Ohhh I have been waiting for the Women’s Constance for so long. Ever since I made the girl’s version for my daughter (reviewed here) I have been hoarding the remnants in the hope that some day they’d end up as Constance Tops and dresses for me. My prayers have been answered! Well! its either that, or the fact that Kelly has been badgered with way too many requests for the Women’s version lol. So here we are!
The Women’s Constance Top, Tunic and dress PDF pattern comes in sizes 0/2 (32″ bust) to 28 (50″ bust) and like the children’s version, comes in three hem lengths – top, tunic or dress, and four sleeve lengths – short, 3/4 and long. You can choose to do a regular neckline with a neckband or a lined or unlined hood. It also includes options like the kangaroo pocket, oval and heart elbow patches, and cuffs and hem bands. It has layered sizing and a very clear photo tutorial.
This pattern also happens to be part of the Meaningfully Made collection that Kelly is designing. I think it’s pretty amazing that she’s directing 100% of the proceeds towards the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, a cause that is very important and close to her.
I made the dress length with my standard alteration of shortening the length by a good 1.5″. The cuffs finish off the neck, sleeves and hem! So with no folding, pressing and hemming, it goes by pretty quickly. I don’t dislike pressing or hemming, quite frankly I sometimes enjoy the mundane tasks that sewing involves like trimming and cutting pattern pages, pressing seams, hand hemming, even hand gathering. Is that weird?
Anyway, this gorgeous coral french terry is from LA Finch fabrics, and the floral liverpool knit that I used for the cuffs and binding is from Sincerely Rylee fabrics (I used it here for my Chloe skirt). This is the exact combination of fabrics I used for my daughter’s tunic, I loved it so much that I decided to copy her dress 😀
The fit of this dress is pretty awesome. It curves in nicely at the waist and out at the hips giving it a nice shape. I am not much of a dress person, I belong to the throw on leggings or skinnies and a comfy top camp. Most of my dresses are reserved for special occasions, but wearing this dress has made me rethink my wardrobe options. I feel like I need a few more dresses to spruce up my everyday mommy uniform.
It was such a cold windy cloudy snowy afternoon when we took pictures, I thought the pictures would be a disaster for sure, but I love how they turned out. It helps when you have a husband who not just makes you smile (or giggle) but drives home during lunch time just to take pictures 🙂
I’ll leave you with a few more pictures of my top version made in hacci sweater knit fabric that I got from my Girl Charlee Knitfix last year. Its a great sturdy knit with good stretch.
