Kim dress by By Hand London

            Long time no see! Lately, I got quite buzy and as a result I didn't manage to find some time to blog about my makes. I made a lot of things this month and I ensure you that there are more pattern reviews to come. In this post I revew the Kim dress by By Hand London.

                I might have this pattern in my collection for a couple of years or so. I wanted so bad to make it back then but I wasn't brave enough until now. Kim dress has a very flattering figure with a fully lined fitted bodice, scoop or sweetheart neckline and two skirt variations. Variation 1 has a wrap - style tulip skirt while Variation 2 (the one that I made) has gathered skirt with three pleats just before the hem. It is for intermediate sewers according to the company.

             I used 2 meters of this beautiful cotton poplin fabric which I bought from a shop downtown Athens, for 5,5 euros per meter. According to the pattern I had to line the bodice with cotton lawn. However, I chose to line the entire dress. The reason is that I not only have a thing lately with lining (haha) but also I wanted to avoid the skirt sticking on my legs while walking. As we all know, cotton tends to stick on everything. So I ended up buying 1 meter of viscose lining - for the skirt - for 4 euros per meter. Finally, I used a 45cm long concealed zipper in cream colour. Both, concealed zipper and lining were purchased from my local haberdashery shop. I already had in my stash the cotton lawn.

               I made size 10. The construction was quick and the dress came out together easily. To join the straps on the shoulder seam I used the trick that I had learnt on my "Silk Cami"  pattern by Sew Over It. (I haven't blog about Silk Cami yet! Review is coming soon) What I actually did was joining the straps from the inside. This way, there is no visible seam allowances under the straps. I hope this makes sense. This gives a very clean finish to the garment.

            Next, I gathered the skirt using a clear elastic instead of gathering by hand. The truth is that this method didn't work out as I planned it to. However, I stuck with my plan even if I had to regather parts of the skirt twice in order to make the gathers even. Maybe gathering with clear elastic method is more useful for knit fabric. I don't know.

              As far as the lining is concerned I used cotton lawn for the bodice. For the skirt I used a viscose lining fabric in pink-ish colour. My local haberdashery had run out of beige lining so I had to buy the pink lining. It is OK, I don't have any problem with that! The lining is inside the skirt!

               I avoided the pleats down the hem because the fabric that I used has a  quite busy pattern so I thought that there is no reason for me to make the pleats. Maybe in a future solid colour Kim dress I will add those pleats.

               When I was studying this pattern I was planning to take 1cm of each princess seam at the bust area in order to fit me properly. Well, this didn't happen. I decided otherwise. So the final dress is sliiiiightly big at the bust.  It is not as fitted as it is ment to be. This is the reason I wasn't happy enough for this make when I posted a picture of Instagram the day I finished the dress. The truth is that I got over those fitting issues and I have already wore it proudly!

               I remove about 3cm of the hem (the amount of fabric that those pleats were taken). The final hem is just below the knee. I usually prefer the hem just before the knee. However, as I'm getting older I noticed that I like my hem a bit lower. I feel that this high suits me better or it is just me starting felling and acting like grandma! Haha!

                I recommend this pattern. I think this pattern is so romantic and famine! Like I mentioned before the instructions were very clear ans I did not have any issues with that. I plan to make this dress again using a solid colour fabric.

Until next time,

Happy Sewing!