Ellie & Mac A-Line alteration for longer length Nyeca A-line dress.
Hi, I am Leanne from Australia and recently added a slimmed down A-line skirt to the Nyeca dress. I can be adventurous and take on a bit of a challenge however there are easier ways to achieve the outcome and l would like to show you how you can get that longer length dress in an A line without too much drama in creating it.
As a disclaimer l made my Nyeca A-Line dress with the skirt from the Wrapped in Love Dress but it did require a lot of adjustments & l could have made it a lot easier so l will show you a much easier process with the Nyeca Dress.
Have you ever decided that you want to wear the longer length for any or many reasons, well l have. l have been wearing the midi length recently and liking the length as l do feel that it makes me feel a bit taller at around 5’. l also had this beautiful large print from Lush Fabrics Australia which l wanted to show case and having gathers or a flared skirt l felt it would get a bit lost so the A-Line was the perfect choice to show case the print.
I love the sweetheart neckline of the Nyeca dress, but as l wanted the longer length, the A-Line in the pattern which is the shorter length it would be a little too flared for what l was wanting.
I used a process that did take a lot of adjustments for me to get where l could create my dress. l really love my dress, but a much simpler process would have saved me time. Adjusting waist widths, length, and the width of the hem takes time, so using the skirt from the Nyeca skirt, you will get a great fit easily. It is a simple cut and a decrease in the width of your pattern piece.
Resources:
You will need paper or whatever you use for lengthening your pattern. I live rural with no sewing items available, so it is online shopping for me, so paper or whatever is in my cupboard is what l use as l can always access it easily.
pen/pencil for redrawing your pattern piece, tape measure, & ruler
Scissors to cut your pattern
Tape
Pattern alteration:
You will require the front & back piece of the Nyeca A-line skirt
Mark the center waistline.
Mark the center of the bottom hemline.
Draw a line where you marked the waist and the bottom.
Cut along this line almost to the top of the waistband, you can easily overlap the bottom of the pattern to create your new slimmed skirt pattern piece, remembering the waistline will remain the same width. This may take a bit just to get the width of the skirt that you want.
You will need to move the bottom of your pattern piece to overlap at the bottom, as this will decrease the width of your pattern to give you a slimmer skirt.
Have a play with your pattern piece on you and see where you think you would like the width to sit, but remember that your fabric will drape much better than your pattern, and you will get the idea of the flare of the skirt. If you already have a skirt or dress with the width you like, this will make it a lot easier by laying your pattern piece over the garment. Don’t despair, you can do this with just your pattern piece.
For reference, I overlapped the bottom of the mid thigh A line Nyeca skirt 6 ¾’, this gave me the width l liked when the skirt was lengthened. The mid-thigh length sits longer on me due to my height.
Join your pattern piece, remembering that the waist remains the same, tape here, and then tape at the bottom where you have overlapped the pattern.
Place paper underneath the pattern so that you can mark the length, remembering that the width will be needed to extend here, so you can create an even side seam. This will not, however, make your skirt wider as l show you the process and create your pattern piece. Tape in place.
Measure the length that you want, adding enough length for hemming. Don’t worry if it is too long, you can simply cut some length off to your preference, l do. For reference, l am around 5’ and added 10’ and as l generally like a ¾’ hem, l added 10 ¾’ length to my new extended pattern piece.
You can now draw a line along the side down to the length that you require. This is easy to do. Draw a straight line along the fold line of your Nyeca skirt pattern piece, then do the same along the side seam. You have now created your longer length skirt pattern piece.
To get your hemline even along the bottom of your Nyeca skirt pattern piece, measure the same length evenly along the bottom of your pattern piece. This will give you your newly created longer length.
You will need to do the same process for the back A-line skirt pattern piece from the Nyeca dress.
When you have your pattern piece together, you can cut your fabric and attach it to the bodice as per the Nyeca pattern instructions.
Now that you have done this, you can easily use the same process to use the A-line skirt in the longer length on other Ellie and Mac patterns. You will need to measure the bodice of your other chosen Ellie & Mac pattern that you wish to sew with the A-line skirt's longer length skirt that you have now created. If the waist measurement on the skirt does not measure the same as your bodice, this is also easily created. You will need to decrease or increase the width of the skirt waistline depending on the measurement required. Now, just get your pattern piece, and untape it, and overlap or extend the waistline to the required measurement, remembering to redraw the waistline if extending the waistline is required, then retape your pattern. There, you have created the skirt to match the bodice of your chosen Ellie and Mac pattern.
Written by Leanne Miller
