Hannah Wrap Dress

I’m still on the hunt for a go-to wrap-dress sewing pattern, and when I saw Hannah pop up on TheFoldLine.com, I did a little happy dance. I knew it would fill a huge hole in my current handmade wardrobe.

For this project I used a beautiful warm grey 100% linen with black slubs from Joann Fabrics ($21.99 USD/ yard). A bit on the pricey end, but worth every penny! It’s soft, airy, with a lovely sheen and drape … easy to work with — I love everything about it!

According to my measurements, the pattern suggested size 4/8. But looking at the finished measurements, I decided to size down to the 2/6 — and so glad I did! I suppose the finished garment is supposed to wear with a bit of ease, but for my style, the 2/6 still has just the right amount. The larger size would have been swimming on me!

While all BHL patterns do a great job of hand-holding, I found certain instructions/illustrations in this one to be a bit sparse and the fit to be a bit off.

For example, after attaching the skirt to the bodice, I noticed the pocket placement was far too low from the waistline. When I’ve made in-seam pockets in the past, they’re usually placed about 3” from the waistline. This pattern places them at 6” — much too low for my liking.

So after I un-picked the waistline seam, I removed 3” from the raw edge of the waistline and BOOM! The pockets were exactly where I needed them to be.

However, I probably wouldn’t have bothered to fix this, if I didn’t have to re-do the skirt gathers.

The directions say to only gather a portion of the skirt, to prevent bulk under the wrapped portion. But after evenly spacing the gathers so the bodice fit the skirt, the pockets were completely misaligned with the bodice side seams. I’m not sure why this didn’t occur to me before I stitched things together. ::face/palm::

Enter, Mr. Seam-ripper!

To make it work, I first made sure the pockets were aligned with the bodice side seams and spread the gathers out as evenly between these points as possible … The only issue was having to crowd the remaining gathers between the left side seam and the un-gathered mark, if that makes sense … Thankfully the tie makes this section of crowded gathers less obvious.

The only other modification I made was shortening the hem by 4″. So a total of 7″ was removed from the skirt length.

Speed-bumps aside, I’m very satisfied with my new frock! It’s exactly what my wardrobe was craving and it will definitely be getting lots of wear!

I also love how versatile it is! Right now, I love wearing it over a pair of black leggings and Blundstones, but will totally translate into my spring/summer wardrobe.

I’d love another one in velvet! But next time I’ll be sure to do a SBA (Small Bust Adjustment).

Here’s a link to my full blog post: https://thepeculiarstitch.wordpress.com/2019/11/26/hannah/