Diana Dress Hack

With all the Black Friday sales, I found myself checking out some less known pattern designers. No better time like a sale to try something new. I bought the Diana dress from Sew Sew Def with the idea of changing it up. I love the look of the full or pleated skirt with a crop top so I decided to do that. This pattern doesn’t really come with many options. Lining is optional, but I did line it because it’s cold here in the winter.

While this pattern is written for wovens, I chose to use burgundy supplex from Phee fabrics. It has good recovery, it’s thick, it does show ever lump and bump, which is important with all the holiday feasting.

As far as choosing your size when sewing a woven pattern with knits, compare your measurements to the finished measurement chart. This will be a good starting point. I still ended up sizing down one more and could’ve sized down again, if the pattern had that option. I ended up sizing down 3 sizes and it was still a little big in places.

For the bodice, I eliminated the zipper since I was using stretch fabric. So I subtracted that extra bit that was needed for the zipper, when I cut it out. I lined it with the same fabric. Now I did make a muslin of the bodice and still ended up with fit issues. It was a little big and I didn’t think it was that noticeable until I topstitched the neckline. Yikes! It was huge. But it was already put together. I decided I didn’t care if it had exposed seams at this point. Yes! I totally took the easy way out on this part, not gonna lie. So I ended up taking half an inch off each side and then I added a seam down the middle of the back, and took out a whole inch. I then topstitched that seam. I then hemmed the bottom. This way I can either wear the skirt over the top like it’s a dress, or I can expose a little skin, depending the the occasion.

For the skirt, I wanted a lot less fullness on my petite frame, so I only used the front piece. I did pleats instead of gathering. I messed around found an even measurement for the pleats and the space between them. Basted the pleats, Then I added a waist band. I took 3-4” off my waist measurement and did 5” In height. I did eliminate the pockets.

I was very discouraged throughout the making of this pattern. The pattern itself is easy, and well written but I had to do some work to make it what I wanted it to be. Honestly I’m in love with the final outcome! Once I tightened the bodice up a lot more, it all came together.