If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen my posts on "My Dress Projects" that I'm currently working on. I "need" some new ones. Lol. Actually, I've been making so many masks. I need to get back to making other things.
This Butterick wrap dress is relatively new, published 2019. I haven't made a wrap dress in awhile. So, I put this one next on my list to sew.
Butterick pattern description: Wrap dress has semi-fitted bodice with tie closures, front pleats and narrow hem.
A: 3/4 sleeve with double-stitched hem, straight skirt with right front pleats.
B: 3/4 sleeve with flounce.
C: long sleeve with elastic casing.
B, C: flared skirt.
I made view A with a ton of adjustments and process changes. Honestly, I started to write this as two post instead of the one. But I have some other posts I want to get to this week.
This pattern comes in size groupings (8-16) and (18W- 24W). I used size 16 with modifications.
The instructions were typical. Some I didn't follow because there are other construction processes that I like to use. There is nothing confusing in the instructions. The pattern is raked: easy; and it was.
My dress has a lot of changes, but it does look like the dress pictured on the envelope.
There are several things I like about the dress and a few things I disliked about it. First, my likes: wrap dress, pleats, sleeve variations, skirt-waist dress, and knit comfy. My dislikes: I didn't like the way the tie worked and the neckline finishing.
The fabric that I used is from Minerva Fabrics. It is a very nice jersey knit with about 30% four-way stretch.
The John Kaldor Abstract Floral Print Stretch Jersey knit has some of my favorite colors. Yes, I know it looks a little Fall-ish. But these colors work well with my skin tone. I used a sharp sewing machine needle, size 12. The jersey and microtex needles produced a lot of skipped stitches.
I made numerous pattern alterations and a few construction changes:
- FBA - this one was huge. I probably created more work for myself. Anyway, I began with slashing the front right bodice to add more width and a little more length. Pictured above. To eliminate the gapping neckline, I made a small tuck. With the added width, I had to make an additional pleat at the waist. The remaining width was removed from the side. Sorry, it's not pictured here.
- For the left bodice front, I needed to also add more width and length. That change resulted in the adjusted above. Similar to the right side, difference is an additional dart at the waist. The rest is the same as the right front bodice.
- Prominent Shoulder Blades, Swayback, forward shoulder Adjustments - First I slashed the back from the shoulder seam to the end of the back (at the waist). Then I create a small dart at the shoulder so that the shoulder back and front seams are the same length. This change also increase the width at the waist. I removed the excess at the waist. Not shown in picture. Next for the swayback I added a tuck starting at the center back and graduating to nothing near the side seam. Also, I added a center back seam for a better fit. Finally, for the slightly forward shoulder adjustment I added a little vertical length as needed. See shoulder seam area.
- Now for the skirt - almost always I need to lengthen the skirt. In this case, I only lengthen it by 2". I could have added more. I like my skirt to fall at the bottom of my knee. So next time I'll at 1.5" more. So lengthening is easy. With all the changes to the bodice, some changes are needed in the skirt.
- Let start with the back skirt. It's the easiest. In additional to lengthening the back skirt, I added the tucked amount from the back bodice to the bottom of the skirt. The compensated for the curved back area. The left skirt front was lengthen the same as the back. For the right skirt. I added width from the waist to the hem to create an additional pleat. The number of pleats in the skirt, now match the number of pleats in the bodice. (Note: This was an after thought. After I noticed that the pleats were off by one.) Barely noticeable though. So I had to make adjustments to the top and bottom of the front right skirt. See picture above.
- Construction change -
- Neck Binding - I preferred to bind with fashion fabric. So instead of bias tape, I cut a neck band about 22.5" long (3" shorter than the neckline) and 2.25" width. I folded it in half wrong side together. Pressed. Attached it to neckline easing in the excess. Then I turned the neck band to the inside and stitched again. This creates a nice sturdy neckline.
- Belt - Preference again. I'm not fond of the twill tape ties on the inside. I prefer to thread the belt through a slit at the side waist. So that's what I did. For the left belt, I made it long enough to wrap around the back to the left side with the length to tie the same as the right belt. I created a small slit on the right side for the belt to go through.
- For the narrow hem, I pressed the seam allowance for the hem, applied steam a seam right at the fold line. Then turned the raw edges in. At the areas where the belt is attached, I only turned in the skirt. Once the hem was finished for the skirt, I secured the belt by making another row of stitches 1/4" away from the edge.
A lot of changes, right? Whatever it takes. ;-) With all those changes, I MUST make this dress again. At least one of the other views.
I like it, and I do recommend it to others. You might want to make a muslin. Sorry, I didn't this time. I thought I could wing it. I think my dress turned out pretty good. It will be in high rotation when the crisis goes away.
Thank you for stopping by and for reading this very long review. I truly wanted to include all of the details of "my" sewing experience. Yours may be different. wink, wink. Anyway, have a great day!
Happy Sewing!
C
