Although our figures are not at all similar, I particularly like the style of dresses that Sian Singleton of Kittenish Behaviour has been showing on her vlog/blogs and believe that they also suit my rubenesque silhouette! Inspired by her makes using a Vogue pattern I decided that I would like to make a dress with a similar neckline. I particularly like the width of the shoulders as I have found that  with some of my recent dresses, there can sometimes be an issue with bra straps showing.Although Sian’s bodice in this iteration has a straight neckline, I found Butterick B6217 blouse by Gertie in my stash and felt that it was sufficiently similar to use that.

Inspiration from Kittenish Behaviour

Butterick B6217 –  Using view C plus tulip sleeves for the Bodice

Rather than hack the neckline onto my TNT bodice, I decided to make a toile of the new Butterick pattern before cutting into my fashion fabric. I would use View C, remove the front button closure and add the tulip sleeves from View A. I would then have a prepared toile for a blouse at the same time (multi-tasking!)

Bodice Front & Back – copied and extended to my measurements

Bodice Front & Back Calico toile after fitting – note the need for a full bust adjustment!

Checking out my stash of fabric I came across a pretty Pink roses print that was originally purchased from Fabricland several years ago. I had previously used some to make a blouse so knew that the fabric was a good weight for a dress and easy to stitch. There were at least 4 metres so there would be plenty for a new dress and it would also be 1 less length of fabric in my stash.

I spent a while deliberating on whether or not the print of my Roses fabric was a one-way design. It was certainly directional so would not be appropriate for the full circular skirt that I used on Bettina dresses 1,2 & 3. I decided to make the full gathered skirt by taking 3 panels across the full width of the fabric. See the next post for the full story of Mishap Mary Rose!