Katy is our newest set of patterns, and we think you’ll love it almost as much as you love the real life Katys in our sewing community! 😉 Did you get a load of the Katy-filled cover on the adult Katy pattern? Katy (drafted to the women’s standard size chart) and Youth Katy are both designed with all of your favorite cozy knits in mind – sweater knits, rib knits, some rayon blends, rayon French Terry, modal, waffle knit, etc Just keep in mind that fabric will impact overall fit and shape – for example, French Terry will have a more snug fit than waffle knit.

Expecting a little mermaid, but still want to make a Katy? We’ve got you covered! Caity made an adorable maternity Katy with ruching on the sides.

Maternity Hack

Before you cut your fabric, you’ll want to make modifications to your paper pattern pieces. The first step is to remove a bit of length above the tie at the shorten/lengthen line indicated on your pattern piece. This will modify your Katy to make it an empire waist. The exact amount to remove will depend on your height, but 1.5″ is a good place to start! The yellow circle on the graphic below shows approximately where the length will be removed:

Next, cut BELOW the waist tie to add 4-5″ in length. Remember that you are only adding this length to the front bodice piece; the back will remain the same. The yellow circle shown below

Once you’ve added the additional 4-5″ in length, you will ruch the sides!

Now you are ready to cut out your fabric. Remember – we are not altering the back bodice piece for ruching! The following steps are from our “Ruching Maternity Hack for Tops” blog post, but the steps will be essentially the same:

When you cut out your front bodice, make sure to mark on the fabric where you added ruching length. Sew two rows of gathering stitches about an inch past each of these markings, one at 1/4” and one at 5/8”.  This will give you the best ruching results!

Gather the bodice so that the gathered side seam matches the back bodice side seam. Repeat for the other side of the front bodice.

Now you can treat your front bodice just like you would have you not made any mods.  Continue construction per the pattern tutorial.

V-Neck Hack 

Krystal also hacked the Katy dress to have a v-neck. She simply mashed with our adult April pattern, though you could mash with any v-neck pattern you’d like:

We hope you love the Katy patterns just as much as we do. Don’t forget to share in our Facebook group or over on Insta. We love to see what you’re sewing up!