leaves the arm free, and we put it on silk-look satin minis with a square neck, in white, pink and light blue. It’s our pick for real heat. That satin is thin with a soft matte sheen, so nothing drags on you at noon.

Next comes the short sleeve with a slit and ties. You knot it yourself, which means you decide how wide it sits on the arm. The yellow floral wrap mini has it, along with a flounce collar. So does a pink wrap mini we cut from double-layer cotton muslin, and those two layers keep it from showing through.

Then the long ones. Sounds odd for July? A light sleeve on a cuff keeps the sun off at midday and takes the chill out of an early morning. Our light blue mini with red flowers has a puffed one, a fitted bodice and a tiered skirt that flares. Those tiers add a little width at the hip, so the dress evens out a figure with broader shoulders.

Above the knee or right at it

Most of these stop well above the knee. On a wrap mini the knot at your waist decides the fit, and flat sandals or white sneakers are all it needs. Easy.

Want more cover? The lemon polka-dot dress ends at the knee, with a fitted bodice, a V at the neck and a skirt that flares out so you can move. There’s also a black one to the knee with long sleeves and an open shoulder line. We’d skip a necklace with that neckline and wear earrings you can see, hair pinned up. More hems like these are among our knee-length summer cuts.

Sizing a short hem before the season

With a wrap, measure your bust first, because the tie takes care of the waist. Fitted bodices need both numbers checked against the table on the product page. Each style is made in XS through XL, with M close to a US 6–8. Stuck between two? Our manager will look at your measurements and name one.

Frequently asked questions

Which sleeve is coolest on a very hot day?

The flutter one. It rests on the shoulder and stops there. You’ll see all of them with our short sleeve summer styles.

Is the muslin mini see-through?

No. We sew the pink wrap from two layers of cotton muslin for that reason, and it still feels light on.

Won’t a long sleeve be too warm in summer?

Not when the fabric is thin and the sleeve is loose above the cuff. It also saves your arms from the sun. Covered-arm cuts sit together under summer dresses with long sleeves.

When do these dresses come back?

Once it’s warm again, they’re back in the catalog. Until then, compare the cuts here, take your measurements and browse the rest of our summer collection.