Betty dress - bodice pattern alterations

Hi there!

I have been away on holiday and also on some work trips lately. That's why I haven't made a blog post for so long. Today I wanted to share one of my latest makes - a Betty dress! As many of you know Sew Over It offered this pattern for free on international women's day. As a gift for the community. I love that they did that and I was so happy they chose the Betty dress because I had thought about buying this pattern before. It's a lovely design and I think it's a very versatile pattern. I love dresses like this. My boyfriend agreed to take some photos of me in my finished Betty dress. The greenery in Turkey was so beautiful, great for this photoshoot!

I started by making a toile of the bodice. I used an old sheet and sewed the most basic seams. I cut a size 10 because that was closest to my measurements. When I make toiles of bodices like this one my preferred method is pinning a divisible zipper in place at the side seam as closure. That way the back and front are intact and it's easy to tell if something is not right. It's also quick to pin a zipper in place. 

The Betty bodice turned out to be very big on me around the shoulder, back and neckline area. I have seen this on many people who have made this pattern. That's why I thought I would share some alterations that I ended up making. Maybe it can be helpful for someone else too :)

The front neckline was gaping quite a bit. And I also had some gaping at the armhole. I made darts with the excess fabric form the neckline all the way to the waist dart point. And from the armhole I made a dart to the bust point. I then transferred the alterations to the paper pattern. I copied the lines of the toile to the pattern. When moving excess from somewhere to a dart I will have to cut open at two places: the line I just made and also one leg of the dart. That way I have a piece of the pattern that can be moved around. I made sure I removed the same amount at the armhole and neckline as I had on my toile. That amount is then distributed to the dart. After that you have an opening at the dart that you can close by placing some paper underneath and tape it in place. Voila!

On the back I had too much fabric everywhere. And the back was a bit too long too. I took out some excess fabric parallel to the center back seam. And I removed some vertically to make the straps a bit shorter there. 

I then transferred these changes to my paper pattern. I measured the placement of all the "darts" I made and made the same lines on the pattern. I then cut and taped together, removing the same amount that I had on the toile. I did the same on front and back. The paper pattern then becomes a bit uneven at the edges. I made new lines. 

Since I took away some length from the back bodice I had to be mindful of the shoulder placement. I needed to take away some from the front shoulder and add that on to the back shoulder to make the shoulder placement correct. Otherwise the shoulder would be placed too far back. Same goes for the side seams because I removed some amount from the back piece and not from the front piece. 

Now I had one more thing to do and that was to make new facings! Since I made so many changes to the bodice pieces I have to make the same changes to the facings. I just drafted new facings, copying the shapes of the bodice patterns. 

For the skirt I made sure the waist measurement added up to the waist on the bodice. I made the skirt 5 cm longer and I think it turned out beautiful. I think this length is very flattering :)

I love how this dress turned out. I will definitely make more Betty dresses! And now that I have a Betty bodice pattern that fits me perfectly there's no excuses! I have so many fabrics that would look gorgeous made up as Betty dresses <3 

This fabric for my first betty dress is bought from Stoff o Stil (sold out). 

Have you tried this pattern? What did you think? 

Let me know in the comments below!

Have a wonderful day everyone and I will talk to you soon <3

♥   ♥   ♥

Josefine

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