Highlands Wrap Dress

This gorgeous dress is the Highlands Wrap Dress by Allie Olson! I was lucky to be one of the testers for the pattern back in March, but since I procrastinated and had to rush, I wasn’t able to make the height adjustments needed. This time, I was in no rush and had time to make the adjustments for my height. And you guys…it fits perfectly!

I love sewing because I think I have finally figured out how things are suppose to fit. For example- where bust darts should hit, and where the waistband should be. Being tall, I’ve just bought things and been fine with how they fit because I didn’t really have another choice (or that’s what I thought). After testing the Highlands Wrap Dress, I realized that the bust darts were much too high, and the waistband was sitting up on my ribs.

This time around, I lowered the bust darts by 1.5″ (using this tutorial by Megan Nielsen) and lengthened the front and back  bodice pieces by 2″ before adding the waistband and skirt pieces. I also lengthened the skirt pieces by 2.5″ (I probably didn’t need to lengthen it that much, but oh well). The adjustments took me a while, but it was definitely worth it in the end.

Since I lengthen the top pieces, I thought I would also need to lengthen the facings before the curves at the waist, but it kind of threw things off, and it was way too long. I ended up taking out about as much fabric as I had added, so I might have to rethink that next time…but I’m not sure how that happened. Still stumped.

This AMAZING fabric is a crepe chiffon from Fabrix in San Francisco. They are VERY generous with the yardage, and even though I asked for 3.5 yards, I got a little over 4. Since I had plenty of fabric for the maxi version, AND I got the fabric for a steal ($3.99/yrd!), I decided to go for it!

As you can see, it is REALLY long on me, so I have to wear heels or else I’m scared I’ll ruin the hem. It took me about three days of working on it because the fabric didn’t iron quite as well as the linen that I used for my test version, and the fabric was a little bit shifty. This fabric was too beautiful to be anything but a maxi, but my next one I really want to get a linen or rayon fabric to make the midi version. I probably will only get to wear this dress to church, oh, and of course all of the shmancy parties I get invited to. Obviously. 😉

One tip I have from making it this time is — use a different thread on the inside, that is not your top stitching thread! (should this be a no-brainer?? *face palm*) I used an ENTIRE 110 yrd spool and ran out before I had hemmed the sleeves! #fail. But, I got more (Rebecca saved the day!), and I’ve learned my lesson.

This is one sewing garment that I’m very proud to tell people I made!