Pattern Hacking Aster Sewing Pattern For Wovens

The Aster pdf sewing pattern is designed for knits, but it can be adapted for woven fabrics with a little bit of size blending. The Aster as designed, has negative ease around the waist, which will make it impossible to wear in woven fabric.

For View A with the long Dolman sleeve, I recommend using woven fabric that is fluid and has good drape while for View B with short sleeve, you can also use less fluid but lightweight woven fabrics. The hack is good for both views but I am using the short sleeve variation in the included illustrations.

Option 1- Aster with Zipper down The Centre Back

To make Aster in woven fabric with a similar fit as the original knit version, a zipper will be required at the Centre Back to access the gown.

The hack is to select a bodice that is one size larger than you will choose for knits, then select a skirt that has a finished waist measurement that is equal to your waist plus ¾” to 1” for the essential wearing ease. The bodice waist is then blended at the side seam to the bodice size match the size of the chosen skirt while retaining the bodice length of the main bodice size selected.

For example, my body measurements are:

•  Upper Bust: 34”
•  Full Bust: 36”
• Waist: 31”
• Hip measurements: 39.5”

Ø  My regular size for the knits version is Size 10 for both skirt and bodice pieces. While my waist is about 1” bigger than the size 10 on the Body Measurements Chart, I can get away with a size 10 waist because of the stretch in the suggested knit fabrics for Aster. For a fitted woven Aster, however-

1. I will select a size 12 bodice, which should provide some ease around the neck-hugging neck stand.
2. Ø  I will select a size 14 skirt with a finished waist measurement of 32.4. This provides a little bit over 1” ease, but I would rather have more room to work with.
3. Ø  I will then blend my size 12 bodice to a 14 waist at the side seam only. All the pleats, notches and internal bodice marks will be that of a size 12.
4. Ø  I will add a centre back seam to the back bodice piece, then maybe increase the CB seam to ½” or more to give me enough room to install an invisible zipper.

The sewing steps will have to be reordered to allow for zipper installation. The zipper should be long enough to go through the hip, back length and neck stand. 

Option 2- Aster with Elasticated Waist

Aster is part of the EasyMake line of sewing patterns that are designed to be easy to make with little fuss in making and wearing them. Invisible zippers don’t make the cut! Therefore, the elastic waist option will be my preferred hack for this style.

To hack the EasyMake Aster sewing pattern for elastic waist, you will also go a size up for the bodice, then select a skirt with a finished waist that is about equal to your Full Bust + 2” so that you can easily slip the dress on. For this version for wovens, the pleats will be disregarded, and the bodice waist will be joined directly to the skirt waist. The bodice waist, depending on your measurements and the bodice variation, may have to be eased into the skirt. Again, using my body measurements listed as an example,

1. Ø  I will select a size 12 bodice. A size 12 waist finishes at 30.4”, add to that 10” pleat fullness for the short-sleeved variation (or 15” for the Dolman sleeve variation), making a bodice waist of 40.4” (or 45” for View A). Note that the 10”/15” is a constant for all sizes.
2. Ø  I will select a size 20 skirt which has a finished waist of 38”.
3. Ø  If I want the elastic encased, I will increase the waist seam on bodice and skirt pieces to ¾ to 1” to allow me to pass a 3/8 to ¾” wide elastic.

In my case, and I am assuming, in other users' cases, they will need to ease or gather the bodice into the smaller skirt waist. Also, the sewing steps will have to be reordered so that the bodice and skirt waist seam is done last, that is, after the bodice side seam and skirt side seams have been done, so you can place the elastic directly on the waist seam or through it. The elastic should be cut to a length that is firm enough around your waist to cinch the gown properly.

If your Full Bust+2” measurement is larger than all of the provided skirt sizes, then grade the skirt to larger sizes. A look at the waist row on the Chart of Finished Garment Dimensions will show that the waist is growing by 1.9” for every size up such that size 24 would have a finished waist of 41.8”, size 26 is 42.7”, size 28 is 43.6”, size 30 is 44.5”, size 32 is 46.4” and so on and so forth. Once you have determined the skirt size that you require, you will draw concentric arcs parallel to the existing waist arcs and at a distance of 0.8” from each other till you have your required waist size. The 0.8” is equal to the existing distance (or grade) between sizes. For example, if my Full Bust size is 46”, I require a skirt size with a finished waist of 48”, which will be a size 32 skirt, which is 5 sizes beyond the existing size 22.

Multiply 0.8” by 5, which makes 4”, then draw a concentric arc that is 4” away from and parallel to the existing size 22. Similarly, extend the skirt length at the hem if necessary. And there you have it, you have just graded for yourself a circular skirt.

SIDEBAR: I created a video tutorial a few years ago on how to grade circle skirts using my CAD software, but the same logic applies when grading by hand.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful. The Aster PDF sewing pattern designed for knits is available to buy here, and you can check out this blog post for more info on the EasyMake Aster.