A Bevy of Betties
There’s nothing quite like your first love!
My love affair with sewing started with the Betty Dress. Just over a year ago, after countless nights scouring the Internet for the perfect summer dress, it hit me – why don’t I just make my own?! I found a sewing class at a local shop for the next evening, and the rest is history!
The Pattern
Pattern Description
The Sew Over It website describes Betty as “a beautiful 1950’s inspired dress based on the style of Betty Draper”, but I just call it my dream dress! It has a fitted bodice, with a face-framing bateau neckline and a v-back. The skirt is a full circle and the dress zips with a center back invisible zipper. The pattern instructions call for facings, but it can also be easily lined (more details below). The dress does not have pockets, but you could easily insert your own into the side seams using a favorite pocket pattern.
Sew Over It sells an optional add-on pack to convert your Betty’s neckline into a v-neck or scoop neck and add sleeves, but I haven’t tried it yet.
Sizing
I find that most of Sew Over It’s patterns run true to UK ready-to-wear sizes. I always fall awkwardly between a size 8 and 10 in UK ready-to-wear and most of my Sew Over It makes are 10s that are adjusted down.
The size range covers a lot of ground, running from a UK 8 (bust 33”) to a UK 20 (bust 45”), but is limited on both ends of the size spectrum.
Pattern Adjustments
Since this was the first dress I made, I fit the pattern with the amazing Beth Galvin of Sunny Gal Studio at one of her classes at Hello Stitch in Berkeley. Both Beth and Hello Stitch are amazing! I highly recommend dropping in at a class if you’re ever in the area.
Based on my high bust measurement (34”), I used a size 10 as my starting point. I shortened the bodice length by ⅝”, did a slight narrow back adjustment and took in the sides a bit. For my retro-style dresses, I like the skirts a little longer, so I left the skirt length as-is.
Design Modifications
The bateau neckline came up too high so I scooped it out a bit. I modified the bodice front and facing by dropping the neckline by 1” at the center front and then blending it out to the shoulders. The Sew Over It blog has a very detailed tutorial with great photos.
Construction Tips and Tricks
For my second Betty, I used a gorgeous poppy print sateen on a white background. To add a bit more opacity to the bodice, I decided to line the dress by drafting a lining/facing combo. I extended the bottom of the lining by ⅝” and drafted bodice lining pieces that overlapped with the extended facing pieces by ⅝”. I sewed them together using the techniques in this tutorial.
Overall, I don’t love lining dresses made of cotton sateen – I like the slight stretchiness of the fabric against my skin for comfort – but I will say, the number one most important thing I’ve learned about lining fitted dresses is not to sew the darts on the lining fabric. Rather, I use the daft feet as the markers for making a pleat – I find that gives a little more breathing room and you can’t tell that the inside of the dress is slightly bigger than the outside.
The Fabric and Haberdashery
All three of my Betty Dresses are made from cotton sateen, which is one of my favorite fabrics to sew with. It’s a fairly thick and stable cotton with about 3% stretch, which makes it incredibly comfortable and easy to fit.
Because of its circle skirt, the Betty is a real fabric guzzler. I’m usually able to do some magic pattern Tetris and make a dress with far less fabric than recommended, but I find that I always use the full 3 meters for Betty, with a few larger scraps leftover for hair accessories.
Because of the way circle skirts are drafted, if you’re using a directional print, you’ll find that part of the fabric pattern will be upside down. All of my Betties were made with directional print fabrics, but the directionality wasn’t particularly noticeable, so I didn’t mind that all my lemons weren’t facing the same direction. If you’re a real stickler or using a fabric with a strong directional print, you can divide your circle skirt into panels so each panel faces the right way. There are lots of great tutorials for creating directional circle skirts – just don’t forget to add your seam allowance!
Keywords: Pattern Review, Sew Over It Betty Dress Pattern Review, Betty Dress Pattern Review