shelley’s belgravia knit dress with round neckline

Are you familiar with the concept of synergy? It’s the interaction of two or more things, coming together to make something greater than the sum of their parts.

That was sort of where I was going when I added pockets to my Extra-Sharp Pencil Skirt in my last blog post. It’s also very much what I think I achieved with this combination of the Belgravia Knit Dress, the Metro T-shirt and double gauze jersey fabric.

I mean, each of those parts is sounding pretty awesome on its own, right? Can they combine to make something even better? I think so!

I loved the Belgravia Knit Dress straight out of the packet when I first sewed it, and my love for the Metro T-shirt is well documented. I saw another sewist on Pattern Review who put a rounded neckline and fuller skirt on the Belgravia dress and I knew I wanted to try that too.

When I then discovered double gauze jersey (I feel I need to keep typing those three words just to prove it really exists!), I was sold on the idea of this perfect fall/winter dress.

Shelley walks you through altering a neckline on a dress.

Changing the neckline and flaring the skirt

It was easy to do, and I made all my pattern changes directly on the fabric as I cut the dress out.

I already knew from my first Belgravia dress that I wanted to add an inch of torso length. I also wanted to eliminate the center-front seam. That seam is sewed at a 3/8″ allowance, so I simply placed my pattern 3/8” over the fold line of the fabric.

Shelley walks you through redrawing a neckline on a dress.

Because I put the bodice on the grainline of the fabric instead of on a bias angle, you can see above that the ties didn’t quite fit. I folded that pattern tissue back, out of the way, by about 3” and cut the ties as long as the fabric fold line would allow. When I went to cut my ties, I simply added 3” to the length of the view B ties.

Shelley walks you through drafting a new neckline on a dress.

I laid my Metro T-shirt front bodice tracing over the top and lined the center front up on my fold line. You can see that the shoulder width is slightly different at the neckline. As knit fabrics are forgiving, I didn’t worry about that. I cut the front bodice following the Metro neckline until I hit the Belgravia shoulder, and then continued cutting out the Belgravia bodice.

Shelley walks you through altering a neckline on a dress.

I eliminated the center seam on the back bodice as well by moving the pattern piece 3/8″ over the fold line. You can see that the back necklines of the Belgravia and the Metro are pretty similar, so I just cut the Belgravia back neckline.

To achieve the fuller skirt, I used the split and spread technique that we’ve covered recently. I also cut both front and back skirt pieces on the fold.

Shelley walks you through altering a neckline on a dress.

I constructed the dress following the Belgravia instructions. I jumped into them midway as there were no longer any center seams to close. I finished the neckline with the Metro T-shirt neckband piece. It all came together very quickly and easily, and it is just as easy to wear. I love it!



 

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12 Comments

  1. Lyndsey

    Shelley! This is soooo good!

    1. Thanks Lyndsey, easy to sew and wear makes it a winner!

  2. Cindy Cooksey

    It looks stunningly beautiful on you! You did a remarkable job.

    1. Thanks Cindy, what a lovely compliment

  3. LeAnn Whiting

    Where ever did you find your fabric? when I search All I get are regular double gauze woven fabric.

    1. Hi LeAnn, I bought it in Australia from an online shop: Maaidesign. She stocks a lot of Belgian fabrics, and I can see it’s also available at this Belgian online shop: https://www.piekewieke.be/en/stoffen/by-type/double-gauze/
      Not sure if either of those sources will post to where you are.

  4. Nirmala

    Shelley
    I always enjoy your posts so much. And this project is just beautiful! I have the Belgravia pattern but have not yet made it. I had been thinking that, for me, a wider skirt would be more flattering. And I love simple round collar you worked out from the Metro T. Thank you for all the tips. Now if I can just find some double gauze jersey somehow!!! Nirmala

    1. Thanks Nirmala, I’m very honoured to have been allowed to play with Liesl’s patterns and pop up here over so many years! I always enjoy the Oliver + S community.
      Another fabric that would be heavenly for this dress variation would be a good, medium weight, superfine merino jersey. We’re lucky in Aus/NZ to have some really good quality wool fabrics to play with.

  5. Erica

    Double gauze jersey!? SOLD. I had never heard of such a wondrous thing until now. Thank you for sharing. Your version of a Belgravia looks like a cozy–but elegant–hug.

    1. Thanks Erica. Copy, yet elegant hug was exactly what I was hoping for.

  6. Bronwyn

    Great as usual. I want to know what that fabric is you’re using for your pattern pieces. It looks much more sensible than paper.

    1. Hi Bronwyn, it’s a very thin, sheer interfacing called Trace and Toile (or similar). I trace all my patterns especially the kid’s Oliver + S as I use them so many times and in so many sizes.
      The interfacing can be stitched and used as muslin if needed. It also folds up nicely and I store the tracings in plastic sleeves in ring binder folders.
      I like that if I suddenly need to sew a School bus tee for a niece/nephew birthday I can find the tracing and get straight into it!

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