Hey mates, making the Townsend Shirt into a dress has been highly requested.
If you've bought the pattern, you'd probably have noticed it's not as straightforward as just adding length to the hem! You could do that, but you will end up with a pattern piece that takes up a lot of real estate!
I made myself a dress this week and will outline the steps I took below to alter the pattern to make it more economical.
Before we start, I've added a diagram below to help understand how the front and back pattern pieces work.
Start by extending the centre front, centre back and side seams down to the length you want. As you can see in this diagram, the front pattern piece (when laid on the straight grain) can get quite wide.
I decided to add a seam into the front piece and change the grainline of the lower half to run parallel to the centre front. This does two things: saves you fabric AND will be easier to attach the button stand at a later step as the lower portion of the centre front is no longer going to stretch out as much as if it were cut on the angle.
I'm going to draw this new seamline just above my waist, as it will eventually be covered by the waist ties when it's worn. Cut along this line and add 1cm (3/8in) seam allowance to both pieces (shown in the dashed line).
Draw a new grainline on the lower half of the pattern (shown in green). This will run parallel to the centre front.
You will also need to add the same amount of length to the button stand pattern piece.
Once you've sewn the two new front pieces together, you can assemble your dress in the same way outlined in the instructions that come with the pattern.
For my dress below, I also added splits in the side seam for better ease of movement. You could also do a split in the back centre seam if you don't like side splits! You could also create more of an A-line shape to your skirt - it's really up to you!
I'm excited to see these hacks pop up in my IG feed. Don't forget to tag #townsendshirt and #elbetextiles so I can admire your handiwork.
x Lauren