Hi everyone! I hope all is well with you. I am so very excited because IT’S VIRGO ♍️ SEASON!!! For the last three years I have sewn a collection for my birthday, and this year is no exception. The collection always include a birthday gown, and I can not wait to share with you all what that dress, but until then, I will be sharing different garments that I am wearing out for my birthday, because I am celebrating until the end of Virgo season, which I believe ends on September 22nd.
For the first part of my collection, I used one pattern to create two garments, and I believe you all will love both the original design, and the design I created by hacking the pattern. Let’s get started.
Fabric Used
For the first part of this project I used the Garden Poly-linen, from Melanated Fabrics. This fabric is 58″ in width and has a beautiful fluid drape. It’s lightweight with a smooth and soft hand. It is perfect for sewing tops, dresses. skirts, and palazzo style pants.
Tips for Sewing With this Fabric
This fabric is a polyester linen blend, but you can treat it as you would your standard linen fabric. Pre-wash to get the shrinkage out of the way before you cut into it. As this fabric does shrink, you will also need to by at least 1/4 of a yard more than the pattern suggests. Because of their distinctive texture and weaves, it is best to layout linen fabrics following the napped layout given in the pattern instructions. I have found that that as long as you follow the grain-line (The grain of a fabric runs parallel to the selvages–the finished edge on each side of the fabric piece) of the fabric, you can generally lay pattern pieces much closer than the picture in the layout suggests, especially since the print is continuous and small, you do not have to worry about lining up the designs on the fabric. Though this fabric is lightweight and has lots of drape, it is not very slippery, so cutting and sewing it was not very difficult. While pressing the hem allowance, I do suggest using starch to stiffen the fabric a little so that you can ensure you sew a clean hem, because it is a very drapey, and that type of fabric can be slightly problematic to hem as it can bunch when sewing a curved hem, which this pattern does have.
Pattern Used/Size Cut
I used Simplicity 9224. It is a wrap dress pattern with asymmetrical details. It has two view options that differ in bodice detail. View B has an outside contrast bodice facing, while there is no contrast on view A. When I first saw this pattern, I knew that I wanted to sew it as is, but I also saw other ways that I could sew it to make it my own. This pattern was very easy to see, and the best part is that Mimi has a YouTube tutorial if you get stuck along the way. I sewed the dress as is, based on the pattern suggestions.
I cut a size 12 for the bodice, but extended the waist area of the bodice to a 14. For the skirt portion of the dress I cut a 14. I also cut about three inches from the length of the dress to fit my 5’3” frame.
I love the wrapped bodice on this pattern. I also love the drape of the bodice. it’s sexy, but still modest, which is how I love to look.
The Hack
Now we have come to the extra fun portion of this blog, my hack of this pattern. Are you ready to see this hack? Keep reading!
Fabric Used
I used a cloud print crepe fabric that I purchased from Jo-Ann last year. This fabric has a good drape, not as drapey as the fabric I used for the dress, but that is exactly what I needed from this fabric, as I wanted it to have a little structure.
I wanted to hack this pattern by turning it into separates, but I did not have enough of the fabric that I desired to use. I decided to hack the pattern and turn it into a top with elastic casing in the hem and the sleeves, and you guys, I LOVE IT!!! Here is a little mini tutorial below of how I accomplished this in case you want to create this hack as well (please tag me on Instagram if you do). I plan to make a video tutorial of this as well, so follow my YouTube channel.
I placed the both bodice pieces onto the fabric, and extend the length by about 3 inches (as you can see by the line drawn). Make sure that once you increase the length of the bodices, you also lengthen the front facings by about 2 inches as well.
For the front of the bodice, I also extended the length about three inches, but cut the side edge to a straight line rather than the sharp edge it was originally, because I intended to stitch it into the side seam (pictured above) of the bodice rather than leave it open to tie on the sides as the instructions originally calls for. By doing this, I turned the bodice into a faux wrap top.
As you can see by the photo above, I added the side ties. I completed the ties per the instructions , I placed them on top of each other and baste stitch them together. I then placed them on the edge of the left side seam about 1 1/4” from the bottom of the bodice to leave room for the elastic waist casing, and sewed the seams together with the side ties between the seams.
I didn’t stitch all the way down on the casing. Well, that’s an easy fix. The top is still fabulous. Don’t sweat the small stuff y’all.
Final Thoughts
I love this pattern. This pattern is so versatile, and if you love to hack, it is perfect for it. You can create it as a two piece skirt and top set, create a top from the bodice as I did, or just see up the skirt. The possibilities are endless.
Thank you all for taking the time to read my blog, I truly appreciate it. I hope that this blog was informative and that you learned something that will help you in your next sewing project. Comment below and let me know your thoughts or questions. Also, please make sure to subscribe to my blog.Advertisementshttps://c0.pubmine.com/sf/0.0.3/html/safeframe.htmlREPORT THIS AD
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