Oh yes, another Lekala!  This time it’s Lekala 4148, made when I was at Sewjourn.  As described by Lekala, it is “dress with decorative belt” to be sewn from “well draping knit fabric of middle stretchiness of natural or mixed fibers”.

Dolman sleeves are rather popular at the moment and I think that overall this dress/tunic is rather cute! It suffers slightly from the same problem as my last Lekala make in that I would prefer more ease around my middle.  And yes, I am wearing a control slip in these photos too.

And as you can see from the above photo, it could do with better pattern matching as well. The fabric was from Spotlight, and is another of their poly/lycra jerseys. They do such wonderful colours and patterns, and the fabrics feel very silky and smooth on the skin, but I need to not be so distracted by the colour and instead remember the slinky factor that shows off every “curve”.

Overall, I think that this is rather cute. At Sewjourn I tried it on with cropped navy leggings and blue shoes, and think that I prefer it worn that way rather than with bare legs.  It will be interesting to see how often I take this dress off the hanger.

Something that I do really enjoy about sewing for myself is the opportunity to try out different styles.  As well as being interesting to sew a variety of things, it’s interesting to see if they actually get worn.  It’s always about how they feel and about how I feel wearing them as well as about how they might look on.  I can tell that for me, style is an evolving thing.  It does change over time – and I think that it is also changing as my body shape is – ahem – maturing.  But it mostly seems to change depending on how I feel about myself.  Hmmm, more to think on!

When raving about Lekala 5748 the other day, I mentioned that I am better off choosing garments with illustrations of “fuller-figured” girls in them to get the ease that I prefer.  Lekala 4277 is a perfect example of when I did NOT do this.

The resulting dress is mostly an example of sewist error (not pattern error). I almost considered sending this dress to the op shop before having photos taken, but knew that in the interests of sewing blogging I should show you the failures as well as the triumphs.

Now remember, this is a pattern that has been drafted pretty much to my measurements. Let me list the wrong for you.

1. Bad fabric choice. I chose a slinky poly-lycra jersey from Spotlight that flows like liquid and clings to every curve. Especially the curves that I do not want to show off. And yes, I AM wearing a control slip in all of these photos!

2. Pattern placement. Appalling! I originally thought “oh yes, I should use some of the border in the pleated insert, that would provide nice contrast”. No, it puts bright white across my mid-section and draws your attention entirely to where I don’t want it to go.  Duh.

3. Pattern placement again. Because this pattern is a border print, I cut it on the cross grain. This didn’t really make a difference in terms of the way that the fabric hangs on me, because it is 4-way stretch and will drop anyway. But you would think that I could have got it all symmetrical. Instead, the repeat is slightly off, both at the front and at the back.

Okay, what I like about it.

1. The neckline and cut-on sleeves. It fits beautifully around the shoulders and bust, and I love the small drape.

2. The colours and print. All quite out there!

I will never wear this dress. I may – and that is a dubious may – try it again in a ponte knit, which is actually much more like the fabric recommendation of “natural/mixed knit fabric of medium stretchiness” than the poly/lycra that I used.  All that said, I still like Lekala!