Monday, February 17










For this creation I wanted to make a real fancy dress for a special occasion. To achieve this I have altered the bodice of the pattern quite dramatically but with quite little ease. I wanted to make a strappy dress, something quite elegant and fun but still including the awesome shaping of this patterns bodice. As I said for last weeks creation I love the placement of the darts so much with these pieces that I wanted to keep them and then only cut into the top of the bodice to make the neckline a lot lower. For any special occasion dress I do lean towards a green colour. Being a red head I know I cannot go wrong with most shades of green so even if the dress doesn't work out totally perfect the colour hopefully will always be flattering. I had this in mind also when choosing to make a low cut, strappy dress as there will be more skin on show than I am use to so if I am happy with the colour I know I will feel comfortable.










The alterations I made on the bodice pattern were achieved by tracing over the bodice pieces and then drawing the desired shape on top, cutting around this new line to create the new bodice shape. This was fairly easy to do as I only needed to cut away the shape at the top therefore not needing to alter any of the darts or any of the shaping from the waist up. I just needed to remember to add a 5/8" seam allowance to ensure that the dress wouldn't sit too low. It is very easy to draft your own straps, however here I used the straps from the Georgia dress from ByHandLondon. The size and shape is perfect so I think for ease, if you have the right pattern pieces in your stash that work then why spend more time creating something new.

Once I had my bodice and lining (form the same fabric) cut and sewn together I then needed to add a skirt piece to complete the dress. This pattern is only a peplum top pattern and so therefore does not have a skirt variation. My favorite skirt shape and the one I enjoy making the most (probably because it is super easy) is a gathered skirt. I love the shape it gives and lovely at a mid calf length. My usual, desired width of fabric for this is 2m, however because I felt this dress style was a little more elegant and simple I wanted the silhouette to remain slim and so only used, I believe 1.25m so a lot less gathers were created. I always prefer to hand gather the material, it does take a little longer but I find it is a lot easier to control the spacing. This was then attached to the bodice just as you would any other skirt, making sure the gathers are even along the waistline. Then when the two pieces were sewn together I removed the hand stitched thread used to form the gathers, as this is no longer needed. 

As a finishing touch to add a little glam and colour I found this lovely red sheer fabric and lace trim. I thought it would look lovely stitched along the hem line. It also finished off my hem perfectly.

So there we have the second example of how you can alter a pattern so dramatically with just a little inspiration. There are endless options with this particular pattern, I love it so much so I think we will definitely see it again through this years 52. 

Happy stitching everyone and don't forget to watch the new series of The Great British Sewing Bee on Tuesday night 8pm BBC2

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