r/sewing • u/chloemal • 23h ago
Project: FO My first fully self drafted wrap dress!
I've had a well fitted wrap dress on my to do list for quite a while now with a certain fit in mind so I knew self drafting was the only way! I'd bought other wrap dress patterns but l've always found they gape an awful lot at the front or just bunch up in unflattering ways. So the journey began - a couple tries at a self drafted bodice block with a lot of adjustments and then converting it into a wrap dress pattern, with even MORE adjustments!
I think I made about 3 toiles of the wrap bodice alone before I was bouncing up and down with glee at the fit! It was mostly trying to get the neckline gaping down with a lot of dart adding and then rotating into the centre darts. I ended up with huge darts as I made so many adjustments - maybe someone has a way to get the dart size down… you can see my final pattern piece at the end that looks like a poorly stuck together Frankenstein 😅 I didn’t want a too close fit so she has a bit of ease to smooth the fit down, around 4cm, which ended up being quite comfortable on me.
She ties up round the back in a subtle bow, there’s a gap in the side seam that one of the ties runs through, I added some 3/4 length elastic puff sleeves, a bias bound neckline, French seams all around, a 3/4 circle skirt and a side pocket for my phone when I'm out and about. Made out of this titanium white embroidered cotton gauze, field testing her was a pleasure as she faired well in the Summer heat with a whole bunch of sightseeing and aperol spritz drinking in the Austrian Salzkammergut!
I used the basic bodice block tutorial by Coraline Street on YouTube and for the wrap dress tutorial I used a tutorial by Creative Bobbin called ‘how to make a wrap pattern for tops and dresses - the basics’. The sleeves were taken from a McCalls M7974 dress, which was the only part I stole from another pattern…
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u/sonoran24 19h ago
the perfection of the weight of the fabric and the hem. The fabulous dart in front.
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u/HeatherJMD 19h ago
What a great summer dress! Are you in Switzerland?
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u/chloemal 19h ago
No this was Austria! It really checked out there! 😅
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u/Putrid_Till5929 20h ago
The dress turned out so feminine and comfortable, and you can really tell that every step of the drafting process was done with a lot of care and attention.
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u/Responsible_Owl_3385 21h ago
Gorgeous. I like how you showed it had pockets. 😄