Vikisews Nola

Vikisews Nola is an adorable milkmaid-style mini dress with a shirred back and gathered front bodice. I used a flowy viscose challis for this one, and I’ve seen some lovely versions in linen and cotton as well.

Adjustments I made:
– Added 1” to the bottom of the front bodice panel – as drafted, it didn’t provide quite enough bust coverage for me.
– Added a side zip. The pattern’s ease comes from the shirred back panel and front bodice, but I found adding a side zip made it much easier to get in and out of!
– For this version, I extended the skirt pattern pieces by 17″ for an ankle length dress and added a side slit to knee height. I’ve also made the mini-dress version and added an extra 2″ of length for it to hit mid-thigh
– Shirred the sleeve hem instead of adding an elastic casing

Instructions were great as always – each pattern comes with a detailed booklet and photographs of each step, and extra tips to get a professional finish.

Main thing to note is that VikiSews patterns tend to come in single sizes, so if your measurements put you across multiple sizes (like me!) you’ll probably need to do a bit of maths/grading to adjust ease as needed.