Altering the Bettine Dress

Tilly and the Buttons patterns are really some of the easiest I have ever followed, so I was quite excited to try this one out. I measured myself up and found I fell into the second smallest size. However I should have researched the pattern before cutting it up because when I made it up I discovered I could barely get it over my derriere.

(Also worth noting if you have an ample chest, you might have similar issues, thankfully I don't). As I was making the version with pockets, it made it a little more of a faff to alter, but actually as you will see, it was pretty easy in the end).

(This is the first one I made, with a vintage floral fabric and all the optional extras, tabs, pockets)

So if you had the same problem as me, this is how I altered it!

So I felt that it fit perfectly on the upper half, and around the waist, and though it did fit on the bottom half, it was kind of hard to sit down.

As you can see, it is a little too huggy.

(Here are the sleeve details)

So here are some tips for widening the skirt:

You will need some large pieces of paper or smaller ones taped together. Then take the back piece of the skirt pattern as your base, and draw a line skimming off the widest point down. You can see MY pattern piece behind the original to see the difference. Make sure you copy all the markings across. 

Copy that back piece. Then take the front skirt piece from the Bettine pattern and copy that pocket curve in and the markings from THAT piece.

Now for pockets.You will see here that I have stacked the original pocket bag, mine and the back skirt piece. There is a very slight difference between the original pocket piece and the skirt- you need to add that or it won't get stitched into the seam. 

See, a very small extra bit.

Then do a similar thing for the pocket facing.

You should now have four altered  pieces. Make sure you copy all the markings across as you go.

 At the end, stack them all up, they should all line up well. Alter if needed.

As you haven't changed the waist of the dress, it will all sew up just as easily as the first pattern. To test the fit of the new skirt section, I made this practice from a cheap peacock cotton:

It actually fits beautifully and I wear it often.

Modelling in Provins, France. I will soon be making a whole new Bettine and will share the outcome when its done. Though now I can move and sit down easily, I know it will work fine.