I absolutely adore the Marina, but I do not always like a high neckline so I decided to have a little fun with it and make one with a scoop neck. I looked at my patterns to find my favorite scoop neck and it was no surprise to find that the Dream Tee was it. After I decided which length to make (curved hem maxi) I grabbed my printed patterns and got to work. When it was time to pick fabrics Iris basically jumped into my hands. This large scale floral print was just meant to be a maxi dress!
Drawing the Neckline
I print and cut out my patterns, so traced both necklines onto a blank piece of paper, lining up the fold and top of shoulder. From there I blended the two necklines together, remembering to account for the seam allowance (1/4") of the shoulder seam to avoid having to stretch my straps together at the shoulder seams. I tried to keep my blending as smooth as possible. After I had my new neckline drawn I cut it out: along the fold line, up the neckline, and across the shoulder.
The picture on the right shows my traced necklines and blending before cutting out my new neckline piece.
Cutting
I did not alter my main pattern piece so I can adjust my necklines as desired without reprinting and I can keep the original neckline on one side. I cut one tank with the original neckline and the second one I cut around, leaving the neckline for last, folded the pattern piece down and grabbed my scoop neck piece.
The picture on the left shows my scoop neck piece laid on the cutting board with my pattern pieces on top and the extra fabric from the neckline cut away.
I cut my arm binding pieces and one neckband because I love this neckband option and would need to measure later to get the correct length for the new neckline.
Sewing
I sewed my maxi according to the tutorial, skipping the neckband so I could do that at the end. When it was time to bind and band my dress I needed to measure my scoop neck from shoulder seam to shoulder seam. Instead of measuring the entire length I folded my neckline in half and gently straightened the curve along my cutting mat ruler, measuring from fold to seam. From there I subtracted 15% to get the length I needed because I will be cutting that neckband on the fold
The picture on the right shows my sewn dress, from about the waist up, laid across my bed. It is missing the arm bindings and neckbands.
My length was 10.25: subtracting 15% I get 8.7125, I rounded up to 8.75 to make things easier. Once I had this length I traced 3 sides of my arm binding piece because it is the same width as the neckband piece. I measured 8.75" out from the closed/fold edge, then lined up the neckband piece on top of my tracing with the point facing out and the corners at the line I had just drawn, and traced the point. This gave me my new, longer neckband piece. I cut out my pattern piece and fabric, then finished my dress.
The collage below shows my steps for measuring and drawing my new neckband piece.
If you want the overlap of the banding a certain way it is important to note that the band you place first will be the one on top when you're finished.
The best part of this Marina is that I can turn it around and have the scoop neck at the back, for two looks in one dress. How cool is that?
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