The Frilled Overlap - dressing gown hack!

Hello everyone, 

If you follow my instagram account, you might have seen that a few days ago I made a dressing gown using The Overlap pattern with a couple of easy hacks - a ruffle around the collar and added length to the bottom. The result is really lovely and added such an element of fun to the garment. Wouldn't this make a wonderful mother's day gift? Just an idea... Below are the details for anyone wanting to try it.

Add 30cm length to the back and front pattern pieces as well as the placket facing piece. This is extremely easy to do thanks to the very simple shape of these pieces. 

Extend the back and front straight down at the bottom, then cut the placket facing somewhere in the middle and extend by the same amount. 

Cut the original collar piece in half lengthwise and use one half for the narrower collar, which will act as binding for the gathered edge.

Double the other half in length to make the  pattern piece for the ruffle and round one of the corners. (Both these fabric pieces will still need to be cut on fold as per the original collar piece!)

Sew the garment as per the pattern instructions until you get to the collar.  

Sew two parallel gathering stitches along the raw edge on the ruffle piece. You can see I used the selvage edge of the fabric here so no need to hem, but if you choose not to do this, hem the straight edge first then gather. 

Pull two of the tail ends on one side of the fabric to form the gathers. The length of the ruffle when gathered should be 3cm less than the length of the collar piece. 

Attach the ruffle to the right side of the garment around the neck opening.

Sew the narrower collar (binding?) in the same way as the original collar on the pattern instructions, but skip the interfacing. 

I made size 12UK out of 3m of 150cm wide fabric. That's 50cm more than fabric amount required and more than enough to make this version up to size 14, but you may require additional fabric for larger sizes.

I bought the gorgeous waffle fabric from Lamazi Fabrics and it seems that my love affair with this colour continues. 

The Overlap pattern is available in paper and pdf format here.

I hope you enjoy trying this version and don't forget to share if you do,

Dhurata x