Retroish Nettie Dress

10.27.2014

Ponte dresses, they've been around for awhile right?  I have to say they've never struck my fancy until this year. Maybe the Ponte Fairy visited me in the middle of the night and smacked me up the side of the head with her double knit wand. Heee heee hee that tickles!

What also helped my ponte conversion was stumbling across a few lovely retro inspired styles on the net.  The Joan dress by Outerlimitz and the Joanie dress by pinupgirl clothing to point out a few. Oh if only we could all be Joan for a couple of days. I'd give my eye teeth to always have a witty bon mot ready to put people back in their places. Alas this is not my lot, instead I'll be over in the corner giggling about some weird crap I just made up in my head. Frog tutus, Bam!

Anyway, let's just talk about the dress, shall we?  I really liked the pleat detail on the Outerlimitz dress and decided to drop that into a Nettie dress with a few style mods.  To make the dress a little more retro looking I gave it a boat neck and lengthen the skirt 5".
Full disclosure here, the dress came out little shorter and tighter than I'd envisioned. I'm also wearing a Rago girdle in these pics to suck everything in a bit.  This ponte is 100% polyester and had a much firmer recovery than the rayon based pontes I've worked with in the past.  Does anyone find judging knit ease needed more tricky in pontes than say regular jerseys? Is it just me?
View of the side pleats.  Looking at the pictures of the Outerlimitz dress makes me think that they might have sewn down the pleats a few inches. Something similar to a shoulder tuck cluster.
Skirt vent on the back annnnd me being reminded how big my back end is. Better pop on over to youtube to watch "Baby got back" a couple of times.   P.S. - Crazy windy on picture day so enjoy some weird hair.

I need to size this dress up a bit to be comfortable wearing it, but that doesn't mean I can't give you some hacking instructions in the meantime. Oh yeah, hacky, hack, hack.

Hacking Instructions
1 - For the front trace the skirt portion of Nettie and mirror it so that you have the whole front. Add seam allowance to the waist since it will now have a seam. If you want to lengthen the skirt do it at this time.  I've added 5" of length here. When all your changes are done, cut out the pattern piece.

2. Chose which side of the skirt will have the pleats. Measure down 2.5 inches from the waist and mark the location of the first pleat.

3. Mark 3 more pleat locations 2" apart from each other.

4. Using the pleat location marks, draw 4 lines across the whole pattern.  Keep the lines parallel to each other, but they do not need to be completely horizontal across the pattern.

5. Cut the lines from one side seam almost all the way to the other. Leave a small paper hinge.

6. Place paper behind the cuts and open up the slashes to the width you want your pleat. On this dress I've spread them apart 1".  Tape down the pleats at your chosen depth.

7. Cut off all the excess paper to complete the front skirt pattern.

8. For the back trace the pattern on the half. Add seam allowance to the CB and draw in a vent intake.  I made mine 5" high and 1.5" wide.

9. I used the same technique for converting the neckline to a boat neck as outline in this renfrew tutorial.  The shoulder seam doesn't need to be narrowed on Nettie. Place the french curve on the edge of the existing shoulder seam and redraw the neckline higher.  Here's a quick look at my back bodice.

10. On the front add two pleats in the same manner as you did on the skirt.  The lower pleat is 2.5" from the waist and the second is 2" away from the first pleat.

Sewing Notes
1. When sewing the dress, fold the pleats up towards the waist. Secure them with some basting before sewing the side seam. Once the side seam has been sewn the basting can be removed.

2. The neckline is finished in the same manner as the previously mentioned boatneck tutorial.

3. The back vent is top-stitched just like you would on a woven garment.

24 comments:

  1. Still looking very good despite the over enthusiastic wind and the dress looks great too! I'm looking forward to NL6000 once /if my body returns to something normalish! It's them radiating pleats...

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  2. This colour looks amazing on you! I love how you've given nettie such a retro vibe and pleats are awesome! Thanks for sharing how you did it! Also, I totally dig the leopard print accessories too!

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  3. That lookes amazing! And what a great colour. Pretty cool.

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  4. All hail the Nettie Queen! *bows and kisses feet* This is really inspired Heather. Hip pleats! Kick pleat! Yes!

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  5. I love this color on you! And I think you look super hot! I get that it's snugger than you're comfortable with, but it's seriously fab!

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  6. Smokin'! I have ponte in the stash and it always makes me go... Meh... And I turn to something else. You know I always want to do what you do....

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  7. You do the best job with the pattern hacks. Fabulous dress.

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  8. The dress is gorgeous! The Outerlimitz dress is ridiculously similar to NL6000. The pleating is slightly different, but looks like it is sewn in a bit just like NL6000. The sleeve and neckline are about the same, I think, too.

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  9. Channeling Joan is usually one of top priorities for the day! Great dress, nice hack!

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  10. Thanks Kate. I had to look up NL6000 to see what that design looked like. It's very pretty. Hope you get a chance to sew it up after the little one arrives.

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  11. Thanks Heather! Leopard shoes seemed like a good way around getting every shoe color in the rainbow. Not that I'd have a problem with that. ;)

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  12. Thank you Dude. I keep looking at the drag lines and going ewwwwww. :) Maybe someone needs to knock the fitting part of my brain out.

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  13. Thank you Friderike. Jewel tones seem to always be a good choice but I rarely buy this color. Probably should change that. :)

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  14. Thank you Heather! Using Nettie for a ponte dress was a no brainer. I looooove it so. :)

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  15. I feel the same way about ponte most of the time. It's less exciting than most fabrics. However you'd look stunning in a ponte sheath dress since you have lovely legs.

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  16. Thank Bobbi, the husband does like it. :)

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  17. Thanks Laura. The NL6000 dress is pretty interesting. It wasn't one filed away in my brain. When I redo this dress I will stitch the pleats down a bit. That will keep them from looking so much like drag lines.

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  18. Thanks Lauren. We all should channel Joan when ever possible!

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  19. Thank you Lori. Glad you enjoy the hacks since the old brain won't stop thinking them up. :)

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  20. Shame about the fit because it is a pretty colour on you. If you are adjusting the pattern for another go, you might also try a sway back adjustment to eliminate the wrinkling across the back.

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  21. Yeah, I do need a sway back and few other adjustments befor this is perfect. :)

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  22. Thank you Rachel. I need to get back to this and do a few more tweaks once the holiday craziness is over.

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