I love a knit dress. They are comfy, easy to wear, and so much easier to fit than woven. A good woven dress is worth the time to fit, but we don’t all always have that extra time.
The new Meg Dress from 5 Out of 4 Patterns is a wonderful balance between the ease of knit and the fit of woven! Meg can be made out of so many different types of knits, which will give different looks and fits. Virginia was looking for something a little more structured, we chose a ponte knit in this gorgeous teal color! (We picked this up locally at Fine Fabrics.)
The darts on this thing are the real killer. Even with how well endowed she is, I only made small changes to the darts between our muslin and final dresses. I shortened her front waist darts slightly. I think the next one I’ll shorten another cm or so.
For her bust darts, I moved them down slightly and shortened them. But I also sewed them slightly curved rather than straight. This gives just a little more room where we found she needed it.
Those are all the changes! Zipper installation was straightforward and the beautiful metal zip gives it such a polished look. Add some statement jewelry and her favorite heels and she is ready to tackle grad school interviews or a boardroom!
There are some super cute sleeve options included too! Virginia just wanted to keep it simple. Grab your copy of Meg while the pattern is on sale and share how beautiful you feel in this pattern!
Stephanie xx
Beautifully made!
Interesting. I usually need an FBA even in knits, and knit fabrics are too expensive to muslin, so find them much harder to fit than wovens. I tested this dress too, and applied to do so because, like some of 5oo4’s other patterns, it has cup sizes for the front.
The FBA cups in 5oo4’s other patterns are fine for me, even though the included FBA is not quite big enough, because they are designed for quite a bit of negative ease. However, this pattern is a looser fit that relies on darts for nice shaping. This figure skimming fit is very flattering for all body shapes.
As the biggest cup size is for 5″ difference between over and full bust, and I am 6″, I needed 1″ FBA adjustment on the front bodice for a good fit. As a condition of being a tester, I made muslin in 50% horizontal/0% vertical mesh knit, and it was so worth it. I now have a well fitting knit dress that I can use as my personal block for adjusting fit on any knit pattern.
https://5outof4.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Meg-Dress-Med.jpg
Lovely – both the model and the dress. I love the necklace you paired with it. The color is phenomenal.
Beautiful!