Add a Pussycat Bow Tie To The Neckline Of Any Dress!

By Sarah LewisNov 23, 2024

Hi friends! It’s Amy, and today I am going to show you how to make this fancy looking Pussycat bow tie neck dress – it’s not as complicated as it looks I promise!

Fabrics I have used in this project:

- pink cotton jersey from Fabrikanza

- houndstooth viscose elastane from Knighton Fabrics

- green matte lycra from Knighton Fabrics

- books print scuba from Knighton Fabrics

THINGS YOU WILL NEED:

Pencil/pen
Ruler
Paper
Scissors/rotary cutter
Ellie and Mac patterns – Breezy, Sarah Wide Sleeve Sweater, Tres Belle (optional)
Pins or clips

Optional but useful:

Pattern weights
scotch/washi tape
Pencil eraser/rubber
Software like Affinity Designer/Inkscape if want to make digital alterations instead of on paper

If you don’t yet have the pattern(s) needed for this tutorial, you can find them here (afflinks):

Breezy

Sarah Wide Sleeve Sweater

Tres Belle

Please note I use a projector rather than paper patterns so all my pattern alterations take place digitally, but you can follow my instructions just the same using paper.

MAKING THE PATTERN ALTERATIONS:

First you will need your Breezy bodice pattern. If using paper, trace a copy of the back bodice and front bodice so that you are always working on copies and never on your original pattern piece. Do not cut out the new front pattern piece yet, you can go ahead and cut out the back bodice.

Your back neckline can stay where it is, but you need to move your front neckline up by about 1.25”, as shown:

To do this, draw a mark 1.25” above the current midline position of your neckline, and using a french curve ruler, draw a line from this new point to connect to the existing shoulder point.

Next, draw a line 4.5” down from the centre point of the new neckline.

This is the base for the vertical slit in your bodice. You can make this line shorter or longer depending on personal preference. I find this a good length without being revealing.

You will now draw a curved line from the neck to the base of the vertical slit – again this can be as curved as you like to be more or less revealing, my curve is a maximum of 0.5” away from the centre line:

You can cut out your front bodice piece at this point.

There is one more step to complete the neckline, and that is to make a facing to finish the raw edge of the vertical keyhole slit we just created.

To do this, place your bodice piece over a new piece of paper, and draw around the inside edge of the keyhole shape, and around the first couple of inches of the neckline either side. You can put the bodice piece to one side now, and just work on the new piece of paper. Measure out from your keyhole outline and draw marks all the way round it by approximately 1-1.25”. Join the marks together smoothly, and this is your facing piece. It should look something like this:

Now we create the waistband. You can make this flat or as curved as you like. Draw a line the shape you would like your waistband to be on to your front bodice pattern piece. I drew mine 3.25” tall at the side seam, tapering up to 3.75” in the centre:

Cut along this line to separate the pieces:

You now need to add seam allowance along each edge where you cut through your pattern piece. Add a strip of paper 0.25” along each edge:

Do exactly the same to your back bodice piece. You can make your back waistband flat if you wish. I made mine exactly the same front and back.

Next we will work on the upper bodice pieces, so you can set your waistband pieces to one side.

Take your upper front bodice pattern piece, it is easier to work on only half the pattern piece at this stage and mirror it later, so I would cut your front bodice piece down the midline to do this.

Draw approximately three lines with a ruler from neckline to waistline, spread roughly evenly across the bodice (it does not have to be perfect).

Cut along these lines from waist to neck, leaving a tiny bit of paper connected at the neck to act as a hinge, and spread the pieces apart so there is approximately 1.5” of space at the waistline between each piece of paper:

So you are adding about 4.5” of width in the waistline to the half of the bodice you are working on.

Stick your spread out pattern down to a new piece of paper and draw around the outline, using a french curve ruler to get nice curves where needed.

Cut this out. Fold a piece of paper, place the centreline of your bodice along the fold, draw round the edge, and then cut the folded piece of paper to get your symmetrical unfolded new pattern piece.

If you want your back bodice to have gathers too, take your upper back bodice pattern piece and repeat these steps exactly as we have just done.

Now your upper front and back bodice pieces and waistbands are completed.

For your pussybow tie, I used a rectangular pattern piece 59” (the width of the fabric) x 7”.

If you would like your tie to be longer than mine, you can halve the length you would like it to be, cut two pieces this length and have a centre back neck seam.

Next we will look at the sleeves. You will need your Sarah Wide Sleeve Sweater sleeve pattern folded at the Cuffed sleeve cutline:

Make a copy of the pattern piece. Cut down the centre of the piece and spread the two halves apart to add more volume. I spread my pieces by about 5.5”.

Draw around this on to a new piece of paper.

Next draw about 5 vertical lines from top to bottom across your pattern piece, cut from bottom to top leaving a small piece of paper connected to act as a hinge, like we did for the bodice top adjustment.

Start spreading the pieces apart until there is approximately 2.4” of added space between each piece at the bottom edge of the sleeve, to add a total of about 12”.

Once you have done this, stick your pattern down to a new piece of paper, and draw around it using a french curve ruler to draw nice curves as needed to connect the pieces together. Cut your pattern piece out, it’s done. Remember this sleeve has a front and a back so you will need to cut two mirror image sleeve pieces when you are cutting out.

You can use the sleeve cuff from Sarah Wide Sleeve Sweater without any modification.

Finally we are going to do a small skirt adjustment. This is totally optional, feel free to add any skirt you wish, but I love this skirt shape so I am going to share this easy adjustment with you.

My favourite skirt is a full circle skirt that is slightly shorter at the sides. I have two reasons for this, one, if your fabric has poor recovery, this will help hide how uneven the hem gets as it ‘grows’ at the sides (who has time to wait for your skirt to hang for two days before hemming?? Not me…), and two, if your fabric has good recovery then I think this just gives a great peppy fun shape to the skirt, in a subtle way.

So, if you would like to try it out, take your Tres Belle full Circle skirt pattern and make a mark 1.5” in from the hem end of the horizontal pattern piece edge. Then using a french curve ruler to help you, draw a curved line from the original base of the centre front skirt to the new side edge position, like the red line on this picture:

Make sure you mark the quarter points on your fabric when you cut this out so you can align the front, back and sides correctly when attaching it to your bodice.

And that is all the pattern adjustments complete, good job – a cup of tea and a biscuit would be a good call at this point!

Next we will move on to construction. You can go ahead and cut out your pattern pieces and meet me back here.

CONSTRUCTION:

First place your front and back bodice pieces right sides together and sew the shoulder seams with stretch stitch or serger.

Then place your facing piece over your bodice keyhole right sides together and around the edge with a ¼” seam allowance. I used a zig zag stitch 0.5 wide by 2 long – it looks much like a straight stitch but has stretch, it’s my new favourite stitch.

Cut vertically at the base of the keyhole without cutting through the stitching line

Turn the facing to the wrong side of the bodice and press well. Topstitch in place. I used my favourite narrow zig zag.

Next we will work on the pussybow tie. Fold your tie along the length and press to create a memory crease

I like to serge along the long raw edges at this stage, it’s optional but it helps me judge the seam allowance for the next steps.

Fold in half right sides together and seam the short edges

Turn right side out and press.

Fold the tie in half and mark the centre point at the raw edge with a pin. Turn the seam allowance in along the long raw edges, you can press a memory crease if you wish, that will make it easier to maintain the seam allowance. You can use a seam allowance of ¼” or 3/8” whichever your preference.

Align the centre back bodice neckline with the centre of the tie, and sandwich the raw edge of the neckline inside the open edge of the tie, overlapping it by about 1/4-3/8”, and pinning it in place.

Working out from the centre, continue to sandwich the neckline into the open edge of the tie and pin it in place. You do not need to stretch either the neckline or tie as you pin them together. When you reach the end of the neckline, continue to pin the tie closed all the way to the end.

Edgestitch the whole way along the tie from one end to another.

Next, place your bodice pieces right sides together and sew the side seams together.

Place your waistband pieces right sides together and sew the side seams together.

Using your preferred method, gather the bottom edge of the bodice evenly until it matches the size of the waistband.

Pin or clip your waistband to your gathered bodice, right sides together

Serge or sew using your preferred stretch stitch, and then press.

Moving on to sleeve construction. Fold your sleeve right sides together and sew the underarm seam. Also place a mark or notch at the halfway point along the sleevehead.

Make a notch or mark 2” in from each edge of your sleeve head, and using your preferred method, gather between these points. Position the sleeve right sides together with the bodice and pin or clip the underarm seam to the side seam. Pin or clip the rest of the sleeve head to the armscye, matching the centre point of the sleeve head to the shoulder seam, and gathering the sleeve head until it fits armscye all the way around.

Serge or sew the sleeve to the bodice using a stretch stitching and repeat for the other sleeve.

Take the sleeve cuff, fold it vertically right sides together and seam. Fold it open horizontally so the right side is showing. Repeat for other cuff.

Gather the bottom edge of your sleeve all the way around so that it matches the cuff size, and pin or clip together.

Serge or sew to attach your cuff to your sleeve, and repeat for the other sleeve.

Your bodice is complete!

Next, draw marks or cut notches to show the centre and side points of your skirt, and pin or clip right sides together to your bodice, matching centre and side seams.