Chelsea Party Dress Modesty Hack

Now for the day you’ve all been waiting for! I know super deep V cut dresses are not for everyone. So today I’ll be making the Chelsea Party Dress a little more accessible for folks on any spectrum of the chest coverage scale by sharing how you can hack your dress to add a little more modesty up front!

Before diving into the video I want to stress that I still recommend making a muslin of these changes to see how it works on your body. The more height you are adding to the front neckline will have different effects on how the V neck will fall, and of course varying body types differ.

Another thing to keep in mind is the Chelsea bodice is drafted with very little ease in order for it to sit snuggly against the body and hold everything in, almost like a bra. When adding coverage, especially for fuller busts, you may find the need to move the whole center front seam over (not just the top) for more wearing ease.

How to do the hack:

Check out the video below for a full tutorial on how to raise the center front point on the Chelsea Party Dress:

How to sew it:

There will be slight differences to the way you construct the bodice after making this adjustment.

After step 2, sew your new center front seams together, right sides facing. Do this on both your outer and lining pieces.
During step 9 at the iron, press the new center front seams open.
In step 13, when sewing the neckline, pivot your needle at the new “V” point of center front to sew up both sides of the neckline at once. Clip into your seam allowance at the center front V for a nice clean finish. Continue along with step 14 as written, though you will again pivot at the center front V when understitching.
The elastic in step 17 may or may not still be necessary now that you have raised the neckline. Use your judgment based on how high you have raised it.
In step 19, you will line up the new center front seam with the center front notch on the waistband.

The rest of the dress construction is the same!

I can’t wait to see all of your interpretations in making this dress to best suit your unique body.

Join me tomorrow when we dive into construction, and I will share how to sew a princess seam… without pins!!! (bah bah baaaaaaaaaaaaa)

Once you’ve made the necessary adjustments to the paper pattern, you are ready to cut it out in fabric. So get those scissors out and I will see y’all tomorrow!

Happy sewing!