Finished - a 60's inspired mashup Audrey

My husband turned 40 in early July, and decided he wanted a party at home. Initially he wanted all guests to dress as Elvis - no exceptions. But eventually I was able to talk him into a slightly more flexible dress code - a 60's theme. For my outfit I had a slightly ulterior motive - I wanted to make a knit long sleeve funnel neck frock from a fabulous navy and black stable knit I'd been stashing since last year....

Teamed with a bouffant, yellow tights and black knee high boots it was a great party outfit (no decent pics from the night though I'm afraid). And even better, I've worn it a heap since. It's just really hard to get decent pics because it is so dark. This is the best I have come up with.....

It was a pretty simple but multiple- patterned mashup - I printed off another version of the Maria Denmark Audrey dress (I made a summer version here) and this time used the Plantain tee for the sleeves and upper body, used Gertie's Vintage Casual instructions to convert the neckline from a scoop to a boat neck (similar instructions can also be found in the Built By Wendy book for knits). I then made a simple collar by cutting a rectangle band 85% the diameter of the neckline circumference and stretching to fit.

This time I also adjusted the Audrey pattern to be far less A-line before I cut the fabric out (my first attempt at this with a different was a terrible fail as I tried to adjust the line of the skirt after sewing). 

Best pattern weight ever. Or not. 

I used my self drafted knit skirt to get the shape I was after - now that I've removed the cat you should just make out at the bottom how much I've deviated from the pattern A-line. I'd even consider pegging it a little more for my next version. Also I can't believe it's taken me this long to think of cutting out the dart to make marking so much easier on a PDF! 

I've said it before, but I really like the Audrey pattern as a basis for a knit dress. It's pretty common for many women to need shaping in the lower back in a knit dress, and these back darts provide that without the whole shebang having to have negative ease. I'm sorry I didn't get a pic from the back - but it's pretty similar to my other one. Definitely a winter fave this year.