My Hannah Dress

My obsession with this pattern started a long time ago, Elisalex posted images on her feed of her progress with the dress and I fell in love with it. My main love was the wrap over style and the neckline shape, as soon as it was launched I purchased the PDF and got it printed.

This is my first by hand London pattern, so I took some extra time to make a proper toile and fit the bodice. I’m quite a busty lady and I knew the fitting for the wrap style would need extra care. I failed to take any photos of the toiles but there were 3 (I’ll definitely take them in the future, I promise to be a better blogger), I’ll list all my adjustments below, these are personal to me so defiantly don’t let them stop you making your own version.

So 1st up I did a 2 inch FBA (so 1′ on each boob) and removed 1/2 in from the bodice length. This toile had some gaping at the back neck line and the bust apex was hugely off so on my next version… I did a narrow shoulder adjustment and moved the neck line in by 6/8 inch. I then moved the bust dart down by 1.5′ moved the waist dart towards the centre of the bodice by 2.5′.

The last toile had 1.5′ added to the bust dart length and 1′ to the waist dart length, I also did a 0.5′ sway back adjustment and the took some fabric out from under bust, theres no specific method for this I just rotated some of the extra into the waist dart and then pinched out a little and traced the about I had taken onto the pattern.

The pattern has three sleeve variations, I choose the bishop sleeve and isn’t it beautiful. The sleeve cuff is folded under and has a rouleau fed through and when is pulled tight this gives the shape. The instructions advise you to sew in two buttonholes to feed your rouleaus through, its not included in the instructions but I added some fusible interfacing the back to make sure the button holes were sturdy.

The pattern details all work perfectly together, the gorgeous curved neckline adds glamour and femininity to the dress. The midi length skirt works perfectly with the lower neck line, it also has pockets. As the dress is closed with ties it’s going to be perfect for Christmas day because it can easily loosen them to make room for more pudding and cheese.

The fabric was from sew me sunshine and called Samantha, I didn’t buy the fabric with this pattern in mind but I think they are a perfect match and the drape works perfectly. It’s a viscose blend with the florals printed on top.

Overall I love this pattern and I’ve already sewn another in a red crepe for Xmas day and there will defiantly be more versions in the future.

I’d definitely like a linen version in the summer, will you be sewing a Hannah dress?? Which fabric ill you use?

Thanks for reading and happy sewing.

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