Robes de Coeur
  • Blog
  • Quilting
  • Clothing
    • Menswear
    • Womenswear >
      • Self-Made Patterns
      • Commercial Patterns
    • Hats
    • Miscellany
  • About
  • Blog
  • Quilting
  • Clothing
    • Menswear
    • Womenswear >
      • Self-Made Patterns
      • Commercial Patterns
    • Hats
    • Miscellany
  • About

Alteration: Round Neckline to V neck

2/26/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture


Today's post shows a simple alteration to turn a round neckline into a V neck, on a formal gown made of stretchy fabric and sequined lace.  You could do it by machine if you have a machine that doesn't eat knits, but I was using a borrowed machine that did like to eat knits, so I sewed this by hand. 
The dress is constructed in two layers: a knit underlining and a stretch lace overlayer.  They're sewn right sides together, then turned, then topstitched in two parallel lines.  The back neckline is round, the front neckline higher and also round. 
Picture
Here's the original round neckline, which you can see is most unflattering to a large bust and wide shoulders.  I've used pins to mark the desired V neck.  It won't be deep and cleavage-y, so it's a modest change! 

Now, if your dress has a deep V in the back already, making a deep V in front will create a wardrobe malfunction: there needs to be some horizontal bridge to hold the bodice together! 
Picture
The black backdrop is my jeans, not the interior of the dress.
So I sat down with a seam ripper and took out the old neckline in the front.  Doing so exposed a line of stablizing rubber that was sewn in to keep the neckline from gaping.  I snipped that at the CF point, then tugged it out of the way and snipped the neckline open to the new shape. 

This picture shows, at the top, the released stabilizer and the new neckline marked by pins and cut with seam allowance.  At the bottom, you can see the other half of the v-neck pinned with the seam allowances turned inward.  The stabilizer is tucked in as far as it'll go and pinned; it doesn't go all the way to the center of the V, because it's not long enough, but I used as much as I could without stretching it. 
I sewed by hand, making first a line of stitches close to the edge to close the seam and catch the stabilizer, and then another row of stitches running parallel.  I used a backstitch for strength with the knit.  When I got to the center of the V, where the seam allowances necessarily get quite shallow, I shortened my stitches and whipped around the V a bit.  If you're using a machine, just shorten your stitch length at the turn of the corner, starting approximately where I started using red pins instead of white. 

See how much better the V neck looks! 
Picture
(Sorry for the blurry pic!)
1 Comment
THe Sister
2/26/2018 09:10:05 am

Aww, I love this color so much. Thank you for making this dress more of a pleasure to wear! Love you!

(Don't forget to link from the "Sewing For My Sister" post)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Karen Roy

    Quilting, dressmaking, and history plied with the needle...

    Categories

    All
    1910's
    Alteration
    Antique
    Dyeing
    Embroidery
    General
    Hand Sewing
    History
    Lacemaking
    Mending
    Menswear
    Millinery
    Modern Elizabethan
    Musing
    Other Sewing
    Philippians 4:8
    Project Diary
    Quilting
    Regency
    Retro
    Self Made Pattern
    Self-made Pattern
    Terminology
    Victorian
    Vintage

    Blogs I Read

    The Dreamstress
    Male Pattern Boldness
    ​
    Lilacs & Lace
    Tom of Holland
    Fit for a Queen
    Line of Selvage
    Mainely Menswear
    Bernadette Banner

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    RSS Feed

Blog

Quilting

Clothing

About

Copyright Karen Roy
​© 2017-2022