Athena

We spent last week in Florida with my husband’s family as his step sister was getting married. The wedding was gorgeous and we got to take the kiddos to the beach and a couple of the theme parks. We had a blast and I was sad to leave, but I am happy to be back home so I can sew again!

While we were in Florida I had the idea for this dress and spent the whole trip obsessing over how to make it happen. This mashup is the easiest I have shared so far and is a combination of two Made for Mermaids patterns, the Mama Joy and Megan Romper. Then I altered the Megan sleeves to make them flutter sleeves. I had never done flutter sleeves before and was surprised how easy they were.

I used a rayon spandex fabric from Knitpop to make this dress. I love how light and flowy the fabric is, it will be perfect for summer! This mashup took a little more than two yards to make, you could probably do it in two yards if you are better at conserving fabric than me!

Combining the Patterns

You will be using the Made for Mermaids Megan Romper bodice and the Mama Joy hi/low maxi skirt. There are no alterations needed to make the bodice and skirt mash, just stretch the bodice slightly as you sew them together. I also used the side seam pockets from the Mama Joy.

For the sleeves use the Megan sleeves as the starting point for the flutter sleeves. I altered the length of the sleeve because I wanted mine to hit just above the elbow. To determine how long to make the sleeve I measured from my armpit to where I wanted them to hit, that measurement was 7″ since the Megan pattern is loose fitting I subtracted 1 inch from that and determined my new sleeve length should be 6″ from the bottom of the armscye to the bottom of the sleeve. Draw a straight line across your sleeve pattern at the spot you want it to go to.

Once the sleeve length is set trace the sleeve onto tracing paper, after it is traced fold the paper on the fold line so that you can trace the other half of the sleeve. We are going to use the slash and spread method to create the flutter sleeve. Draw lines 1.5″ apart starting at the center and moving to each side, make sure you do not make lines too close to the edge of the sleeve, you want the flutter in the front not the back. I stopped about 2.5 inches away from the back of the sleeve.

Now that your lines are drawn cut on those lines until your pattern piece is barely held together on the top. Lay your pattern piece on another piece of paper and starting in the middle spread the bottom of the sleeve 1.5″ between each section you cut. I used a little bit of tape to hold my pieces in place. You’ll want to make sure the curve of the sleeve doesn’t get altered, we are just altering the bottom. Trace the new sleeve onto the paper you put underneath.