Butterick Pattern Mashup

On the heals of creating Butterick 5917 dress, I continued with another of Butterick's dress patterns: 5983.  I love the bodice of view A and C but did not like any of the options for the skirt.  Having great success with the previous Butterick dress, despite the fabric color choice, I saw no reason for not getting a little Doctor Frankenstein on the pattern.  

Butterick 5983, using bodice view A/C.

Butterick 5917, using the skirt from view C.

As you can see from the illustrations, the waistlines are completely different!  5917 is high-waisted, whilst 5983 sits at the natural waist.  The alteration merely required moving the waist line up and easing the fabric around that seam since both of the patterns were from the same company.  Pattern 5983 is a completely lined dress which I continued with the alternative skirt.

The fabric for the dress is a two-way, horizontal stretch knit (not jersey) in a charcoal grey with what appears to be chalk lines built into the design and direction of the stretch.  In truth, the "chalk lines" are slightly thicker and lighter color strands woven into knit, giving it a slight Braille feel.  

The lining is technically called stretch taffeta but neither looks nor feels like it.  The bolt description is 100% nylon with PU coating.  PU = polyurethane, meaning that the wrong side is coated with a water resistant finish whilst the right side is your regular 100% stretch nylon, shiny look.  There is so much to say about this material that I will be creating a separate post just to cover how use and work with it.  

Wrong side, PU coating on the left; right side, 100% shiny nylon on the right.

My main reason for using this type of fabric was that the horizontal stripping on the nylon matched perfectly with the charcoal stretch knit look; the "stretch taffeta" is also super light weight and both fabrics were stretchable.  As such, the skin side to the lining was the softer, PU coated side so that the lines on the "stretch taffeta" could highlight the dress fabric.  What I did not know was how tricky the fabric would be to work with nor the paucity of information about how to sew with 100% nylon PU coated stretch taffeta. 

"Stretch Taffeta", aka 100% nylon with PU coating, and scale.

Just as a quick note, PU coated nylon is not the same as PUL (polyurethane laminate), which looks similar to vinyl, nor is the same as ripstop, water-resistant taffeta, polyethylene or even stretch taffeta (in the David Tuttera sense).


The greatest difficulty I had in creating this dress was finishing the bodice back.  In order to keep the lining from riding up, understitching was required.  In and of it self, this is not difficult to do.  However, the right angle turn between the bodice back and yoke gets quite bulky with four layers, even with trimming the seam allowance.

Back view bodice, dress side.  Pleat basting stitches in place.

Back view bodice, lining side.  Pleat basting stitches removed.

The other tricky part was sewing down the front flap to the back; specifically the evenness between the yokes to the center point/line and the gathering of the back flap front along the seam line.  The first time I sewed this line, the sides were uneven and there was no gathering in the front, just one big pleat!

Bodice front dress side, on the shoulder.

Bodice front dress side, off the shoulder.

Bodice view lining side, off the shoulder.

It wasn't until I started sewing the side seams that there was any hint of this dress turning out correctly.  I should also note that since I opted for stretch knit fabric in lieu of a dress requiring a zipper, the arm holes are larger than that illustrated in the instructions and most certainly will not line up were the side seam heights increased.

The front seam between yoke and bodice is about halfway down from the visible back arm hole seam.
The arm hole should end at the line on the red dress form.

Once the bodice was completed to satisfaction, attaching the dress was a matter of basting it to the bodice and checking the fit before serging the lining, bodice and dress, with this seam being hidden/sandwiched between the dress and lining.

The end result is a great dress despite it's difficult beginnings.

Front view, dress side.

Three quarter view, back dress side.

Three quarter view, front dress side.

Front view, lining side.

Word to the wise, the "stretch taffeta" is NOT color fast!  One of my older jersey camisoles turned a bit grey after being washed with this completed dress.  Thankfully I do not wear this cami anywhere outside of the house.


Cost of materials:
"Stretch taffeta" 4.25 yards (3.89 m) totaling $18.56, though only used 3 yard (2.74 m) so roughly $13.50
Ribbed stretch knit 3 yards (2.74 m) totaling $16.50
Guttermann 100 m spools (2), color #115 (charcoal grey), $2.38
Guttermann 200 m spool, color #10 (black), from stash
4 Serger cone threads, black, from stash, originally $4.30
Butterick patterns, from stash, originally $3.98 + tax

Total Cost = $28.03, not including tax, patterns or serger thread but including 15% off coupon for fabric at time of purchase

Date of purchase of fabric: 30 August 2013 ...Not bad for stash hoarding, only one year to make...