One of the recent freebie of the month patterns from Style Arc was the Lena Shift Dress.  I’ve already forgotten what pattern I bought to get this one as a freebie; the Lena jumped ahead of it in priority!

The stunning fabric was a gift from a friend, and I’ve been waiting for the perfect pattern to go with it for some time. It’s a textured mid weight fabric and wasn’t particularly wide. Because it’s a directional print it took me a while to find just the right garment to make from it – this is definitely it.

Although the pattern has a seamline down the centre back (which is very useful for any shaping alterations you might want to do) it could easily be cut on the fold. I shortened the pattern around 3 inches at the shorten/lengthen line because of fabric restrictions, but as it turns out that was pretty much the perfect amount of length to take out to suit my 158cm height. I did do a forward shoulder alteration of around 1cm, and considered doing a rounded upper back alteration (hello dowager’s hump) but decided that in this style it wouldn’t matter all that much.  I sewed size 12.

From the Style Arc website: PRODUCT DESCRIPTION Tent shape, Calf length, Boat neck, Sleeveless, Large inseam pockets, Hem facing. FABRIC SUGGESTION Linen, cotton, crepe.

This is pretty much the same style that I’ve seen in the Uniqlo/Marimekko offering, right down to the curved pockets. However, this has the advantage of being sewn by me to fit my body, in the fabric of my choice. Thank goodness for home sewing patterns. I used a contrasting linen for the hem facing and the all-in-one neck and armhole facing. I followed Style Arc’s instructions for attaching the facing to the dress and it worked beautifully.

Although this is a sleeveless dress, the armholes are not at all cut away or too deep. This leads to excellent bra coverage.

My bras are fairly substantial (I got fitted again recently and discovered that extra kilos and perimenopausal changes have bumped my cup sizes up two larger than I had been wearing) yet this dress doesn’t expose them at all. Unlike the youth of today (that’s such a middle-aged person’s phrase) I prefer my underwear to be covered.

The pockets are great. Once again, I followed the Style Arc instructions and was left with a very pleasing result. The pocket bags are stitched to the front of the dress, which eliminates any issues with them flapping around, and the double row of stitching looks good! It mirrors the double row of stitching that secures the hem facing.

I really enjoyed sewing this dress (it was finished over a month ago) and now that the weather has become more consistently summer I am sure that I’ll enjoy wearing it.