I say my first because this will definitely not be the last! I love the Anna dress pattern! I feel like it was made just for me! The slash neck, the nipped in waist and gentle A-line skirt, all details that I love.
Unfortunately there are not many patterns that really flatter me. I have a natural ability to make most things hang unattractively like sacks. Clothes that look absolutely gorgeous on other sewers tend to look atrocious on me. So what a joy to find something that, dare-I-say-it, may actually suit me and fit me too!
So without further ado, I present to you my first and hopefully not my last Anna dress.
Like others have said before me, I have so many more versions of this dress already planned. I’ll be joining the online sew along from By Hand London this month to make a silk version. I have a lovely silk twill from Italian designer Etro that I’ve just bought from the new autumn collection of Anita Pavani online (www.naturstoff.de) that is destined to become my next Anna.
For this dress, I used a black cotton eyelet batist fabric (also from Anita Pavani online) lined with a fine white cotton batist. I don’t tend to wear black and I’m probably the only woman not to have a little black dress in my wardrobe so I thought that that ‘LBD’ gap ought to be filled. I liked this eyelet batist as soon as I saw it and thought that if I underlined it with white it would lift if out of total blackness.
To do the lining, I simply omitted the neck facings and cut all of the dress pieces out of the main black fabric and the white lining fabric and sewed them up as two seperate dresses and then sewed them together at the neck edge and then turned the while lining dress to the inside. From then on I treated the two dresses as one and hemmed both together.
I made my dress in size six with no alterations other that adding the lining. It’s really easy to make and sews up relatively quickly even though I did French seams on all seams.
This was the first By Hand London pattern that I’ve tried and I’m impressed by this new pattern company. The packaging of the pattern is so attractively done and I thought that the inclusion of the ‘By Hand London and Me’ made-by tag, that has been proudly sewn into the back of my dress, gives the final product a satisfyingly professional finish.
I also loved the credit card sized fabric suggestions card. What a practical and thoughtful addition that is! You can slip that into your purse when you’re out shopping for fabric and away you go! No effort required and no need for scribbling on scrap bits of paper that get lost in your bag in amongst the nappies, the wetwipes, half-eaten apples and doggy bags. Not with By Hand London, you’re all efficient and organised with a card, explaining exactly what you need. I guess that’s what happens when you have women running a company! All details attended to!
I’m really happy with my Anna dress and think it’s such a versatile and universally flattering pattern that everyone should make at least one of them!
Am I the last person to make this dress? Are you joining me for the Sew-Along? I hope to see you there.
Reblogged this on YoSaMi.
Thanks so much Oonaballoona! I know what you mean about lining headaches! I’ve been erring on the side of caution and lining everything. BTW, I liked your maxi Miette skirt idea and I’ve just made one – it’ll be my next post. I lined that too! Thanks for the suggestion.
simply beautiful!! i love the contrasting lining (boy, did i ever give myself a headache over lining…now i wish i’d done it!)
Absolutely amazing work!
Thank you so much for your kind comment Brynn! Please call by again!
Any time! We can run into each other on purpose instead of by chance. 🙂 It is really amazing seeing you realize something on this blog that we talked about years ago. I know it means a lot to you and your creations are beautiful!
Thanks Brynn, you’re very sweet! Let’s purposely run into each other soon! I hope the family is well!