#mmFlorence hack
I used the news of my pregnancy as an excuse to search for sewing patterns through a new lens. Could I wear this throughout all nine months of pregnancy? Will it be good for breastfeeding? Do I like the design enough to wear it post-pregnancy? Could it be easily modified to fit any of these previous prerequisites? These were the questions I was asking myself, and at some point (probably in a few months when time grants me the credibility to be able to comprehensively answer) I will write an additional blog post listing all the maternity-friendly patterns I’ve found that personally fit the bill.
Anyways, one of the first patterns that caught my eye was The Florence by Merchant & Mills. My excitement to sew it can probably be best explained by the fact that I found out I was pregnant on Christmas Eve and I ordered the paper pattern, as well as the required 1.3 meters of fabric and three buttons, on New Year’s Day. If you don’t count the pregnancy test, you could argue it was my first baby-related purchase. I will say that before having bump-bias, I was never drawn to peplum tops, but body changes have prompted many new preferences!
MM’s description of Florence is “a sweet swingy top with a button back detail and soft high low gathers”. From the very beginning, I was hoping to successfully modify the pattern to be more maternity friendly, meaning “flipping” the high-low seam so that the high gathers (and button placket) are in the front, and low gathers are in the back. Inspiration for this modified version must be given to Rudy Jude’s since-sold-out Day Blouse. There are several versions under the #mmFlorence hashtag that more literally emulate the Day Blouse e.g. puff sleeves, straightened gathered hem, etc. but I wanted to keep the simple cap sleeves and the high-low curve, so if interested, here’s a behind-the-scenes of how I got there.
In hopes of clearly conveying my modifications without using photos of the actual pattern out of respect to Merchant & Mills, I’ve included a very-not-to-scale sketch below. The pattern pieces drawn in black are the original. Red pen indicates when I traced piece 2 “Back” and blue pen indicates when I traced piece 1 “Front” in order to make the two modified Front & Back pieces.
To elaborate on the sketch, here are the modifications written out. Keep in mind that I made this in a size 10, so while the steps should be the same across sizes the measurements I list may vary.
Front (New): trace the neckline, shoulder seam, armescye, and side seam of the original front including any accompanying marks from the original Front piece. Then, trace the bottom gather seam line from the original back piece matching its low point to the bottom of the side seam. The curve’s high point comes up about 17cm higher than the original. Then, trace the bottom placket from the original back piece, matching what used to be center back to center front. Lastly, make sure to cut 2 (1 pair) of the new front piece; it’s no longer cut on fold.
Back (New): trace the neckline, shoulder seam, armescye, and side seam of the original front including any accompanying marks including the dart from the original Back piece. Then, trace the bottom gather seam like from the original Front piece matching its high point to the bottom of the side seam. Extend the new Center Back line ~17cm to meet the low point of the new bottom seam. Cut on the fold.
Sleeve: unchanged.
Front Panel: this piece pairs with the low gather, so it remains unchanged from the pattern other than becoming the Back Panel.
Back Panel: this piece pairs with the high gather, so it remains unchanged from the pattern other than becoming the Front Panel. I did however lengthen this pattern piece by 7cm before cutting the fabric since I wanted to make sure it had enough coverage for my bump. I then had to blend the two panel lengths at the side seams, shown kind of abstractly in the sketch with dashed lines. I did this after trying the shirt on and before hemming the bottom.
Neck Binding: unchanged.
The shirt construction was otherwise the same: just stay on your toes when reading the instructions to substitute “back” for “front” and vice versa! And I imagine you could follow the same steps to “hack” the #mmFlorence dress view too, since the only difference lies in the length of pieces 4 and 5. Looking forward to seeing your own versions!!
