I made the cowl version of this top, and liked it so much that I decided to lengthen it and make a dress today. For the cowl shirt and this dress, I used the same fabric, which is a bit heavier weight than I used on my twist version of the "Three Graces", and for me, heavier (just a mite, mind you!) is better. Even for the twist top. When I wore the twist top to work, I felt it was just a bit too 'cas' (...that's casual, of course) for the workplace. It had too much of a 'beachy' feel. So the next twist version of this shirt I make will also be in this 'just a bit heavier' type of rayon lycra knit.
Easy peasy, I do say. You can do it, too, if you want. I added fifteen inches to the bottom of the top pattern, as I wanted the finished dress to hit me just at the knee, with belt in place, and I wanted a 1 1/2 inch deep hem. I located the waistline on the pattern, and from there, flared out a few inches, to the hip, then perpendicular to the hem. This gives plenty of ease ( I chose four inches for me) around the hipline. Although this is a knitted fabric, with 100% stretch, you want a nice drape around the hip - not skin tight.
At the hem, on the inside, before turning it up, I fused a 2 inch strip of the high quality knit interfacing from Pam Erny, (love, love these interfacings,by the way), because I wanted a bit of heft and weight at the hem. (This is a relatively lightweight rayon lycra fabric, obtained about a year ago from Metro Textiles).
Fremont helped me quite a bit on this project, so I thought I'd give her credit:
6 comments:
Thanks for sharing this great pattern. Your explanation of the lengthening process was great. I love the cowl neck dress - I'm into simple elegance at the moment. I twist top would make a great dress too.
Thanks for the post on the dress modification. I ordered my copy today. Showed DH your picture in the white top and he was very impressed. And thanks for the Fremont photo. I'm glad you have help...think how much faster it would go if you worked alone :-) I didn't realize that you were a fellow Bernina user.
What a great new dress to start the workweek with!
This is so nice. I love cowl necks, and your hemline interfacing is genius. Very nice!
One question about the patterne here, I just transform a dress based pattern to make a draped round the nck, i did one plier in the armhole and enlarge on the front of the"cervix".
Here there is no plier in the armhole only enlarge at the front cervix? Thanks for your answer
ps: sorry for my bad english
Hi, Sensoussi - Thanks for your kind comments! I will try to answer your question.
To convert a regular pattern to a cowl pattern, I think you are on track by inserting a circle (extra fabric, in a circular pattern) at the front, so that the front is enlarged significantly over the bust, thus creating a drape. I don't think you would need to put in a hinge at the armhole to accomplish this goal. I hope this helps.
By the way, your English is much better than my French!
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