Carey Top and Skirt : Changing the pattern into a dress.

Prepping the pattern pieces:

On this pattern, the grey line indicates the stitching line and the black line indicates the cutting line. The pattern includes a 1cm (3/8in) seam allowance.

Cut off the seam allowance at the waistline of the centre front panel, side front panel, centre back panel, side back panel and all the skirt panels.

I’ve marked where to cut in a red dashed line.

Combining the pattern pieces:

Lay down some paper. Line up the top panels with their corresponding skirt panel:

Centre front panel & skirt front panel

Side front panel & skirt side panel

Side back panel and skirt side panel

Centre back panel & skirt back panel

(Please note, the pattern piece for the centre back panel will have to be flipped over so the centre back of both the top and skirt are on the same side).

Match the corners of the stitching lines (grey lines). There will be a slight gap in the centre of the pieces.

Blending the pattern pieces:

You will notice the top panels have a tiny bit of extra ease at the waistline, compared to the skirt.

The skirt has no ease around the waistline (as the pattern is designed for denim and needs a snug fit to stay in place).

I would recommend adding some extra ease around the waist and hip to make the dress more comfortable to wear.

I’ve drawn in a green dashed line as an example. How much you add is up to you and how fitted you want the dress.

Adding more ease:

There is nothing stopping you from adding more ease around the waist and hips. It doesn’t have to be a uniform amount added the entire way down.

In this example, I’ve added more ease to the bottom of the skirt to give it a swingier look when it’s sewn up.

You could also make the skirt longer or shorter. It’s up to you. But it’s always recommended to make a toile of your new pattern changes before cutting into the good stuff!