Mason
Sydney Dress by 5 Out Of 4 Patterns
There’s just something about animal print that makes me need to go over the top. Remember how I hacked the Jessie dress into a choker with the Winston fabric? (Blog post)
This fabric is called Mason and it’s even more detailed and vibrant than Winston. It’s almost like it’s hand painted. The spots are all different, I cannot find the repeat!
The fabric base is technically scuba, but it’s totally not like the scuba I have sewed before. This is more like the weight of ponte but slick on both sides like the inside of liverpool. Much easier to work with, super soft and I noticed less susceptible to fabric runs/pulls from my cat’s claws.
I decided I needed a dramatic hi-low. Or as I am playfully calling it, my tail! I used the Sydney pattern as my base. The bodice has a FBA option built in so I don’t have to do one.
For the back length I grabbed the gathered maxi skirt piece I used when I hacked Sydney to have a gathered skirt but it’s basically just knowing the length from your waist to where you want the hem to fall, plus hem and seam allowance. You can also use the length of the maxi length half circle pattern piece that comes with the Sydney pattern, I just didn’t have it printed out.
I cut a piece of paper that length and lined it up to the waist of my circle skirt piece. I used a ruler to trace a curve up so that my side seams would be the same length.
Since I also wanted the front a little shorter than usual, I folded up just the part of the pattern piece on the fold (that’s the center).
Cut my front and new back pattern pieces on the fold.
I wanted my tail to have the drape of the circle skirt shape, that’s why I didn’t use the half circle maxi piece. I also wanted it to be fairly narrow, more like a cat tail than a fish tail. (It goes with my ears)
Here’s what my tail piece (back skirt) looked like. I also had room to cut my sleeves.
I wanted a little something different with my sleeve too. See how it comes down over my elbow and pops out a bit?
I had some extra fabric and I wanted to use every inch to make this dress as dreamy as possible. So I manually added a little hi-low to the sleeve too.
Here’s the shape it came out. This pattern piece is well loved!
I decided to be lazy and not line my bodice. So I measured the neck opening after pinning the shoulders together. I multiplied by 87% (I normally go between 85-90% depending on the stretch my fabric has) and measured that out. Turns out it was within a 1/8th inch of my Jessie neckband pattern piece which I already had out, so I used that for the neckband.
Sewed it all together just like normal!
+ Cat ears of course!
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