How To Make A Dress Flared Out

With the release of our latest models, some of you have been asking about adding fullness to your skirt. I show you two ways to do that, modifying the Belgravia Knit Dress and Kensington Knit Skirt patterns to have an A-shape. And the benefit of doing this yourself is that you can decide if you want to see it on your own. How much food do you want to add!Read: How to make a flared skirt Let’s start with the Belgravia Knit Dress, which features a narrow pencil skirt. For this version, I wanted to add just a small flare below the hips as well as two inches of length for the hem.The Belgravia skirt is slightly tapered so that the skirt is narrower towards the hem than at the hips. I didn’t want to add fullness over the hips when I flared the skirt, so I added about 2 1/2″ at the side seams near the hem and blending into the widest point of the hips. I also added about 1 1/2 in the front center and back center, tapering to the hips. This way I removed the taper at the side seams and added flares on both the side seams and the front and back seams. Although I only made the dress a little wider at the hem, you can definitely add more fullness if you prefer flare. (My personal preference is for thin skirts, so I kept flare to a minimum.) Then curve the hem slightly so it meets the side/center seams at an angle. 90 degrees and lengthen or shorten with this same curve, as shown below.That’s not too difficult, is it? For my flared Belgravia dress, I used a very light, pleated knit that I think I could call flimsy without offending it. The flare is especially subtle because of the curtain, but I think you can still see it, right?Read more: How to make a wedding bouquet with daisiesNow let’s look at another method, called slash and spread. For this example, I’ll show you the Kensington Dress, which has a skirt but no seams in the front or center. If you want to add fullness, the best method is to divide the skirt into quarters (approximately) adding a cut along the lines so you can spread the pattern pieces at the hem, keeping the top edge the same width as before. head so that it still fits the yoke. For more fullness, you can also add an equal amount of flare at the side seams, starting at the fullest part of the hips. This way, you can add as much or as little flare as you like, and the fullness will distribute itself throughout the skirt, not just at the side seams. (Kensington doesn’t have a front or center seam, so this is a better way to add fullness.)Shelley added some flare to her Kensington Skirt with this technique, and she even turned her body a bit so you can see the fullness! I think it turned out very cute.And guess? Claire used this same method to add fullness to her Belgravia dress because she wanted to add more fullness, including some looping around her hips. Here’s a shot of her backless dress model after she adjusted it.And here is Claire’s finished dress.The extra flares are really pretty, aren’t they?Once you’ve adjusted your dress pattern pieces, you can continue with the pattern as written, keeping in mind that you may need more fabric due to your changes. And if you want to learn more about these techniques, they are covered in depth in our book Building Block Dress. Tag your photos so we can see them together, okay? #lieslandco #belgraviadress # kensingtonknitskirt And don’t forget to join our spring pattern challenge! You can enter by sewing either (or both!) of these patterns as well as our new Montauk Pants pattern. Plus, we’re donating a portion of this week’s pattern sales to charity, so now’s a great time to pick up the pattern you’ve got your eye on! Read more: how to hem the curtain with a sewing machine