Tutorial: Turn that Odette into a Skirt

Hello Bluegingerdolls, as usual I can't leave well enough alone when it comes to patterns.  After finishing up my Odette dress, the though struck me that it would also make a lovely skirt.  The gored panels create such a beautiful silhouette, keeping waist line tidy while flaring into a full hem sweep. It's the perfect skirt for pairing with cardigans in the Fall/Winter months. All I needed was a waistband to make all my skirt dreams come true.

After giving it some thought, I drafted a simple curved waistband for my Odette skirt. (Tutorial below) To finish it off, the skirt was closed with an invisible zipper at CB.  All insides facings were slip stitched to the seam allowance of the waistband.

If you'd also like to convert your Odette dress into a skirt, there are several waistband options to choose from.

Option one - Use the bodice waistband
The simplest option for converting the Odette dress into a skirt. Great if you don't need anything fancy and have no problems fitting straight waistbands.

Option two - Use one of the Peggy waistbands
If you want a little bit of style in your waistband, then any of the Peggy options can be easily swap in. You can finish the waistband with a button or cut it down for invisible zipper insertion.

Option three - Draft your own curved waistband
This is the option I chose for my Odette skirt because curved waistbands fit my figure much better than straight ones.  Here's how you draft your own....

Step 1 - Select the CF skirt and side front skirt pieces. Draw in the 5/8" seam allowance on the waist area and sides.

Step 2 - Line the two skirt pieces up so that the seam allowance lines are on top of each other. Pin or tape the two pieces into place.

Step 3 - Lay a piece of trace paper of the waistline area of the skirt.

Step 4 - Trace the waist seam line, not the edge of the pattern.

Step 5 - Place a ruler along the CF of the skirt.  Extend that line up into your waistband piece.

Step 6 - Lay the ruler along the side seam and extend that line up for the other side of the waistband.

Step 7 -  Label the CF side with "Fold".

Step 8 - You can make the waistband what ever width you desire. I usually go with a 2" waistband using the width of the clear ruler to trace the top edge of the band.

Step 9 - The angle on the side seam edge of the waistband looked a little too sharp to me. I checked my waist diameter against it and added around 5/8" to the top edge, redrawing the side seam angle.

Step 10 - Add 5/8" seam allowance to all edges except the CF fold and label the waistband as the Front. Cut out the waistband to finish.

Step 11 - For the back waistband follow the same steps, except do not mark the CB as a fold.  Mark it as CB, to avoid confusion, and add seam allowance to that side in the final step.

There you go sewists, chose your own waistband adventure and enjoy some Odette separates. Happy Sewing! - Heather

Pattern hack: The Billie Jean Sun Dress

Hello Bluegingerdolls, I'm currently in a bit of a sundress making phase and keep looking for ways to hack my favorite patterns into strappy confections. At the beginning of the summer I spied a RTW dress that reminded me of the Billie Jean pattern.  It had a full skirt and a princess line seamed bodice, but with spaghetti straps. What I really liked about the dress was that it was made with two different fabrics and had a faux waistband. The whole "dress that looks like separates" look really tickled my fancy.

As luck would have it, Marcy Tilton stocked two black/white polka dot cotton shirtings that were the reverse of each other.  The perfect fabric for my hacking idea! So I got out my Billie Jean pattern and created the sundress/mock separates version.

Modifying Billie Jean into a sundress turned out to be a straight forward process.  I cut off the sleeve area and fashioned myself a few spaghetti straps. After sewing together the bodice, a simple waistband rectangle was drafted and tacked it to the waist seam. The skirt portion of the pattern was not modified in any way. I sewed it up according to the directions and attached it to my faux waistband and bodice.

I really love this version of the pattern.  It looks pretty by it's self or under a cute cardigan. I even got the ultimate sewing validation, the complete stranger complement. Hooray! 

So I have I hooked you with the sundress version yet? If so then you're in luck.  The hacking steps can be finished in about 30 minutes or so.  I've also added a few sewing directions below the hacking steps so you'll know how I put the dress together.

How to Modify the Billie Jean Bodice
I'd recommend making any fitting changes you need before hacking the pattern into a sundress.

Step 1. Start with the front bodice pieces. The side front needs no changes and can be placed to the side.

Step 2. On the center front, place the ruler at the top of the princess seam. Use the  angle made by the top of the seam allowance as a guide.

Step 3. Draw a line across the entire shoulder.

Step 4. From the neckline side, place a mark 3/4" in on the line you just drew.

Step 5. Use the mark as a guideline to draw a new neckline with a french curve.

Step 6. Cut off the excess paper. Your new front bodice pieces should look like this.

Step 7.  Now we will modify the back bodice pieces.

Step 8. Start with the side back pattern piece. Draw a horizontal line across the pattern at top of the side seam. Make sure the new line is perpendicular to the grain line.

Step 9. Place the center back piece on top of the side back piece like you were going to sew them together.  Match the princess line seam edges together until you reach the newly drawn line.  Mark the position of the side back line on the center back piece. This will keep both pattern pieces the same height so that they sew together after being altered.

Step 10. Draw a horizontal line across the center back at the marked point.

Step 11.  Cut the upper portions of the patterns off on both pieces.

Step 12. Finally we want to straighten out the bit of the armhole princess line seam that remains after cutting the pattern pieces down.

Step 13. On the center back, use the bottom part of the seam line as a guide to straighten the seam line. Cut off the extra bit at the top.

Step 14. On the side front, tape a little extra paper to the top part of the seam line so that the seam line can be added too.  Again use the bottom part of the seam line as a guide for the angle.

Step 15. The finished back pattern pieces look like this.

Step 16. You'll need to draft a rectangle for your faux waistband.  The length should be the same as the diameter of your bodice waist seam.  The width should be 5 1/8".

Optional Step 17.  For this look you'll want the waistline seam to hit at your natural waist. Depending on your figure you may need to lengthen the bodice on the lengthen/shorten line.  I lengthen my pattern 1.5".

Some Sewing Directions
1. You'll need to make 4 spaghetti straps for the bodice.  I cut 4 bias strips at 1.5" wide and used the BHL tutorial for sewing and turning them.

2. Just like the original Billie Jean bodice, this one is fully lined. Cut out the bodice pieces in both self fabric and lining.  On the front the spaghetti straps get basted into the "point" of the bodice and on the back they get basted on the side back/center back seam line.  Sandwich the spaghetti straps between the lining and self at those points and stitch the self and lining together at the neckline.

3. Before attaching the waistband, it's a good idea to fuse a little light weight interfacing onto the piece so that it doesn't crumple.  After fusing, fold the waistband in half and baste it to the bottom of the self bodice. Make sure not to catch the lining at this point.

4. Sew together the Billie Jean skirt as normal and attach it to the bottom of the self bodice.  You'll be sewing through the extra layers of the waistband as well. Make your stitch length a bit longer and go slow.

5. Insert a zipper as normal, but make sure to catch the raw edges of the waistband in the zipper. Because of the extra layers you'll need to trim down the bulk around this area as much as possible.

6. Now you can go back and sew down the lining around the zipper and at the waist seams.  Hem your dress and you're ready to strut your stuff.

Winifred - A Collarless Variation...

Hello everyone, I hope you are have a great time finishing up your Winifred dresses after sewing along with us. Can't wait to see all your pictures.

Spring is still dragging her feet about arriving in my parts, so it seemed like the time to make a seasonal appropriate Winifred. For this version I was thinking about making a neutral base piece that would be easy to layer.  I'd also been watching a lot of episodes of "Longmire," which happens to be set in Wyoming.  All the women on that show have kind of a "cowgirl chic" style with lots of denim, leather jackets and big necklaces. It makes me want to move to the mid west and learn to ride a horse.  Instead I rustled up my pattern cutting scissors, some chambray and then got to work making a collarless Winifred.

"Hi Y'all, seen any cowboys around these parts? I might need some help cause this wind is about to blow me over."  Alas no cowboys appeared and I had to save my camera tripod myself.  But enough about that, let's talk about dresses instead.

Like my previous Winifred I used smocking on the back and added the Billie Jean pockets to the side seams. The big change was cutting off the collar section, leaving a curved neckline with a notch.  The neckline is finished with facings and understitched. It's hard to see in these pictures, but I've also added a little sewn on cuff to the sleeves.

All of these pattern changes are easy and I'll show you how to do them.  Are you really to get cutting?

Collarless Neckline Instructions
You'll need a traced copy of your front, back and facing pieces, a straight ruler, a french curve and a pen/pencil.  You can always tweak the measurements I use to suit your own preferences/size.  I'll be using the size 10 in all these examples.

1. On the front measure up 4" from the joint point and mark.

2. On the shoulder measure 3/4" away from the collar and mark.

3. Use these two marked points and a french curve to draw a new neckline.

4. New front neckline will look like this. Now you can cut it out and continue on to the back.

5. On the back the neckline needs to be widened to match the front.  Lay your new front on top of the back, matching the shoulder seams on the sleeves.  Mark the new width of the neckline on the back.

6. Use a french curve to draw the new neckline.

7. New back neckline will look like this, cut it out on the new lines.

To finish the neckline we'll need to modify the front facing and draft a back facing. Let's start with the front.

8. Place the new front over top the front facing and trace off the new neckline.  Then cut off the collar so that they match.

9. The facing is now a little to small to sew so we'll add onto it.  Tape paper to the shoulder side and extend out the shoulder  1 1/2".

10. Use a french curve to blend the shoulder area into the bottom of the facing.

Finished front facing looks like this.

11. To draft the back facing place a scrap of paper over the back pattern piece.  Trace off the neckline, some of the shoulder and CB.

12. First take off the seam allowance on the CB and mark the facing as being on the fold.

13. Then draw in the seam allowance on the shoulder seam.  Grab your front facing and do the same.

 Place the two facings on top of each other on the seam line.  Use the front facing shoulder to mark the correct width of the back facing.

14.  Use a french curve to draw the curve on the bottom of the facing.

Finished back facing looks like this.

Cuff
To draft a cuff simply measure the circumference of your sleeve hem and draw a rectangle with that length.  For the cuff pattern width decide how wide you want the cuff to be and double it.  Example, my pattern is 3" wide for a finished 1 1/2" cuff. Add seam allowances to all sides and the cuff pattern is done.

Happy sewing everyone, if you need me I'll be down at the rodeo. Yee Ha!