As Regency-core continues its prominent reign on fashion this season, we’re seeing more puff sleeves and structured bodices than we ever thought possible in the 21st century. Still, we’re in love. To modernize this trend a bit, I decided to play around with one of our free dress patterns by turning it into a chic new bodysuit. Let’s take a look at how you can hack this pattern for all of your modern regency needs!
Purchase Materials Used Below:
All seam allowances are 1/2″ unless otherwise stated. See chart below for sizing specifications. Note, this specific pattern is available up to a size 30.
There are only a few edits needed to hack this pattern into a bodysuit!
First, (the easiest), you can skip the lower skirt extension piece.
Next, the front and back dress pieces have notches at the high hip to note where the gathering should begin for the original dress pattern. At the top notch, draw a line straight across at a 90 degree angle to the CF and CB, like the dotted teal lines below. These will be your new cut lines for your front and back pattern pieces.
If using a woven fabric, be sure to add 1/2″ seam allowance to your CB to insert an invisible zipper.
Create the bodice following the original dress instructions, omitting the skirt portions.
For the bottom portion of your garment, I recommend using the panty pieces from our Foxglove Bodysuit. Once the panty is created by attaching the front and back at the side seams, you can evenly gather your bodice into the waist. Note: if you’re adding a zipper to your bodice, I recommend doing this before you attach to the bottom.
Will you be trying out this pattern hack? Let me know what kind of print you’re thinking in the comments below!
6 comments
Wow, this is a great idea! I am not the biggest fan of empire waist cuts, but I love how this gives the illusion of one whilst still being fitted, and the bodysuit makes it so practical. I might make mine with short sleeves tho, since where I live is always so hot lol
Can this pattern be used to make top?
I would imagine you could make a top out of it. You would just shorten it to the length you want your top to be.
Agradezco el patrón por favor
Hi, I am using the sleeve pattern to construct a victorian style blouse, do you know how I can get a bigger puff at the shoulder?
Hi Rosemary, we’re sorry for the delay in responding to your question! We get dozens of comments and questions each day, and so many questions get buried and, unfortunately, unanswered. We are now focusing user support on patterns 2 years and newer. We hope this will prevent questions on our more current patterns from going unanswered. Although this is late, we wanted to respond in case anyone else has the same question: we actually would recommend either the Davallia Bodysuit or using a sleeve from the Valli Sleeve pack.