Since I mentioned in my last post that I sewed two garments for Freya’s birthday, I thought that I’d better not leave you in suspense for too long waiting for the second.  So may I present the By Hand London Anna dress!

Now, I did have every intention of sewing this pattern for myself. After all, I have seen it look great on a variety of sizes and shapes. It’s even made it to the Pattern Review best patterns of 2013 list! But for some reason, every time I pulled it out I put it away again. Clearly, it wanted to be made for Freya rather than for me.

The fabric has been in my stash for a long, long time, waiting for the perfect project. It is a John Kaldor stretch cotton sateen, and the colours are just right for Freya. I had just enough to make the dress – clearly it was serendipitous! I chose the V-neck version in the shorter length.

Freya’s measurements corresponded almost perfectly with the measurements listed for size 10, and the finished dress made according to those measurements fits her very well. All seamlines, darts and tucks aligned exactly as they should. I made the back neckline smaller by cutting off a wedge of fabric from both centre back pieces, around an inch wide at the neck edge and narrowing to nothing near the bottom of the bodice. I did that before inserting the zipper, after remembering that I had read almost universal reviews saying that the back neckline gaped. If I make this again I will adjust the neckline more like this tutorial before cutting into the fabric, rather than my more ad hoc approach. I also understitched the facings to keep them in place, and caught them to the shoulder seamlines with a few stitches to secure them there as well.  There is one thing that I am not completely satisfied with, and it was all my own fault.

No, that invisible zipper isn’t actually invisible, is it!  Unfortunately for some reason I used my regular zipper foot when I inserted it, rather than my invisible zipper foot.  I have no idea how that happened.  It’s not too bad, but now that I realise what I did wrong I wish that I had re-inserted it before giving it to Freya.   I still might, if I can steal it back from her.  However, the insertion is fantastic at the neckline, where the facing is.  I used the wonderful instructions from You Sew Girl!’s A-line Skirt pattern, which always give a terrific result when you have an invisible zipper and a facing.  Much better than just turning the facing to the inside and slip stitching it in place.

By Hand London do have a sewalong for this dress.  I didn’t refer to it at all, but you might find it helpful if you want to give this dress a try (if you are one of the few who hasn’t made it already).

Something that came to mind while making this – and that I just saw echoed in the curious kiwi’s most recent blog post – was that if you want to maximise fitting opportunities, you would be better off constructing the dress front and dress back separately and leaving the side seams until last. That is something that I would definitely need to do if making this dress for myself, as I would need to make quite a few adjustments for my proportionately  substantive mid-section.  As it is a multi-sized pattern there is plenty of opportunity for grading across sizes.  Very handy.  Not that I needed to do any grading for Freya!

So, will I make this dress again for me? The jury is still out on that one. But for Freya? Absolutely.

Every now and then I pull certain patterns from my stash and ask them serious questions. “Why did I buy you?  I know that you’re a cute design and pretty style, and I’ve seen you look great on many people, but why did I buy you for ME? Why did I buy you when I would need to make so many alterations for you to fit my body shape? And even when you eventually fit me you probably won’t flatter me or work with my other clothes?”

Now I know the answer.

Somewhere in the back of my mind when I clicked on that purchase button, a voice was whispering “I won’t look good on you – but I will look FANTASTIC on Freya”.

My lovely cousin Freya just had her birthday, and I made her not one, but two new garments! The first of these is the Sewaholic Pendrell blouse. I sewed view A. The description of the Pendrell is as follows:

The Pendrell blouse is a feminine semi-fitted top. Your choice of unique draped sleeves, flirty double ruffles or a classic sleeveless shell. A great addition to your wardrobe!

This blouse is designed with a pear-shaped figure in mind. Ruffles or sleeves add dimension at the shoulders, which balances out wider hips so they appear slim in comparison! Sizing is proportioned for a pear-shaped figure: smaller bust and waist, larger hips.

For View A, the draped sleeve is self-lined, so the pleats hang softly and there’s no hemming required. Both ruffles on View B are cut on the fold as well. Extra-long length in the body of the blouse makes it easy to tuck into skirts and pants comfortably. Princess seams elongate and flatter the body. Also, there is no closure! I wanted to have the best fit possible while eliminating zippers and buttons to keep it easy.

Freya’s measurements were perfectly aligned with size 10, so that is what I cut out and sewed. I made absolutely no changes, as I didn’t have her available for fitting and I wanted it to be a surprise. The fabric is a beautiful designer cotton that came my way via Anna, and it looks wonderful with jeans. Some close ups taken in artificial light on Ada (whose measurements had to be dialled down significantly from mine to make this fit) show the details a little more.

I really enjoyed making those self-lined sleeves. They are inserted in the front and back princess seams, and were actually quite simple to construct. There is a sewalong for this blouse, for anyone interested, but I didn’t refer to it at all. Construction was done on the sewing machine, but I finished edges on the overlocker. I wanted to be able to make alterations easily if need be, and sewing the seams on the machine gave some more flexibility. But I needn’t have worried.

The neckline and armscyes are bound with a bias strip applied like a facing, pretty much in the same manner that Tessuti uses in their Lily and Eva dresses. It is quite straightforward and gives a lovely finish. The fabric was also a dream to sew and to press.

Less blurry modelled shots would have been preferable, but I have to work with what I have! I’ll use this pattern again for Freya. I’d quite like to sew up the view with the ruffles. Overall, I think that this is an excellent pattern, with clear instructions and perfect drafting for Freya’s shape. Hooray!