I'm partial to wrap dresses, wrap tops, pretty much anything I can wrap around my earthly vessel. As a result, I have sewn many a wrap dress in my sewing journeys.
First up, the Kate Wrap Dress by Style Arc.
Style Arc is an Australian pattern company and I'm a huge fan. I've found that their patterns fit me well straight out of the ... I'd say package, but PDF is more appropriate in this case. (It would be impossible for me to have the patience to wait for a printer pattern to ship from Australia so thank goodness for PDF patterns.)
In case it's not clear, the Kate Dress is a reference to a certain Duchess who I guess wore a wrap dress at some point.
Here are some pictures of the dress in progress. I was trying to decide what to do for the sleeve cuffs since I had a lovely border print to work with. I can't find the original color, but this is what the fabric I cut from looked like:
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| Purchased from Fabric Mart |
The fabric only stretched across the selvage so my options were either to not have it stretch widthwise (not advisable with a garment with some negative ease) or piece the hem onto the bottom. Given the slinky nature of the ITY knit I felt it would be weird to add a seamline at thigh level.
I gave up on that idea and thought I might be able to add the stripe to the sleeve cuffs but wasn't in love with the look.
I was left with the stripe at the tie only, and while I feel like it was a missed opportunity with such a nice border print fabric, I think it was the right choice for this dress.
Something I really like about this wrap dress is the clear elastic you sew into the neckline. It feels quite secure when you're wearing it. I don't love the look of the zig zag stitch down the edge of the neckline, but it'd probably be less noticeable if I could have matched the thread to the fabric -- my choice was to either do it in white and have that show up on the black part of the print, or do it in black and have that show up on the white part of the print.
I'm quite pleased with how it came out, and I even made a knit slip to go under it so I have no worries about flashing anyone.
Once I sewed it together, the tie lost all traces of the yellow stripe, which was hidden in the seam.
I forget if the pattern instructions said to do it this way, but I only ever set in sleeves flat these days. Knit patterns tend to instruct you to construct them flat, but most woven patterns want you to finagle them in after you've sewn side seams. Ain't nobody got time for that.
The dress fits really well, the pattern is great, and while there are a few tricky bits (like getting the elastic in right) it's a pretty straightforward and simple pattern. If you're looking for a nice wrap dress pattern that you can wear to work, this definitely fits the bill.
Spend summary:
Pattern: $10ish
Fabric: 3 yards @ $4/yard = $12
Total cost: $22
Speaking of wrap dresses, you can read about another famous knit wrap pattern I've made multiple times, the Appleton Dress by Cashmerette. The Appleton has a really nice neckband construction which I admire greatly.
That's all for now, or as my toddler now frequently says to my great delight: Toodles.
