Bustle Dress - Pattern Remix

Did you gals see me on the pattern remix series over at Me Sew Crazy last week??  I have to admit, I love to follow instructions so I don't have to think on my own - so this opportunity made me think outside my sewing box.  Remix a pattern!?!?  I told myself I could do it....


I really like the dress on Simplicity 3513 - simple and cute. I've it a couple of times for my girls.  Since it's pretty basic I thought it'd be a good remix....

The first thing that came to mind was a bustle - they seem to be all the rage in the craft blog world.  I've seen a lot of them, but I hadn't seen a tutorial, so I just made it up as I went.  With the back pattern piece I cut out a triangle.  (Mental note - next time the triangle needs to go a lot higher, so the bustle hits on the rear, not the back of the knees.)

 With the triangle piece that I cut out, I sewed on pre-ruffled layers of tulle and coordinating fabric - here it is with a few strips on:

 Next on the main back piece I sewed on a strip of pleats for a finished edge.  You could also just turn it under.  Then I sewed the cut-out triangle back into it's spot.

 The back turned out like this, pretty cute:

Another alteration I made was to omit the sleeves.  I just left them off and then turned under and topstitched that raw edge where the sleeves were supposed to go - and also added that flower for interest (it's a gathered flower, rolled up - I show a how-to here):

Here's the front view - - thanks for making me broaden my horizons!!  Oh, but I did stick in my comfort zone of using sheets as fabric - love that :)