Enter… the Kastulip

Having had so much success with the Kastrup blouse, I thought why not hack it and turn it into a dress, and so please may I introduce the Kastulip!

This has the bodice of the How to do Fashion Kastrup blouse and the skirt of the Style Arc Tulip dress. As you tell, it took me ages to come up with the name 😉 The dress actually took a while to decide. I knew I wanted to use the Kastrup blouse and actually put it together with 13, yes 13, different bottoms to try them out for visual effect.

The Kastrup bodice needs little description, having written about it for the New to Me challege. I did have to make a few changes to this blouse, the side seams were taken in about an inch overall (half inch from front and back) and I also added darts in the back bodice. These have been added in line with the darts in the skirt back and are the same size. I also pressed them to the opposite side to the skirt to remove bulk.

The Tulip skirt was actually a pattern which has been in my collection a while, but I’ve never made up. I like Style Arc patterns, they are well drafted and rarely require adjustments for me, however, sometimes the instructions leave a little to be desired, writing, but few images. I recommend sewing knowledge! This pattern is no exception. The pattern has a pleated overlay for the main feature skirt, but you can make it simple like this one. There are only instructions for the pleated overlap version, nothing at all for the basic tulip skirt. I had a read through, but basically had to use my own initiative and sewing experience to make it up. I basically laid the front pieces on top of one another and then attached the pocket lining, folded it over to the inside and then attached the pocket back. The front hem needs to be finished before the side seams are made up. It’s cleaner this way.

I thought I’d end up moving the skirt darts to match the princess seams, but trust me, they lined up perfectly! Honest guv’nor!

I didn’t have an invisible zip long enough in my stash and so we have a dark pink lapped zip! I like the dark pink, it goes perfectly with the dress.

The skirt was lengthened by about and inch and a half. I possibly didn’t need that much, but a tulip skirt sat down in the summer with no tights, I didn’t want it showing everything to the world! I hemmed it using a pale blue hug snug. With the curve on the front, this doesn’t bulk up as much as the fabric.

The deets
Fabric:  White tulip patterned cotton sateen from Philp-Wrights in Whanganui, bought in December 2016.
Notions:  Thread, interfacing, a zip and some hug snug for the hem.
Pattern:  The Kastulip made from How to do fashion Kastrup blouse, version 1, size EU 42 and the skirt from the Style Arc Tulip dress, size 14.
Changes made:  The blouse back has darts added and the side seams taken in. It’s also obviously been shortened to bodice length. The skirt has been lengthened by an inch and a half.

Another one/recommendations:  I’m really enjoying hacking patterns like this. This is the third pattern hack I’ve done (strangely all for IPM contests!) and each one has been a success.

I could have taken in the waist a bit more with this one. Some of these photos have a belt and some don’t, mainly to illustrate how I could have taken in that front waist more. I also think the tulip isn’t quite as pronounced as it could be. Although it’s not really the time of year to wear this, (we’ve had a winter storm this week while finishing this, with freezing temperatures and snow on the hills) I reckon come summer, this will get a lot of wear, although saying that, it doesn’t look completely out of place with black tights and I do have some dark pink suede shoes which will match perfectly!

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