So I picked this one up and i’ll admit, I didn’t get that it was an over the head construction. I liked the look of the wrap as explained down below and I wondered if it would suit my curvy bod.
This time i’m reviewing the Kwik Sew 3225. Side note – why do Kwik Sew not name their clothing? #morethananumber #likemyweight
I found this pattern at a second hand shop. The inspiration for this was the Kielo Wrap Dress – you can kind of see the similarities right….. but being the frugal sewer I am, I didn’t want to buy another pattern that may or may not suit me so let’s call this a gateway pattern.
So, off the bat, the instructions are weird – see:
To be fair, they do make sense but it isn’t something I would naturally have tried to do. It’s really quite genius. This was a super simple sew – I made this in the semi dark while the children were asleep in the bed next to me (they like to fall asleep watching documentaries with us, judge me later). They are well used to sleeping through the sewing machine, I trained them well.
Sizing: I made the XL – I don’t think I added any extra space for the bootay, this was a trial to see what it would look like so it’s pretty rough and ready.
Fabric: I used a linen blend (an op shop special I believe). It was a bit slippy to sew and the facings gave me a bit of grief, but because this was a test sew I wasn’t too concerned.
Construction: so you can see here that I was a bit perplexed with this. I will say that it was definitely a very quick sew and easy to put together. The wrap bits need a bit of thinking about for the right way round but I found that a few glasses of wine on board made this a lot easier.
Here’s some more bad lighting photos – maybe tonight I’ll update with styled photos.
Now lets talk modifications : This was before my eye opening experience of automatically doing a FBA. This definitely needs it – you can see the wrinkles around my boobs. By doing a FBA it will give me more room in the breasticle area and better fitting under the arm holes. The bodice could do with maybe an extra cm in my opinion. The skirt is actually pretty good aside from needing a good press. The facings were straight foward but next time I would probably do some hand sewing or iron on interfacing to keep it down better. I’m a fan of this length, I do not like to have my knees showing. I would style this with heels and bracelets rather than necklace.
Final Thoughts – this was another archive one that at the time I wasn’t totally sold on, so I didn’t do a ‘real’ one. Looking at the photos now, I actually really like this and am going to give it another go. I think it would really suit something floaty and drapy like rayon (can you tell that’s my fav at the moment) or silk. I personally don’t think that cotton would have the same look even though the pattern does mention it. The biggest question is if it looks like the Kielo….. ermmmmm, no. Aside from the fact they are completely different constructions and the body shape is drastically different, I’m not too sure what I was thinking.
Overall I’m super pleased with this dress and I have loads more in the pipe. Watch this space.
Wine Pairing: This was a Chardonnay night – I’m not going to link my favs – that’s just free advertising and they certainly don’t need it with me around!