Margo Mood Dress

I've got something really different (at least for me) today on the blog! A tiered Margo Dress! I've been so inspired by the tiered Margo hack Michelle did in her Sew News article (if you haven't picked it up at the bookstore...there's still time) I decided to give Margo a new spin myself! Lot's of new elements here and hopefully some inspo for your spring and summer sewing. Gathers, full sleeves and a southwest print from Mood Fabrics all together give a brand new feel to my dearly loved, and often used Margo pattern.

I took the Margo pattern with long sleeves, added an elastic waist and a tiered skirt and finished it off with inset pockets and embroidery floss topstitching. Here's a quick low down  so you can make your own!

It really is easy (let's face it, we're really only adding rectangles for tiers) and here's how I did it step by step (wow, my brain queued up "Step by Step" by New Kids On The Block!):

• I cut the Margo Blouse off 7 1/2" below the armhole (I made a medium, it could be longer or shorter for you)
• Used a 1" seam allowance at the waist so I had room for en elastic casing
• Added 1/2" elastic at waist
• Added a 20" tiered skirt at waist (I took the base of my Margo blouse and multiplied it by 1.5 to determine how wide and full it should be)
• Then added 10" tier to that (same fullness)
• Added 1" of fullness to the sleeve (I cut the sleeve pattern right down the center, spread it 1" all the way down and taped it back together....easy!)
• Added inset pockets to the 20" tier using the pocket pattern from the Andrea Dress

And for some fun I used dusty aqua embroidery thread, using this method, at the yoke and each tier. It really separated the tiers and added to the boho feel.

I can tell you the hardest and most time consuming thing about this project was the pattern matching! The cutting took a whole lot longer than the sewing!. I bought a swatch first (in a different colorway) and liked the print but decided on this color instead. It came as quite a surprise to me when this fabric came and the scale was so much LARGER than the swatch! We need a challenge every now and again, right? 

Another Margo hack is coming next.  Stay tuned and grab the Margo Blouse pattern for just $7.80 in the shop!

More to come....
Diane