Breton tops and dresses with a striped bodice and contrast colour yoke and sleeves (or shoulders) seem to be all over the shops at the moment. And with good reason - they're absolutely gorgeous! Inspired by what I've seen all over Pinterest, and in an effort to use up the small amount of lovely striped fabric left over from my Nautical Dress, I thought I'd make a contrast yoke Coco dress... and show you how to make one yourself with a cheeky bit of pattern hacking.
You can make the yoke and sleeves - or just the yoke - in a contrast colour, or how about playing around with contrast prints too? Boden has some really cute striped tops with polka dot yokes... mmm... stripes and polka dots... Whatever your design, it's a good idea to pick fabrics that feel similar to each other in terms of thickness and stretchability.
You will need:
- Coco sewing pattern
- Large paper, pencil and ruler
- Two different fabrics
- Other Coco supplies as listed with the pattern (fabric, thread, sewing machine etc)
1) On the Front Bodice piece of the Coco sewing pattern, draw a horizontal line, perpendicular to the grainline arrow, where you want the yoke seam line to be. I positioned mine about an inch above the bottom of the armhole. Add in a notch line about half way along this line - a small marking that will help us later when it comes to pinning the yoke and bodice together. Repeat on the Back Bodice piece if you want the contrast yoke on the back of your Coco too.
2) Trace off the Yoke and the Bodice pieces in your size lines on separate pieces of paper. (To trace, you can either lay semi-translucent paper over the pattern; or you can put a new piece of paper underneath the pattern, run a tracing wheel over the lines, and then go over the indentations the tracing wheel made on the new piece of paper with a pencil.)
Label the pieces so you'll remember what they are when you find them again in your pattern pile (eg. "Contrast Yoke Coco, Front Bodice, Size 3 etc"). Add in the notch lines and grainline arrows.
We need to add seam allowance to the seam lines that join the yoke and bodice. Draw a line 15mm (5/8 in) below the bottom edge of the Yoke piece(s) and join it up with the rest of the outline. Draw a line 15mm (5/8 in) above the top edge of the Bodice piece(s) and join it up with the rest of the outline. Move the notch lines so they are on the new lines you've just drawn.
Lovely stuff! See y'all at the Coco Party!
