I was lucky enough to pattern test this and I’ve been wanting to show it off since! It’s the new Sewaholic Yaletown dress and blouse. I made the dress, mainly because I had enough fabric, but I do want to make the blouse at a later date. This fabric is a rayon from Darn Cheap Fabrics in Melbourne.
I love this dress: it has pockets and an elastic waist that’s hidden by the belt. I like that the facings are topstitched down, so they can’t flip out and I like the added button at centre front to stop the wrap from gaping. It such a pretty spring dress that I just need some nice weather to wear it in!
Sizing: 0-16 – the largest size fits (41-35-47)
What size did you make? I started with a sz 16 and needed to add about 6″ to the bust and waist. (I added 2″ from the FBA, 2″ from the wide back adjustment and another 4″ from grading it up.)
What adjustments did you make?
- Graded out to a sz 18 at the bust/waist–I added about 1/2″ to each side seam.
- 1″ FBA rotated down into gathers. A note on this: Don’t forget to adjust your front facings, as the FBA will change the shape of them.
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| Front bodice – mark your apex and FBA lines |
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| I did a basic 1″ FBA |
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| True the centre wrap edge |
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| Close the side dart, letting it open at the bottom of the bodice which is gathered |
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| Slice and divide the dart evenly at the bottom of the bodice where it will be gathered. (I’ve coloured my slices in green) |
- 1″ wide back adjustment
- Took out 3cm of bodice length
- Shaped the bottom of the bodice. Once I had the bodice sewn I put it on, pinned out the gathers then marked a straight line around.
- For once I didn’t have to enlarge the sleeves so they are quite generous in size.
Fabric and Notions required: I didn’t use as much as what was recommended – about 3m of 160cm wide rayon.
Curvy Rating (1-5): 4 – I think its very flattering on a larger size, but it does take a bit of extra work to grade up. However, it does have pockets and is very comfy to wear, thanks to the elastic waist!
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If Suzy’s review makes you yearn to try the Yaletown dress, you’re in luck! The lovely Tasia, of Sewaholic, has graciously offered a copy to giveaway to one Collective reader. Woohoo! To enter, just leave a comment below telling us about your favorite sewing technique. Do you live for the perfect FBA or love making self-made bias tape? Let’s chat about it!
I like to make my own bias tape because I like to blend in. I also love French seams because I like to look inside a garment and see how neat it is! I love this dress. I don’t think I could do the sizing up that you did but maybe I will get there. Thanks!
wow – that dress looks great! I think the most important thing I have learnt over the years of sewing is to make a toile. its no real hardship and there’s nothing so disappointing as expecting it to turn out perfect from the pattern packet and finding it doesnt. I stopped sewing clothing for years because of that, just quilts and bags for a while, they dont need fitting!
I’m a pretty new sewist, so I’m not sure what a lot of the techniques I’ve been learning are called! I’ll go with the homemade bias tape, though — that was pretty cool the first time I tried it.
This is such a beautiful pattern! Definitely going on my wish list for sure! I would say my favorite sewing technique would be interfacing fabric before sewing in zippers! Works like a charm; no more wavy zippers!
Just beautiful, I only just found this site and feel like I’ve won the jackpot , I love to make bias tape ,but I just love sewing and have started to sew for myself instead of everyone else….my daughter, granddaughter. Thankyou for such a wonderful site
Lovely dress! Although I am not there yet, I am inspired by TNT’s that are then sewn into barely recognizable reiterations of themselves. And they fit!!
Maybe silly, but I actually enjoy pressing the most. Transforming a wonky looking seam into something that almost looks professional is satisfying
This wrap dress looks lovely on you! And makes me think it would look lovely on me too! 🙂 My favorite technique is french seams. I think it makes the inside of a garment love neat and pretty!
I love adding pockets to a dress or a skirt that doesn’t have them (yet). Also, I love this fabric. It’s very much like the perfect polka dot fabric 🙂
My favorite technique is to clip, grade, and understitch a bias neck binding, even if the pattern instructions doesn’t call for it. It really helps the neckline to lie flat, rather than bowing out away from the body.
Lovely dress! Although I am not there yet, one of my favorite techniques is developing some basic TNT’s that you can then alter into garments that are almost unrecognizable from the original, but still fit!
Favourite sewing technique is french seams. It just looks so tidy! And it means I don’t have to break out the serger when I’m lazy since I don’t have dedicated seeing space 🙂
Thanks for the tut!! 🙂
Pretty clear! 🙂
My favorite thing about this dress is the versatility. Fancy, casual, it all goes! My current favorite sewing challenge is removing ease from sleeve caps.
My favorite go to for knits is using FOE. I like to use them for my necks and it comes out really cute.
Love it, and love that you shared your adjustments. I’ve been really loving combining knit with woven lately, even if it’s just making small knit facings to finish out sleeves and such on woven dresses or knit bindings on a woven top..
What a lovely dress! It is very flattering and you could dress it up or down for different occasions. Love the fabric. I’m still trying to figure out my favourite techniques but I do love to experiment with altering patterns to try to get a different look or better fit. Anything that works out beautifully makes me very pleased. I get ridiculously excited about turning all in one facings – it is like magic how they get pushed and pulled carefully through after sewing, and then ironed smooth. I loathe ironing the washing, but love opening seams, smoothing edges and facings etc when sewing.
Love a well fitting wrap dress! I’ve been using knit pieces to make neck bindings and sleeve bindings on the Staple Dress. Life has new meaning! Elastic thread is my favorite new friend for any type of gathering as well. Getting my gathers spaced out and tacked down perfectly would require me to become Samantha from Bewitched. I just roll with however it decides to lay.
I am with Jenni. I love the preparation stage. It is so important. I meticulously measure the grainlines to ensure a perfect fit. I can’t stand the fabric twisting on me so by doing this it will eliminate this possibility. I also iron at every step during the sewing process.
Suzy, your dress looks fantastic on you. You give us all inspiration that we can take a smaller pattern and make it fit us. Thankyou.
OMG, love that dress ♥ and looks so cute on you! I’m new on this world of sewing, so I just go with the flow and following the tutorials like if they were the bible!
I’ve got no special trick to share but I can offer a fun fact.
I was reading previous comments and, as a French sewer, I’ve got intrigued by people mentioning “French seams”.
After a quick search, it appeared that “French seams” is what French sewers call “couture anglaise” which could be translated as “English seams”.
So? Who has actually invented this seam?
I am so new to apparel sewing that at this point I just love making that I can wear out of the house and get a compliment on!
I can’t say I’m enjoying it, but learning to fit patterns has been the most important thing I’ve learned in the last so many years.
Suzy, your directions on the FBA are amazing, and I have a project for which it’ll be perfect – thank you so much.
Favorite technique of a new sewist… all of them? Because I’m still grooving on the fact that “I CAN SEW, Y’ALL!” Sorry. It’s just so cool.
I guess I’d have to say, using a serger threaded with the right needle only for a rolled hem is my current favorite.
However, stitching in the ditch is my most recent learned technique and the more waistbands and banded collars I make, the more practice I get; since I can’t sew a straight line without a lot of help, this technique is a lifesaver. I’ll probably start looking for excuses to use it.
I like top-stitching. It takes home sewn up to RTW level.
I love making French seams! A bit time consuming but I can not get enough of the neatness of the finished seam. I used to do it since I lacked a serger and did not like the look of a zig-zag edge but now even with a serger I still occasionally will use a French seam because I think it looks fancy. 😉
That dress is just about perfect…pockets, and all! I recently bought a coverstitch machine — so my new favorite technique is topstitching knits. I love the finished look!
I love it when the (smaller) lining gives you a perfect edge.
Don’t you just love dresses (or skirts) with pockets? My favourite part of sewing is adjusting the pattern for that perfect fit! Learning every time.
my favourite bit to sewing is the cutting out! wierd I know!!
LOL
I actually love sewing French seams. They make the inside of a garment look beautiful.
I am just starting..fav part so far is choosing the fabric pattern combo
Great job! thank you for sharing the alterations–especiallly rotating the dart into gathers.
I sew a lot of knits (I have several tnt patterns for fitness tops), but lately I have been enamoured with homemade bias tape. I laughed when I saw the sentence written above, because I have spent several hours on Sunday cutting, sewing and pressing my own bias tape. Fun times! 🙂
I think the technique I can’t get enough at the moment is wrapping my seams in hug snug (rayon seam binding). It adds prettiness to the insides of home sewn things and gives me a chance to add extra colour 🙂
Love the dress. Wrap dresses suit everyone! My favourite tip is to sew knit sleeves in flat, and then sew the side seam and sleeve all in one hit. Much easier. I do still hem the sleeve in the round though, because it looks and feels better.