Adapting the Shawl Collar Dress for Nursing

A mother asked me if I had any ideas for altering the Shawl Collar Dress so that it can be worn as a nursing dress. After a much-too-long delay, here is my proposed solution:

There would be an inner front waistband sewn to the skirt and the center front inset. The outer waistband, sewn to the two fronts of the bodice, would be attached to the inner waistband and each other by snaps (the circles) and skirt hooks and eyes (the dots).

Here is a diagram showing how to cut out the inset, using as a guide the bodice pattern and the original triangular inset piece.

I have not tested this idea, so I will not guarantee that it works! If you try this, or have discovered your own way to adapt the pattern for nursing mothers, I would love to hear about it.

Creating a Wedding Dress

When my brother got engaged last spring, his fiancee asked me to make the wedding dress. She gave me a picture she and her sisters had drawn of what it should look like. With the drawing, a very basic princess seam dress pattern and an old blue sheet, we started work one afternoon.

After some reckless cutting of fabric and basting of seams, I had Audra put the mock-up on inside out while I re-pinned the seams, taking in and letting out, basting and re-basting. That first afternoon we got the whole mock-up fitted and decided on the width and positioning of the four triangular skirt insets. Since all of the fitting and figuring was done, the dress went together very quickly once we got the fabric.

Dotted: usual cutting & grain line

Solid: modified cutting & grain line

Cheri asked me about the sleeves on the dress. I cut them out freehand, matching the length of the top of the sleeve to the size of the dress armhole. (And yes, I made a trial sleeve--or two--before I cut into the real fabric!) Audra wanted a flared, yet not butterfly, sleeve. To achieve the desired flutter without extra fullness at the top and middle of the sleeve, I curved the sides of the pattern out, and then cut the piece out on the bias so that it wouldn't bind and would have a nice drape. Very narrow hems, slightly stretched as I sewed, finished the sleeves off with a gentle ripple.

The main fabric was an ivory colored polyester damask, while the sleeves were a slightly textured semi-sheer polyester. The whole dress was lined with unbleached cotton that was finished with French seams on the inside.