Butterick B6872
Butterick describes this dress as a “ high waist dress with a square neckline with tucks and sleeve variations along with a gathered full skirt with flounce hem options”. I call it … the nap dress. I’m working on view A and I’m going to be honest I’m not loving this dress but I’m going to stay the course and make it.
I had to make adjustments to this pattern and the best advice I can give you is make a muslin. Make a muslin! Especially for View A because once you set the bias tape under the front and back bodice and set in the flounce it becomes rather cumbersome to make adjustments to this dress. So whatever you do make a muslin! I’m going to say it a few times over! Make a muslin!!!
I’m using a rayon challis for this dress as I want it to have a little bit more drape but you can use a linen or a linen blend if you want the flounce to have a little bit more stay.
If you have been following me on Instagram you will see have seen me over the weekend posting picture of me in my muslin. I created one for the bodice and that sleeve flounce.
But oh I made so many more changes… Here is what I changed.
Alter the front bodice pattern piece due to gaping. I had some gaping on the side front. So much so that I couldn’t ignore it. I either had to do a dart or alter the pattern piece. I didn’t care for the dart because I have a flounce, I have a side seam right there I felt it was too much going on, so I would just have to alter the pattern piece. I actually did a dart on my muslin, see it on this picture, then I recut the piece with that extra fabric added.
Do you see the dart I had to make in the muslin at the side front, there was a lot of gaping in this area. Here is how I adjusted my pattern piece below.
I also added 1” to the bodice- I may or may not use it later on but its nice to have. So for that I added 1” to the front bodice (piece 1), bodice back (piece 3) front side piece (piece 7) and the front side back (piece 8)
The sleeve flounce, oh the sleeve flounce! When I did my muslin I didn’t like the amount of flounce in the pattern piece so I took off five inches of the sleeve flounce.
The sleeve flounce on the right hand side is using the pattern piece as is. It has a lot of volume. LOTS! More than I care, I even did a little poll on Instagram and a lot of people liked the amount of flounce. I did not. All I could think of was “It looks like I’m going to a conga dance party” and that’s not the look I’m going for at least not this time around. So I took off the amount of flounce.
Reduced the flounce amount on the sleeve - I could have recut the pattern piece but I knew all I had to do was fold it. I didn't want to loose the length on which it attaches at the front bodice or back bodice so I left that alone it took the extra length right from the middle of the pattern piece. The grain line stayed the same.
Added length to the middle of the flounce so I have a slightly “longer sleeve”- I free handed this with my French curve, and I made it towards the middle. If I don’t care for it it will be an easy item to just cut off with my rotary cutter.
BUT I’m not quite 100% sold on that flounce…. and I’m ready if I’m not happy with it. Keep reading!
Eliminate the third seam of the lower ruffle -Lastly, the pattern asks you to cut three pieces for the lower ruffle (pattern piece 11) and you attach these, but if you look closely at the pattern cover you will see the seam line as that lower ruffle will be added to the skirt in thirds. Who thought that was a good idea? I know why they did it (it has to do with making sure you can use both 45” and a 60” wide fabric)…. But I don’t care for this. I’m all about seam lines matching to a T. So I extended the length of the ruffle and cut two (in lieu of three) so they match the seam lines on the sides of the skirt.
I could have done a regular sleeve for this pattern but the sleeves included in this pattern are enormous, but knowing that I’m still not quite sure about these flounces and the amount of ruffles I decided to just adjust the Sleeve for View C and see where it all goes. I’ll see which one I prefer the most.
Adjusted size of Sleeve for View - When I said the sleeves on this pattern were enormous I wasn’t joking around. Someone thought go big or go home was the way to go. We all know sometimes going bigger is not better. The sleeves. Are. HUGE! The are almost They are almost 26” in width. I guess I won’t need to do a bicep adjustment on these. I’m actually going to be decreasing the size of them. They are gathered at both the top and the hem. Thankfully I’m using a rayon challis so I won’t get the “pouff” effect, because that’s not the look I’m going for.
Which one of these sleeves do you like? Flounce / Ruffles galore or regular sleeve?
