Hi friends,

I have another post today as part of my collaboration with Indiesew and I have so many  good things to share about this pattern. The Highlands Wrap Dress designed by Allie Olsen of Indiesew is a true wrap style dress with a V-neck and side slits. The highlight of this pattern for me is its beautifully fitted silhouette.

If you’ve been following me for a bit, you know that wrap style dresses terrify me owing to my previous bust fitting complications. This year though, as I have grown in my understanding on how to fit garments to my specific body type and measurements, fitting bodices with darts and fitting wrap bodices  has been a very satisfying challenge. I felt like it was the right time to tackle a fitted wrap dress which is why I chose this particular pattern. But, there was no real tackling of fit issues because this pattern fits like a dream right out of the envelope which is why I can’t stop gushing about it.

My measurements (Bust 32″, waist 27″, hips 36″) put me in size 0 for bust and size 2 for waist and hips. I blended from a size 0 in the bust to 2 at the hips. I am 5′ so I shortened it in a couple places as indicated in the pattern. I took out 3/4″ from under the bodice and 1″ from the skirt using the midi skirt length option. After making a full muslin, I chose to remove another 0.5″ from the skirt. Like I said earlier, the fit on the muslin was perfect but since I had the chance to mess with adjustments, I did a 3/4″ full bicep adjustment to add a bit more ease in the sleeve for comfort and moved the bust dart up by 0.5″. Both of these changes were not absolutely necessary but I did them anyway because I had the time and chance to 🙂 and I couldn’t be happier with how my final dress turned out.

Here’s a little back story behind the fabric that ultimately got picked. When I started visualizing the Highlands wrap dress, in my head it was always a wine colored linen viscose dress (it’s still in my head, I can’t get it out of there) which is what I ordered. I have no idea if I made a mistake while ordering it, if the fabric shrunk or what but when I laid out my pattern pieces, they just wouldn’t fit no matter how I tried to position and fit them. I was honestly devastated because I’d been planning it for such a long time, made a muslin and everything. Fortunately, I had ordered this Nani Iro Double Gauze during the spring sale at confident stitch with no particular project in mind and knew this would be perfect for my wrap dress.

After all the things that I heard about double gauze being tricky, I was quite nervous before cutting into it. But I have to say, this was easier than working with rayon, it was for the most part like a lawn. I had no trouble cutting or sewing with it. It presses well but also creases a lot which I guess is unavoidable considering how extremely soft it is. Having sewn with double gauze for the first time, I now understand all the hype behind how soft and amazing it feels to wear it.

Those mitered hems were such a joy to sew up. It was incredibly satisfying to see how the wide hems, the mitered slits and the beautifully faced v-neckline shaped up after sewing. The pattern is quite straightforward and the instructions were detailed and precise, there are no tricky parts to sewing it. It just comes together nicely from start to finish. I am smitten with my double gauze wrap dress and can’t stop raving about it. The satisfaction and joy of having sewn a well-crafted pattern does that for you, doesn’t it?!

This pattern was provided to me by Indiesew, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy Sewing!