Friday, April 5, 2013

Betty Draper Maternity Lace Gown Full Length





This dress was a custom request based off the dress worn by ''Betty Draper'' on the TV show Mad Men. My customer chose a light yellow lace with a scalloped border and a chocolate satin underlining. She also wanted a slight mermaid skirt instead of the cocktail length dress. This isn't something I expect to make often so I used two patterns I already had and adjusted from there adding a little extra seam allowance so the dress can be altered later if needed. Below are the patterns a vintage Simplicity and a modern Vogue pattern.





 This is the side front of the Vogue pattern as you can see i have added to the side and hip (closest to the bottom of the image) and curved out the side front seam to allow for the baby belly. I allowed for a total of 5'' more than the normal natural waist, but that would depend on how far along in the pregnancy you are and how you are carrying. I did leave a large seam allowance in those front skirt seams and through the hips so the dress could be worn later or by someone else. Once on the dress form I took it in a bit under the belly and tapered down to the skirt. The back did not get any adjustment except for the straightening of the side seams so it curves in a little less at the side waist.
I did also omit from the Vogue pattern the train and narrowed each skirt at the hem ad tapered upward to the knee. So that is pretty much all that would need to be done to make a regular pattern maternity friendly. Below the dress finished.











No comments:

Post a Comment