Happy Friday Sew Family!!
On last night I did a quick aseembly of (2) dresses I drafted from my existing V8815 Pattern.
This dress can be constructed using any pattern you have with a bodice. I used V8815 because it has darts. This means, if I do not use the darts, I can get that loose tshirt drape. While I have never attempted the creation of a Tshirt pattern, this dress can also be constructed using a Tshirt as you will get the same effect.
Fabric: Blue - Ponte Roma Black - Double Knit
First, I place my front Bodice on the fold of my fabric. I mark my length from the shoulder seam to where I want y skirt to stop plus one inch. For me that is 34 inches as per below.
I proceed to cut the front piece of my dress
Next, I will adjust my neck line. I wanted a more relax neck line than the original pattern so I decided to take 2 inches off and round my neck line out using my french curve. You can eyeball this if you do not have a curved ruler or use a can/bottle etc....
As you can see, I cut more of the shoulder seam than the chest area fabric. I will now measure my remaining shoulder wdith to match with my back piece.
Great! 3 1/4 inches. Now to move on to the back..
I grabbed my back bodice and repeated the steps for my length as I did for the front and cut.
I made a mark for my 3 1/4 adjustment to the neck line and rounded it out with my french curve.
Next is the Sleeves.
The first thing I did with this pattern is shorten the sleeves by 5 inches.
I then added an inch to both sides at the arm pits and widened the sleeve.
I cut my sleeves and we are ready to sew!!
I will start with teh pinning and sewing of my shoulder seams.
Next I will attach my sleeves. I find this easier to accomplish BEFORE I sew my side seams.
Place your sleeve cutout on the right side of your garment at the shoulder seam and pin both ends. Sew using a 5/8 seam allowance.
Pull your ease and sew using 5/8 seam allowance.
Now that my sleeves are attached, I can proceed to the pinning and sewing of my side seams starting at the end of my sleeve all the way down to the bottom of my dress with a 5/8 seam allowance.
Next you want to sew your neck line using a 5/8 seam allowance.
We are almost there!
Next you are going to cut your side slits. I made mines rather wide, you can narrow yours as you see fit.
The first thing I did was measure 5 inches from the bottom of my dress to where I want my slit to end. As an after thought, I may do 3-4 on my next dress :). Mark this measurement on both sides.
Use your french curve or other curved device to determine how wide you want your slit. do this evenly for both sides, s you can see I used my ruler to mark my curve measurements which is 5 x 4 inches.
Cut your fabric and hem the bottom using 5/8 seam allowance.
The last thing you need to do is add elastic to your sleeves. Fold your fabric 1 inch pin and sew using 1/8 inch seam allowance leaving an inch and half open to insert your elastic.
I measured my arm and decided to add a 10 inch piece of elastic for both arms.
Insert into your elastic and close your opening on both arm.
FINISHED!!!! woo hoo! You can wear this as a shirt or a dress. (My blue is 3 inches shorter than my black dress)
I hope you enjoyed this pictorial and I look forward to making more!@
MUAH!!!!
