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Hi sewing friends, my name is Karina, and I’m a passionate dressmaker and sewing blogger/vlogger. You will always see videos from my youtube channel in my posts to further deepen the content.

Although I mainly prefer to sew with woven fabric, I do occasionally sew with knit fabric, especially when the print of the fabric has inspired me, like in this case.

I chose to make the Turner dress from Cashmerette because I’ve been searching for a well fitting bodice meant for knits that has a V neckline.

My previous most used knit bodice has been the one from the Moneta dress (Colette patterns). You can see some dresses I made using the bodice only here. I actually don’t care for the original gathered skirt, so drafted a 1/2 circle skirt instead for those dresses.

Though I’ve had great results with the Moneta bodice, the neckline is scooped (don’t get me wrong, I love scooped neckline, but too many=boring) and there are no cup sizes available.

I have to be honest. I am only a C cup, so sewing usually is not difficult with the standard pattern companies that draft for a B cup and I have to confess that I’ve never done a full bust adjustment.

Here is where Cashmerette patterns will provide a step up in fitting and adjusting. They are drafted from sizes 12-28 (printed version) and recently have added two more sizes, 12-32 (PDF format) and offer different bodice options for cups C/D, E/F, G/H. So I was excited to try this new knit bodice and see if I felt the fit was improved around the bust.

FEATURES:

• Designed for light to medium weight knit fabric with at least 50% stretch horizontally. Rayon/spandex, Cotton/spandex and ITY are mentioned as suitable.
• The bodice of the dress is fitted, has a V neckline and hit above the natural waist (I wish I had paid attention to this!)
• The bodice is lined with a lighter knit or self-lined. (YES!, I love a lined bodice)
• The skirt has volume and seems to be a half circle skirt. The length looks to be just below the knee on the product photos.

SIZING:

In regards to sizing, I chose the size 12 C/D cup size for the upper chest and bust and the blended gently the lines to a size 14 at the waist. I then also used the skirt with the size 14 to match the waist size. Please don’t be tricked by the smaller finished garment measurements provided. It is a knit design and requires negative ease (hence the required minimal 50% stretch in the fabric). Saying that, I think 5″ of negative ease at the bust is a lot! I am usually comfortable with 2-3″ of negative ease at the bust, but considering that my fabric has about 70% stretch… I continued with my plan. I chose a liverpool knit with plenty of stretch and decided to self line the bodice.

THOUGHTS

The instructions on how to choose the bust cup size could be confusing. There are no high bust measurements provided in the charts and the size is meant to be chosen based on the full bust measurement. If that measurement fits into several sizes, then the size closest to the waist is the better option. As an example, if my bust was 42″, it would fit a size 14 C/D and also the size 12 G/H and whilst I know that sewing cup sizes differ to bra cup sizes, this could cause confusion when choosing the size to attempt to sew.

The skirt is pretty voluminous, but not a full circle (whew…. I really dislike full circle skirts). To save a lot of fabric, I added a center back seam to the back skirt piece.

I appreciate that the instructions include lining the bodice. Its actually one of the few times I come across this step in a knit dress. The appearance is always so much better with a lining. Also, with a lining, the V neckline will be simpler to achieve than with an unlined bodice and a neckband.

Because I opted out of making the sleeves (personal preference). I changed the construction process to the “clean sleeveless bodice lining“. You can see how to do this technique in a video on my channel. Step by step. This technique is most commonly done with woven bodices, but it works just as well for knit garments.

For this dress, I even under-stitched the lining! I self lined the bodice with the same fabric. This technique gave me the crispiest V neckline and I’m here for it.

About going sleeveless. I actually made no modifications to the armcyse at all and the fit it great. Good coverage. No side bra peeping through at all. Win. I’m a sleeveless gal, all day, everyday. There’s always a way and I’m glad this bodice didn’t require changes to achieve the look I wanted.

One thing to consider is that this brand, by way of thinking, states that they draft the waistline to be higher than the natural waist. They have a blog post all about that here and I wish I’d known beforehand. Whilst the higher waistline may flatter lots of body types, the seam there (and this one is a bit bulky) certainly makes me feel uncomfortable. I ended up sewing a 1/4″ seam allowance when attaching the bodice to the skirt to lengthen the bodice as much as humanly possible. It’s still high, I need at least another 1/2″. Ahhh well. Note taken. I shall check the bodice length from here onward with this brand. I want by bodices to end at my natural waist.

It seams that the original length of the skirt is designed to be midi length. Midi is a very awkward length for me, so I shortened it to hit just above the knee. I measured the skirt pieces prior to cutting as I certainly don’t want to waste fabric. My preferred finished length is 57cm or 22.5″ from the waist down.

Overall I am happy. I need to use the bodice again with a different type skirt. I actually only intend to use the bodice from now on and add length to it (about 1″ for me). If you want to SEE it and how I did the sleeveless lining technique step by step, you can watch the video review on my youtube channel.

Until the next post. Have fun sewing!

DISCLAIMER: I purchased my own PDF pattern and fabric for this project. There are no affiliate links in this post, however there are affiliate links in other blog posts. They are always disclosed.

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