Welcome, friends!
I’m so happy to share this dress with you! Recently I had the opportunity to review a pattern and accompanying fabric from the Craftsy supply store. To be honest, I was aware that Craftsy had fabrics, but I never spent the time to peruse the site. Boy, was I missing out! Craftsy has a nicely curated selection of fabrics from popular designers at amazing prices. There’s fabrics by Cotton+Steel, Robert Kaufman, Art Gallery, and Free Spirit among others, plus a great selection of knits with prints that I haven’t seen elsewhere. And of course, there are some fabulous Liberty of London Tana Lawn prints, which is what I chose for this dress. Their fabrics always seem to be on sale, plus there’s occasionally sales with even better prices.
In addition to fabrics, Craftsy also has a pattern store. They supply some of my favorite pattern makers like Colette and Sewaholic, plus brands like Style Arc and Indygo Junction. Along with clothing patterns, there are also childrenswear and bag patterns. For additional inspiration, they feature sewing kits, that offer excellent deals with almost everything you need for a project.
For my project, I chose the Sewaholic Yaletown dress pattern, paired with Liberty of London Tana Lawn in the red English Field design. I knew that the cotton lawn would go perfectly with the Yaletown, and I was so excited when the fabric arrived as it’s one of the most beautiful prints that I’ve ever seen. Both the pattern and the fabric were nicely packaged and shipped quickly. As always, it’s super fun to get patterns and fabrics shipped to my door!
I’ve thought a bit about the Yaletown pattern since it came out, but I’m always trepidatious about woven wrap dress/top patterns. I hoped this one might be a little different, being a faux wrap, but I still have some issues with the wrap. When I tried on the bodice as I was putting this dress together, I tested out the wrap and it seemed to be okay, but there was really no way for me to see how it looks until the skirt was attached and the elastic is inserted into the waistband.
I did do some pinning on the bodice in attempt to fix the gaping, but my modifications altered the design too much. The darts that I tested out, raised the the neckline and changed the blouson look of the bodice. I wanted my interpretation to better represent the design, so I decided to remove what I had pinned and add interior buttons to hold the wrap closed.
I made thread loops for both the interior wrap button and for the belt loops. After wearing this dress for a day, I’ve decided it needed a couple more inside buttons to more securely hold it closed, so I’ve added those. If I make this pattern again, I’d pull the wrap down further into the waistline before sewing the skirt to it, which I think will remove the gaping.
I used pinking shears on the seam allowances to make the edges nearly invisible from the outside. This worked especially well on the facings and allowed everything to lay flat.
The Yaletown has the old Sewaholic sizing and only goes up to a 16. I graded this dress up to about a size 22. The only alteration I did to the pattern was to enlarge the sleeves about an inch for my full biceps. I probably didn’t need to do this as the sleeves are roomy. I didn’t add any length to the skirt, which is a normal alteration for me. I tested the pattern pieces out and they were long enough for my preference.
This pattern went together very quickly. The bodice is sewn together, and then the skirt, and once the two are joined, you create a casing for the elastic using the seam allowance between the bodice and the skirt. That makes this extremely comfortable to wear. If one didn’t have to worry about flashing people, it would be even better! I’ve now fixed that issue, but I’d rather not have the issue at all.
I felt very spoiled sewing with this fabric. It’s truly the best lawn that I’ve used. I love Liberty prints, but I find many of them too small and busy for me to want to make a dress with them. I was really happy to see this one with its nice bright, large print. Craftsy has some amazing deals on Liberty fabrics, so I might just order another one sometime. It’s a bit different ordering from Craftsy as the yardage lengths are pre-set in 2, 3 and 4 yard cuts. That’s usually enough fabric to make just about any of the patterns that I usually sew. It’s not quite enough to make some full-skirted 1950’s patterns, so if I found some fabric on Craftsy that would be perfect for a pattern that needs 5-6 yards, I’m not sure how I’d get around that. You could order two different yardages, but I don’t think they would come in a continuous cut. I guess that’s something to think about!
Note: I received both the fabric and the pattern for this dress in return for a review. As a Craftsy affiliate, this post contains affiliate links. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Happy Sewing!
- Dress: Sewaholic Yaletown in Liberty of London tana lawn, made by me
- Shoes: L.K. Bennett
- Earrings: BaubleBar
Sigh. Liberty is such beautiful fabric! These rich colors do really well with your coloring and this dress is a lovely harbinger of Spring! I’m glad I’m not the only one who struggles with wrap styles. I really want to love them, but it seems like there’s always some muddling about that needs to happen to remove the flashing potential anxiety. Your button solution seems like the perfect trick!
I honestly don’t think I’d try another woven wrap style. I love the way they look but not the tweaks to get them to fit right. At the inside buttons worked to fix this dress.
I love this dress and the fabric is gorgeous. such lovely saturated colours. You look great in it. Pity about the gaping though but I am glad that you have sorted it. This is far to beautiful to languish in the wardrobe. Xx
The colors of this fabric really stood out to me. I will definitely be wearing this often. I can always pair it with a camisole or full slip if I feel the need to.
This is beautiful, I’m glad you could resolve the gaping! As almost all the other commenters have said, that is what has been keeping me from purchasing this pattern as well. I may have to stick with knit wraps 😉
I never knew that a wrap dress could be a non-gaping one until making the Appleton dress!
Tanya, I have this pattern stashed and I keep looking at it then putting it back. Did that twice already for the year and still haven’t printed it off yet. I’m glad you showed how you tackled the gaping, because that’s always a problem for me with wrap bodices, so maybe I’ll finally be really motivated to try this pattern for summer. Maybe.
Yeah, that gaping is certainly a huge issue. I wouldn’t want to wear a camisole under it in the heat as it defeats the purpose of having a flowy cool dress like this for summer.
Beautiful dress. I love the print. You solved the gaping issue pretty well. 🙂
Thanks, Andie! I see what knit wrap dresses are better than the wovens!!! I’ve never had a woven wrap that didn’t have gaping.
Hi Tanya.
Your finished dress looks gorgeous – what a great print and as you say, Liberty tana lawn is such a treat to sew with and wear.
I’ve had this pattern in my stash for a few months now but have been reticent to make it for the very reasons you mention, the bodice gaping. I feel more inspired now to give it a go after reading your review.
Debbie x
Hi Debbie! The gaping is really my only problem with the pattern. It’s quick to sew and comfy, which are tops in my book! I know the Yaletown would look great on you, and I’d look forward to your interpretation if you decide to sew it.
This looks lovely on you, the print is fantastic. I actually think the bodice looks really good, the blousing just works
Thank you, Kaitlyn! I like the blouson effect a lot. Plus, it’s super comfortable!