Nettie Bodysuit and Burda Maxi Skirt

Since it is currently Me Made May 2017, I have a brand new outfit to share! It’s made up of a Closet Case Nettie Bodysuit with a few hacks and a maxi skirt made with a Burda pattern.

The skirt is made with the “Train Maxi Skirt 09/2014 #105” by Burda. The only modification was to cut the train off at the end. It was so beautiful, but not practical at all. This skirt pattern was drafted in a very interesting way, and it is unlike any skirt I’ve ever seen. There are two very long front darts that extend down to the knee, and there are no side seams. There are only the middle back and side back seams. From the front, the skirt looks like a maxi with a straight silhouette, but the back is very voluminous. I used a floral rayon challis from fabric.com that I purchased last year. It’s important to choose a lightweight drapey fabric for this skirt since there are no side seams, and the fabric has to flow over the hips.

For the neckline of the bodysuit, I used this tutorial posted by Heather Lou on the Closet Case blog to hack the nettie into an off the shoulder bodysuit. Instead of using a knit band at the neckline like Heather Lou did, I stitched 1/4 inch elastic to the wrong side of the neckline edge with a zig-zag stitch without stretching the elastic or the fabric. Then, I folded the elastic under to the wrong side and used a wide cover stitch stitching through all thicknesses. If you don’t have a coverstitch machine, you can use a wide zig-zag stitch for that part too.

To make the ruffles for the sleeves,  I drafted ruffles that resemble 3/4 of a circle in two different lengths for each sleeve. The ruffles are sewn on with a zig-zag stitch just above the sleeve hem.

The fabric for the bodysuit is the white kaufman laguna stretch jersey. It is a spandex cotton blend and has great recovery. I have used this jersey in many colorways, and it is my favorite jersey to work with. It is so soft yet substantial, and it is easy to sew with. The white was a tad sheer, but the other colors/ colorways I have used before have not been. To account for the sheerness, I made the nettie two sizes bigger, and this seemed to help.

Have you done any pattern hacks lately? I’d love to know!