This tutorial from Rachel Petterson, aka Pigs In Pajamas, will show you how to easily transform (almost) any skirt or dress–including one you’ve already made–by adding a removable, twinkling LED underskirt!

For a very detailed tutorial (and even more stunning photos of Rachel’s Festival of Lights skirt!), check out her video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmbCMHjQcw

Resources

• Twill tape or bias binding, slightly longer than your waist measurement
• At least 9 pairs of hooks and eyes
• LED fairy lights with a battery pack
• Fabric glue like e6000 Fabric Fuse (optional)
• In addition to the supplies listed above, you’ll also want a skirt or dress already completed.

LED Light-Up Skirt Tutorial

For the example dress, the Maria Dress bodice is paired with the free Charm Circle Skirt. The underskirt is the Stanwyck Skirt, which is also a full circle skirt. When selecting your underskirt pattern, you can use the same shape as your outer skirt (e.g., circle skirt with circle skirt) or you can go smaller (e.g., A-line under circle skirt), but larger (e.g., circle skirt under an A-line) is not recommended.

While this tutorial will work for most skirts and dresses, it does require the outer fabric to have at least some translucency in order to see the lights. Most quilting cottons will work, but mesh fabrics with embellishments like sequins or beads to catch and reflect the LED light are ideal. 

The underskirt fabric should be a medium weight stable fabric like quilting cotton in a color that complements your outer skirt fabric (e.g., black for a dark skirt, white for a light skirt). The underskirt will need to support the weight of the lights and batteries.

Sew the underskirt: follow the instructions for your chosen underskirt, shortening the hem by 2 inches (5.1 cm) and omitting the waistband/facing and zipper. Be sure to keep the zipper opening unsewn. Staystitch the waistline edge, then finish the waistline edge with twill tape or bias binding. 

Add hooks-and-eyes to waistline edge: handstitch hooks to the waistline edge of the underskirt at each side seam, at center front, at either side of the center back zipper, and midway between each location. Add more hooks if you’d like more support for the weight of the underskirt. Handstitch eyes to the outer skirt’s lining, as close to the waistline seam as possible, matching each hook’s location. If your outer skirt doesn’t have a lining, place the eyes on the wrong side of the skirt at the waistline edge (usually the lower edge of the waistband).

Create a pocket for the battery pack(s): cut a 5-inch by 5-inch (12.7 cm x 12.7 cm) square of underskirt fabric. Finish the upper edge, if desired. Stitch the pocket to the right side of the underskirt side seam, at hip height.

Design your LED placement: this is the fun part! Place the battery pack into the pocket and arrange the strands of lights so that they are distributed around the skirt. Make sure the wire doesn’t have any sharp bends or kinks, and make sure it doesn’t cross the zipper opening. 

Attach your LED lights: using fabric glue (which is faster) or handstitching (which allows for more flexibility), attach each LED light to the underskirt. For more security, sew down each wire by hand with long running stitches. TIP: although fairy light LEDs appear to give off light in any direction, there is actually a brighter side—the side that the wire isn’t crossing over. Be sure to have the brighter side up when attaching the string of lights.

Wear your skirt and take a twirl: slip the underskirt between the outer skirt and lining (or to the wrong side of the outer skirt if there is no lining) and attach the hooks to the eyes. Turn on the battery pack and shine like the star you are!

But first, some inspiration! Vampira (played by Maila Nurmi) was a character in a tv show, The Vampira Show, that ran for one year (1954-1955) and was only broadcast to the Los Angeles area. It has become a cult classic and influenced many of the “spooky” shows and characters we love today. Here’s a few of my favorite looks:

While I’ll never achieve that hip-to-waist ratio (!), the lines of her gowns are so similar to the Lorelei Gown that I knew it would make the perfect pattern hack for Halloween.

Resources

• Lorelei Gown pattern
• Black knit leather-look fabric (I’m obsessed! It feels and sews like a ponte knit, but looks SO glam.)
• Power net, lining, thread, a long invisible zipper, and everything else in the Lorelei instructions
• 24-inch-long black fringe
• Rhinestones from our stash (there’s tons available on Etsy)
• Long black wig and as much black eyebrow pencil as you can handle

Vampira Gown Pattern Alterations

1. Draw the seam allowances on the Lorelei Gown Bodice Front Insert (2) pattern piece. Fold the Bodice Front Insert in half lengthwise, as you will be cutting the front bodice on the fold. Measure the neckline edge of the pattern piece (not including the seam allowances!) from the folded edge to the long raw edge. This measurement will be short, around an inch or so.
2. Tape tracing paper to the Bodice Front (1) pattern piece at the center front. Draw a line from the upper CF circle away from the pattern piece, roughly perpendicular to the grainline, equal in length as your measurement in Step One. Draw a line from the lower CF circle to the waistline, parallel to the grainline. Draw a line to connect the two points to create your new center line; connect the end of the first short line to the point where the second line crosses the waistline. This will be your new center front and will be cut on the fold. Draw the “cut on the fold” arrows and scribble out the original grainline.
3. Using a French curve, draw in a new neckline, in any shape you wish. My neckline comes to a deep V point just below the level of my apex, and curves up to the shoulder (about 2 inches or 5 cm away from the armscye edge). Sometimes, I like to pin the pattern piece to my dress form just to help me visualize everything. After you’re happy with the way your neckline looks, add 5/8 inch (1.5 cm) seam allowance, then cut out and label the pattern piece.
4. Measure the distance of the shoulder edge of your new bodice front, without seam allowance. On the Bodice Back (3) pattern piece, draw a line from the armscye edge along the shoulder equal to this distance (without seam allowances). This will make sure the front and back meets perfectly across the shoulder seam. Draw a long from this mark to the center back seam, to create the new back neckline. I drew a curved line using a large French curve, mimicking the original neckline. Once you’re happy with your back neckline, add 5/8 inch seam allowance, then cut out the pattern piece, truing the neckline dart as needed. Label the pattern piece.
5. It’s a bit hard to tell because of the shaggy cut fabric, but the bicep area of the sleeve remains the same as the Lorelei Gown, and ease is added from the elbow to the wrist to create a bell shape. For the sleeves, draw a line perpendicular to the grainline on the Sleeve (4) pattern piece, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) above the notches. Draw five lines, about 1 inch apart, parallel to the sleeve centerline from this line to the wrist edge. Slash and spread these five parallel lines to create a bell shape, then tape to a new piece of pattern paper and true the hem edge. You can go as dramatic as you’d like; my sleeve hem ended up being almost a half circle! Cut and label the new pattern piece.

Vampira Gown Sewing Instructions

Follow the Lorelei Gown sewing instructions to create the bodice, cutting the new Bodice Front on the fold in fabric, lining, and power net. Ignore all references to the Bodice Front Insert.

Before inserting the sleeves, try on the bodice and adjust the front waist and bust darts as needed. Some of the bust shaping of the original pattern was provided by the bodice front insert, so you may need to pinch out additional fabric to create a perfect fit. Adjust as needed.

For the sleeves, omit the lining. Sew as usual, then insert into the bodice.

Follow the rest of the instructions to complete the gown (with the panty).

After construction, sew the long fringe around the entire hem, all the way up to the tip of the thigh slit. Use scissors to cut ragged edges on the sleeve hem all the way up to the elbows. Hand sew rhinestones to the sleeves and bodice as desired. Then throw on a black wig and your bra with the most oomph, draw on some dramatic pointed eyebrows, and get ready to scare the neighborhood children!

Let’s start with some inspiration. Dolly wore so many jumpsuits with big bell bottoms back in the 1970s! More images and inspiration can be found here.

So amazing! This jumpsuit hack combines the Lorelei Gown bodice with the Dolly Bell Bottoms, with added trim and just a tiny bit of pattern hacking to eliminate the center front V panel on the bodice.

Resources

• Lorelei Gown pattern
• Dolly Bell Bottoms pattern
• Black ponte knit fabric
• Power net, lining, thread, and a long invisible zipper (as in the Lorelei instructions)
• Rhinestone trim (similar)
• Black fringe with shiny sequins
• Black cowboy hat, big hair, a large spider brooch, and lots of rhinestone jewelry

Dolly Jumpsuit Pattern Alterations

1. Draw the seam allowances on the Lorelei Gown Bodice Front Insert (2) pattern piece. Fold the Bodice Front Insert in half lengthwise, as you will be cutting the jumpsuit front bodice on the fold. Measure the neckline edge of the pattern piece (not including the seam allowances!) from the folded edge to the long raw edge. This measurement will be short, around an inch or so.
2. Tape tracing paper to the Bodice Front (1) pattern piece at the center front. Draw a line from the upper CF circle away from the pattern piece, roughly perpendicular to the grainline, equal in length to your measurement in Step One. Draw a line from the lower CF circle to the waistline, parallel to the grainline. Draw a line to connect the two points to create your new center line; connect the end of the first short line to the point where the second line crosses the waistline. This will be your new center front and will be cut on the fold. Draw the “cut on the fold” arrows and scribble out the original grainline. You may want to curve the corner of the new neckline so it isn’t so square. Cut out and label your new pattern piece.
3. I wanted to wear tall platform heels to make the bell bottoms really stand out, so I added about 6 inches to the inseam of the pants.

Dolly Jumpsuit Sewing Instructions

Follow the Lorelei Gown sewing instructions to create the bodice, cutting the new Bodice Front on the fold in fabric, lining, and power net. Ignore all references to the Bodice Front Insert.

Before inserting the sleeves, try on the bodice and adjust the front waist and bust darts as needed. Some of the bust shaping of the original pattern was provided by the bodice front insert, so you may need to pinch out additional fabric to create a perfect fit. Resew the darts and/or side seams, as needed.

Before sewing the sleeve seam, baste fringe to the vertical seam (outer fabric only), then sew the sleeves as usual. (All sleeves should have fringe! It’s so fun!)

Ignore the panty and skirt instructions. Instead, follow the Dolly Bell Bottoms instructions to create the pants (without the waistband), attach to the bodice, and insert the zipper.

After construction, try on the jumpsuit and use chalk to mark out the spiderweb lines. Hand stitch rhinestone trim to create the spiderweb decoration, and add a large spider brooch to complete the look.

Claudia lives far away, so we really had to wing it for this one. Here are a few tips we learned while creating her Alice costume:

Choose a Simple Pattern With Fewer Pattern Pieces Children aren’t shaped like small adults. They have different proportions, which means a fitted garment that uses an adult-sized pattern block won’t fit. Avoid patterns with significant shaping at the bust, or with details that emphasize a woman’s curves. For our Alice costume, we started with the Cinch-It Dress, a trapeze dress with a very loose fit, in the smallest size available (size 2, with an A-cup).

Get Out Your Calculator Sizing a pattern up or down requires a bit of math, and you’ll need a few extra measurements. Compare the body measurements to the size chart and the finished measurements listed in the instructions. The Cinch-It Dress has significant ease built into it, so we were most concerned with the fit at the shoulders. Compare the bust measurements between your model and the size chart. In our case, the pattern is 4 inches larger. To find the percentage difference, the math is as follows: (Model’s measurement x100)/ Desired measurement= percent difference. When we plugged in the Cinch-It Dress measurements and Claudia’s measurements, we got a percentage of about 87%, so we found we had to reduce the size 2A pattern pieces by 87%.

Print the Pattern Smaller and Correct the Seam Allowance Print out the pattern pieces using a printer with a custom scale setting set to 87% (or your desired percent difference). Check the test square: it should be .87 of an inch, or just a smidge smaller than 7/8 inch.

Measure your pattern pieces to make sure they will fit your model. The shoulder fit is especially important (for kids as well as adults!).

Before cutting out the pattern pieces, you’ll want to adjust the seam allowances. Our scaled down seam allowance measured just over 1/2 inch, so we added 1/8 inch to the cut line to get our usual 5/8 inch seam allowance. Of course, you could also just sew the garment using smaller seam allowances.

Test the Fit With a Muslin Don’t skip this step! Make a full muslin of the garment, including the collar, sleeves, cuffs, pockets, belt, or whatever other details are included in your pattern. Not only will this help you test the fit of the garment and determine the correct length, it’s also a great tool to make sure the placement and scale of the details are correct.

Complete the Costume The final Cinch-It Dress was sewn in blue cotton, with a white pinafore created by combining the Stanwyck ruffled bib (scaled down to Claudia’s size) with a simple gathered apron that tied at the back. White socks or tights, a pair of black patent shoes, and a black headband will complete the look— but I’ll let her mom worry about that!

The Maria Dress is the perfect starting place for this pattern hack, but this technique will also work for nearly any princess seamed garment, even the Princess Coat or Wanda Skirt! And if you really want to get creative, you can also use this ruching technique on one or both sides of a dart, as well.

Don’t be intimidated! Pattern drafting is surprisingly fun and opens up a world of possibilities. As the last in this year’s pattern-hacking series, this tutorial and the companion video covers everything you need to know.

xoxo,
Gertie

This pattern was originally published on Patreon on December 27, 2023.

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Direct link to the accompanying video ]]> https://charmpatterns.com/sweetheart-neckline-pattern-hack/ Tue, 26 Dec 2023 15:55:09 +0000 https://charmpatterns.com/?p=90885 Isn’t this neckline so sweet? ????

The Maria Dress is the perfect starting place for a sweetheart neckline pattern hack, but this technique will also work for nearly any bodice (like Aurora or Peggy) that has a basic and uninterrupted neckline. This video and companion step-by-step instructions will guide you to changing any neckline into a sweet sweetheart shape.

Don’t be intimidated! Pattern drafting is surprisingly fun and opens up a world of possibilities. As the third in this year’s pattern-hacking series, this tutorial and the companion video covers everything you need to know.

xoxo,
Gertie

This pattern was originally published on Patreon on December 26, 2023.

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Direct link to this pattern

Direct link to the accompanying video ]]> https://charmpatterns.com/green-velvet-white-christmas-dress/ Sat, 23 Dec 2023 15:06:32 +0000 https://charmpatterns.com/?p=89346 This dress has been on Team Charm’s pattern hack wishlist for years! Worn by Rosemary Clooney in the movie White Christmas, the inspiration dress is a green velvet wonder with a full overskirt belted over a slim pencil skirt. 

It’s gorgeous, but I wanted something a bit simpler. My version calls for a full circle skirt and modified sweetheart neckline, hacked off of the Peggy Bodice.

The pattern pieces and instructions for this pattern hack are available to all patrons on Patreon as a gift for the holidays! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a great start to a lovely new year!

I love adding pockets to everything, but it can be difficult to add pockets to a fitted garment like a pencil skirt without adding bulk. But these pockets are the exception! They are perfect for holding your everyday necessities and help to add visual interest at the hip, emphasizing an hourglass silhouette.

The Wanda Skirt is a perfect starting place for this pattern hack, since it already has front princess seams. But you could also use a modified version of this hack to add hip pockets to any other pants or skirt pattern (creating pockets similar to the pockets on the Stanwyck Pencil Skirt or Loretta Shorts).

Don’t be intimidated! Pattern drafting is surprisingly fun and opens up a world of possibilities. As the second in this year’s pattern-hacking series, this tutorial and the companion video covers everything you need to know.

xoxo,
Gertie

This pattern was originally published on Patreon on October 21, 2023.

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Direct link to the accompanying video ]]> https://charmpatterns.com/society-robe-pattern/ Wed, 08 Mar 2023 15:29:30 +0000 https://charmpatterns.com/?p=74755 I’m so excited to dive into the first of our “Charm pattern hacking” tutorials, exclusively for our Princess and Inner Circle members.

The Society Dress was an instant hit when we released it earlier this year, and I immediately began experimenting with turning it into a sparkly and luxurious robe, taking my cue from silver screen glamour icons like Hedy Lamarr, Marlene Deitrich, and Marilyn Monroe.

This 1940s-inspired pattern hack can be used with any of the Society Dress variations to create a robe or a dress with a center front opening—a wonderful option for breastfeeding and for people with mobility issues.

Don’t be intimidated! Pattern drafting is surprisingly fun and opens up a world of possibilities. As the first in a series, this tutorial and the companion video covers the basics, and we’ll tackle more challenging alterations as we go along.

— xoxo, Gertie  

This pattern was originally published on Patreon on March 7, 2023.

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Direct link to the accompanying video ]]>