I tackled another project for the Liesl & Co Advisor's Circle last month -- you can read the full blog post at the Oliver & S blog now!
My basic idea was to mash up the top of the Bento Tee and the rest of the Belgravia Dress. That way I could incorporate two of my favourite elements, the sleeve of the Bento and the waist tie of the Belgravia, into the same garment.
The first step was to trace both patterns (I used 12 at the neckline and 14 at the waist), but I left the Belgravia bodice piece uncut on my tracing paper to make the design changes right on it. I then laid the Bento under the Belgravia bodice, lining up the center front since the Belgravia has an unusual shape. I traced the Bento’s neckline and sleeve onto the Belgravia and realized that the sleeve comes down right into the side seam of the original bodice.
To get around that, I made a slight curve at the bottom of the sleeve so that there would be some extra space to differentiate between the sleeve and the side seam. It was barely a half inch deep, allowing a nicely finished sleeve and a clear side seam to be put together. I had to ease in the back bodice side seam slightly, however, so if you don’t want to take any length away from the front, another option is to extend the sleeve by an inch and curve the bottom edge back into the original seam line.
The fabric is quite lightweight and stretchy, and the busy print hides any flaws ;) If I were to use a more stable knit I would probably size up a bit.
I like it though -- the casual neckband and sleeve gives a t-shirt vibe to the dress, while the waist ties are easy to sew and a nice feature. I used the long tie version so that I could wrap them around me and tie in front. I think these two patterns went well together to create a new look for this dress pattern!
