Today I’ve got a heavily hacked version of the Meridian Dress by Papercut Patterns to share with you. The Meridian Dress is a woven pattern, but I’ve sewn it in jersey, changed the arms entirely and lengthened it.

The joys of pattern hacking – #youcanhackit.

This was one of those surprise makes that wasn’t on my radar at all. Then I saw on instagram a gold foil jersey version of the Meridian Dress sewn by @craftyprofessor a couple of years ago.

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I then noticed that I already had the Meridian Dress pattern printed out. The printing date is clearly marked: February 2019. Yet, I somehow still hadn’t gotten around to, ummm, actually sewing it.

I then noticed that Meter Meter had 2.8 metres left of this Mind the Maker “Stray Lines” jersey in black, which I thought could be used for some interesting directional stripe play.

And so it was that I decided that the sewing goddesses had aligned to tell me to make a nice stretchy jersey comfy holiday dress. It was my dress for Christmas dinner but it’s obviously very wearable beyond just that occasion.

My Meridian Dress

The Meridian Dres caters for a maximum waist size of 98cm (38.6″) and maximum hip of 124cm (48.8″), so it is not an inclusive size range.

My Meridian Dress is a size medium, but I graded out a little at the waist, to have a bit more room. I didn’t want to move up to the size large because the medium was clearly going to be a better fit around the bust.

I have previously made the Mirri Jumpsuit, which is based on the bodice of the Meridian Dress, and found it way too roomy around the bust, so I was especially reticent to end up with an oversized bust, especially given that I was working in jersey.

I extended the length of the Meridian Dress by 20cm for this maxi length.

I also skipped the sleeves of the Meridian Dress and replaced them instead with the roomy sweater sleeves from the Fibre Mood Mabel pattern.

I was actually a bit unsure how I was going to combine the sleeve of the Mabel with the arm scye of the Meridian Dress. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the length of the sleeve head of Fibre Mood Mabel was only a centimetre or so different from the length of the original Meridian Dress sleeve head. So I decided to just do a replacement of one sleeve for the other. The sleeve head is gathered, so I figured there was plenty of flexibility to take into account such a minor difference.

And, well, I think it’s kind of worked. The fact that it’s jersey makes everything much more forgiving too!

In terms of modifications, I skipped the zipper on the Meridian Dress – it’s not at all necessary in jersey. In fact, you could even sew the back seam all the way to top and this would still fit over your head in jersey. This would also enable you to cut the back on the fold.

I had wanted to keep the little button loop finish at the back, but it did not work well for me. The jersey was hard to make a loop out of and I selected a button which was too big, which meant it was too heavy for the jersey to hold and it kept flopping downwards.

I then decided to unpick my back and just sew it up all the way. So I spent about an hour trying to unpick my triple straight stitch in black thread on black jersey, with a torch in my mouth to try to see my stitches at 2200 at night. After an hour of swearing (as best I could with a flashlight in my mouth), I’d only unpicked an inch!

At which point I instead decided to leave it as it was and just stitch the top neck up, as though there is an imaginary button there.

Only I will know and it’s the back of my damn neck, so I’m not even going to see it!

So, as far as I’m concerned there’s an invisible button on this dress, right? Do we agree?

I still think the button loop finish could be achieved in jersey if I had been a bit more patient. I could have used a smaller/lighter button than the one I tried with, made the button loop out of a woven fabric or even out of round elastic. There were obvious options – I was just lazy.

I also obviously replaced the neck facings with a neck band. To create the neckband, I measured the length of the neckline and made the neckband a couple of inches shorter.

One modification which I didn’t make it but should have would have been to shorten the bodice by a couple of centimetres to account for the fact that at the skirt the knit fabric pulls the bodice downwards more than it would in a woven fabric.

The tie belt is enough to hold it all in place though, so it still works like this.

I cut the skirt on the crossgrain for visual effect. Sometimes (often) with a stretch jersey you would need to be careful about doing this. But since the Meridian Dress pattern is for wovens, I could get away with using the direction of least stretch on the skirt.

To try to safeguard the integrity of the seams over time and ensure it won’t droop, I added clear elastic into the shoulder seam and at the waist seam.

Another bonus I wasn’t expecting with sewing the Meridian Dress in jersey was that the ties are extra stretchy, so it gives the option of tying the ties at either the front or the back.

Jersey dreams

This fabric, which is a viscose jersey, is really ideal for this kind of dress. It’s lovely.

I’ve always had a bit of trepidation around viscose jersey. I’ve had a couple of previous experiences where I have used viscose jersey that has been very slippery and difficult to sew. You know the kind, it has a slight sheen to it and feel a bit like you’re sewing with jelly!

Well, I’m pleased to report that this fabric felt just like a cotton jersey to handle, however, so it was very pleasant to sew with.

I always feel as though I see people sewing with great and interesting jersey fabrics but, I have to say, I find it difficult to find jersey that inspires me. Where do people get their fabulous jerseys from?

All in all, this hack of the Meridian dress reminded me how great it is to be a sewist. I can make a garment that can be dressed up or down, out of a jersey for super-comfort. I can replace some bland sleeves with a cosy sweater vibe for winter. I can play with pattern placement. I can make a garment the length that I want.

Sewing is my super power, right?

Hacking or mashing different patterns together is definitely one of my preferred sewing skills. Have you seen any good pattern mash-ups lately?

If you want to see more of my sewing adventures, you can find me on Instagram here.