V1127 – From a Blouse to a Dress

I made the blouse from this pattern a couple of years ago and love it. I still wear it, and it's quite lovely. It's rather voluminous, though, so if you make it you may want to cut the sides of the bodice in. Anyway, because the blouse is soo big & loose, I figured it would have the volume to fit The Belly.

Bellies in picture are larger than they appear.

I bought this fabric months ago with the specific goal of taking this blouse pattern, adding 15” or so to the bottom, and making it into a dress. I had no intention of making it a maternity dress, but I already had it cut (for about five months!), and decided to make it work.

I know it doesn't look that way, but Tim totally agrees with me - it works!

I figured I could make it empire waisted and it would be perfect. It’s good so far, but I don’t know that this puppy will last much longer. The Belly is pushing maximum capacity on the side seams already!

Besides the lengthening, I made a couple of other changes. I omitted the ties on the neck, added a couple of inches to the keyhole opening in the back (I have always had issues getting the blouse I made over my apparently ginormous noggin), and I made the arm holes bigger. Arm holes on a lot of patterns are tight on me, which I find odd. Do I have droopy pits or something? Weird. Not pictured (it's covered by the belt), I made an empire waist by zig zagging some elastic onto the fabric. For a garment like this, meaning one that's really loose & that I will definitely be wearing with a belt, I always like to have my gathers "held" in place by something like elastic or elastic thread. I just think it makes the garment look better when it's on because the gathers are spaced evenly. You also don't have to worry about adjusting the way the garment lays on you or worry about it going all wonky under your belt as the day goes on.

I made this with a poly-chiffon (you know how I lurvs making anything from chiffon), and really, I cannot emphasize enough that starching the fabric is key to making it easier to work with. You don’t have to do anything drastic, just a light spraying of starch & a quick pressing on any of the pieces you need to work (binding, anything you have to fold before sewing like the collar on this dress, etc.) will make it so much easier to handle. Of course, you have to wash before wearing (something I don’t always do), but that’s no biggie.

Anywhoodle, now that I have the mojo back I'm going to get to sewing some more stuff that can ::ahem:: grow with me. I'm rather excited for this top. It'll work for the pregnancy and well after, and it's a free tutorial/pattern. Go scope it out. It feels very chic and holiday party-esque, and that time will spring upon us before you know it!!

I hope you're all doing great. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for your super sweet well wishes!

xoxo,