Highlands Wrap Dress part two…

Well, this really didn’t take me long. After my struggle with the neckline on the Highlands Wrap Dress (here), I looked everywhere for a wrap dress pattern that would suit me. But nothing I found had the design elements that drew me to Allie’s pattern in the first place. It’s so pretty, balanced, and interesting!

So I knuckled down and read some articles on adjusting the neckline on a wrap dress. I found an article on Craftsy that made so much sense to me that I retrieved my crumpled pattern, apologized to it, and went to work.

Following the Craftsy guide, I took a generous dart in the center of the neckline and smoothed it out to the opposite side seam.

Here’s my ‘new bodice’ (I also dropped the bust dart), and a new one-piece front facing.

That bust dart was a bit of a trial. My girls are small and no longer perky, so I dropped the dart again during fitting. I also narrowed it and angled it up a bit toward the apex.

I really made only one other change. I decided to add 1 1/4″ to the length of the button/snap tabs. This was arbitrary, but I thought it made sense to allow for additional ease given the new neckline. And I really like the longer tab.

Fabric: Kaufman Blush Brussels Washer linen, Fabric.com

Happy dress!! Ciao – Coco

 

 

Allie Olson Highlands Wrap Dress

This is a rescue project. It got tossed into the infamous bin twice. I think of it as another nod to my persistence and reluctance to give up 🙂

This woven wrap dress was part of Allie’s 2017 summer collection, but I just caught on recently when I joined the Indiesew community. My experience with knit wrap dresses has been disappointing, so I was very happy to find one for woven fabrics. Inspiration – Check out the lovely and spirited version by Sue at Colourful Canvas. I love it!

I had a nice rayon challis in my stash, one with a vertical pattern, that I chose for my muslin. Not my favorite colors, but, it’s a muslin and a vertical element is proof of the pudding. Plus I wanted to try it out with a lightweight fabric.

Challis is shifty, but I was very careful to pin the selvedges and folds to my cutting board, intending to best the fabric. And I’m pretty happy with my drafting and cutting workout (which followed an entire day of taping the 64 pages of the PDF pattern).

So why a rescue? Because when I had most of the dress assembled and tried it on, the front edges, where they connect to the side seams, fell about 3″ below my waistline, both sides, and both fronts were off vertical. Plus, I was left with a big gaping upper front bodice. That was the first time this dress was binned.

I slept on it, thought about it, and decided to hike up that front edge to see if it would help. Yes! I took about 3″ of the lower edge into a fold. If you look at the pic above, you can see that this brought the vertical elements of my fabric in alignment.  But it was not fun.

As consolation, I recalled that the wrap dresses I tried in the past all had gathers or folds in this area. Example, Vogue 8379.

Back to happiness, the back is so pretty.

Sewing notes:

• Based on Allie’s sizing, I drafted the size 8. Since she drafts for a 5’6″, B-cup model, I didn’t make any changes to the length or the position of the bust darts.
• The pattern comes with 3/8″ seam allowances, but I drafted mine with 5/8″ allowances. No way am I going to deal with linen or challis with such a narrow allowance.
• A minor change, I trimmed 1/4″ off the front facings. These are topstitched in place, and I thought the 1 3/8″ facing was a bit much.
• LOVELY mitered slits on the sides. Great drafting and instructions. I lowered my slits by 12.5″, since they are intended to be above the knee. Nope!

• The length of the ties is perfect! Because challis is so light, I did not trim the seam allowances inside the ties. I wanted enough weight that the ties would not collapse.

• The back waistband is inspired. With just a touch of elastic (I used 7/8″ wide knit elastic), it’s a nice design element that provides ease without a bunch of gathered fuss. Did I mention that the sleeves are also perfect?

After all that enthusiasm, will I sew it again? No. The second bin event was to trash the pattern, instructions, and all that taped paper. I did save a few elements: the sleeve, back waistband, mitered hem, and ties.

I’m really glad I persisted, because this dress caused me enough angst that I browsed my patterns. I want a woven wrap dress this summer. And found a great one, sewn twice in 2012, and actually a vintage housedress pattern, that I can adapt.

Bye for now! Coco