#drapeddress

Top to Dress, or Do Remember You Have Hips

If you have ever seen a sewing pattern for a top and thought, “I would like that better as a dress,” it can be done. But usually you need more flare through the hipline than you would think. Remember that your hips are one measurement, then you need wearing ease, that is, enough fabric to give you room to move, and then design easy, that is, enough to create a graceful flow of fabric. Take a look at the width of skirts or dresses which have the silhouette you are aiming for before you begin altering the pattern. Even though this came as a tunic, it still needed more width to make a dress.

In addition to turning Butterick 5495 into a dress for the second time, I did two other alterations. I raised the front neckline by some 3 inches, and gave it a wide facing instead of the skinny one offered by the pattern. This skinny one kept flipping outward, which is so annoying, and by attaching to the seam allowance where the two front bodice pieces are seamed. You can only barely see that seam in the illustrations, but it helps allow for the draping.

I drafted that pattern piece from the original center bodice piece only to realize that, of course, it narrowed with the gathering at the center. So then I trimmed it to fit. I also raised the back neckline a bit too to create a flowing line; first by drafting, and then by draping it on my mannequin in order to achieve what I had in mind.

BurdaStyle Magazine, January 2023

This issue’s cover features a dramatic Evening Gown 123 with draped features and what they call angel sleeves and a short train. The V neckline is repeated at the back which necessitates a tie to keep the dress on the shoulders. I am thinking raising the back neckline would be a better idea. Ties as well as draped shoulders seems one detail too many. While they chose a bright color, you could imagine an ethereal pastel as well as darker, sophisticated hue. They used a silk crepe from what I can tell.

Dress 106 offers an asymmetrical design that must be made in a knit as it pulls on over your head. Although asymmetry in dress design is often dramatic, this one is subtle enough that you could make it for office wear. Notice that Top 107 take the same pattern pieces, but skips “the cape” piece, that is the pattern piece which wraps the one shoulder of the dress.

The full sewing lessons cover the easy-to-make, pull-on knit pants, Trousers 119 and Jumper 118 which you see here in a pale taupe. Otherwise, you get written instructions but few if any sketches for each pattern. A Glossary explains some techniques in detail that apply to more than one pattern, such as putting in an invisible zipper, understitching a facing, shortening or lengthening a pattern, etc.

As you see from the sketches, this issue contains other pants patterns, and a number of knit tops as well as some jackets. Plus sizes offer the the long, open Cardigan 126 (you can add closures), as well as a pajama set and several knit patterns.

Evening Drama from Bellville Sassoon: Vogue 1616

Even thought most of us, most of the time, have nowhere to wear anything so dramatic, I always enjoy pondering such patterns anyway, especially near the holiday season when so many formal events take place. Lorcan Mullany created this one for Bellville Sassoon.

This one-shoulder dress plays off of informal balance, but not so much side to side as front to back. The body of the dress is made in a crepe or velvet, while the contrast is a sheer chiffon or a glowing charmeuse. The contrast sweep over one shoulder and then cascades down only to be caught at the waistline, then it flare and flows out down to the ground in a train. The drape is hemmed narrowly and very effectively in chiffon here, and you can see how it would float behind with movement. The little black and white you spot here at the waistline is actually beaded trim. 

The bodice fits closely and is boned which is always necessary when you are defining gravity by not suspending a garment from both shoulders. Interfacing too gives shape to the bodice which has an invisible zipper on the side. Although the black makes it impossible to see, princess seams front and back make it easier to fit the dress to the wearer, then the skirt flares out below the knee and in the back it becomes a train as well.

The Dress Doctors would dub this a dress for the sophisticated woman over thirty, who moves with measured grace and thus can handle the complications of such a garment. They believed the energy of youth made younger women too impatient to deal with a train, much less a floor-length drape. In fact, any older woman without the patience would be better off with a striking, but more simply cut gown.

Loretta Blush Mini Dress – Modern Corset Silhouette

Loretta Mini Dress – Elegant Strapless Draped Style