I’m always up for a good pattern hack, I think it might even be programmed into my DNA. I’m insanely jealous of the person who can roll out ten dresses assembly-line style that differ only by their fabric and have an instant wardrobe, because that kind of focus and self-discipline has always eluded me. Most of the time my process consists of 40% dreaming/planning, 10% hacking the pattern, and 50% of the time trying to save/hack the hack because it didn’t work out. If I thought too much about how much wasted time that represents I would probably start to cry, but every so often the skies open and the angels sing and the dress or top or whatever in my head that I’ve been dreaming about materializes exactly the way I had hoped (note to self: that intermittent reinforcement is probably fueling that pattern of behavior). This was definitely not one of those perfect moments, but I still ended up with something pretty cute. I especially like the gold buttons in the back on this Beatrix hack:

This lace top was intended to be a cropped, lined version of Beatrix, which is usually hip-length and unlined. View B of the pattern (view card here) has a straight line at the hem where the hem bands attach, and I was hoping if I cut the top along that line it would produce a cute boxy effect. The lining (an off-white voile) was a no-brainer because of the lace, and voile is pretty stable so I expected it to provide a nice shape. Despite stay-stitching and serging all the lace edges before sewing it together, the lace stretched more than expected, which resulted in a wider neckline than I wanted and a larger fit overall which wasn’t as flattering as I’d hoped, so the proportions aren’t quite what I expected. I took measures to try and work on it some more — I added a line of top-stitching around the neck to help it lay flat, hemmed up a little more from the bottom and took in the side seams — and it’s definitely better, now. In the pics below where my arms are akimbo (I think I get bonus points for using that word) you can maybe see that the fit looks a little broad yet at the top.

Maybe it will grow on me the more I wear it? It’s not quite the fantastic wow-I-want-to-wear-this-everywhere thing I had envisioned, but that’s OK, I still like it. And my second experiment with Beatrix (Part II) was much better, so stay tuned!!

Lace Beatrix with gold buttons

Explore

Help

Stay Connected