Cashmerette Upton Dress and Skirt + Mix and Match Expansion Pack

My daughter had looked at wedding dresses but there wasn’t anything that came in vaguely in her budget so we decided I’d have a go at making her dress. The various options for sleeve, neck, bodice and skirt made this perfect. In fact I’m going to be using it again for my wedding next year…. 2 for the price of 1. Bargain.

When I started sewing again I first made this from the original pattern, I lowered the waist and went up a size, I made 3 versions this way and they were great. I recently bought the expanded whole pack and paid more attention to information on the site. I used the sizing calculator (18GH) and stuck to the pattern bodice length - this dress is now amazing. I've made the v neck darted but am going to try the empire line version. The booklet is great but the cashmerette website offers so much help. You can also reach out to them for advice if the fitting causes issues. Great service.
If you are full busted I recommend investing in this. Trust the sizing calculator. I bought the paper version but am considering the PDF so I can print each bodice - the lines are a bit hard to see on paper for tracing but with layers I could just print what I need.

My first review. I've made lots of knits reasonably successfully but really struggle with woven mostly due to large cupsize, big belly and hips a few sizes smaller. This was  so good even with first muslin. I narrowed  the shoulders and neckline 1cm, lengthened the neck to waist, changed the torpedo front waist  dart to normal shape and lowered the bust point. I made the gored skirt. This is a lovely Lady McElroy cotton lawn. bodice is self lined. I also split the bust dart into 2 parallel darts for better contour which meant 20 darts in total. I shortened the skirt as not enough fabric, and got away with 2.75m. The instructions were great though it did say  to under stitch neckline at 1/4 inch whereas i did it at about 2 m, trimmed and clipped into seam allowance to get it nice.I found it difficult to turn up such a curved hem 1 inch, I faced it with bias binding instead to preserve length and for ease.

The Upton Dress is a wonderful versatile "fit and flare" dress that can be dressed up for an evening out or dressed down for a day at work.
The pattern comes with a rounded neckline or a v-neck. I modified my bodice to a square which is my preference. If you have an interest in changing or modifying the neckline Jenny @ Cashmerette has instructions on her blog on how to do so.
The pattern also provides choice of skirt either pleated or gored. I chose gored.
Instructions are also provided for adding a bodice lining. I omitted the lining because I used an opaque cotton lawn and was able to quickly finish the seams with my serger and bias tape.
I made a straight size 12 C/D without any alterations. Bodice sizing is based on chest and cup size. I love this! I didn't need to do a FBA or small shoulder adjustment. The bodice fits my chest without any neck gaping.