Anna Dress – By Hand London

A review of By Hand London Anna Dress

Reviewed by iribeiro on 1st August, 2016

I used a beautiful rayon I got of Ebay (seller lala and fluse) and I went looking for a nice lining at a local shop (literally lining house – casa dos forros) and got a nice fresh anti-static lining. Both fabrics were easy to sew with, a bit of care was needed to avoid having the machine gulf down the fabric at the beggining of the stitching, but other than that it was pretty smooth sailing.

The bodice pieces are fairly straightforward, there are no separate sleeves to cut and stitch as they are kimono style, the skirt is panneled which might need a bit of effort in order to keep all pieces on track, but notches are on different positions, so I’m pretty sure you won’t make a mistake.

The instructions are easy and straight forward. I had a bit of a brain freeze trying to bag out the lining, in the end I followed this instruction: http://www.sewmelove.com/2011/10/tutorial-how-to-sew-lining-in.html
I moved the back zip to the side for the ease of getting dressed, but I kept the middle back seam in case I needed some adjustment. I also changed the order of construction because I like to leave the side seams to last in case there is the need for some taking in/letting out at the seams

I made a size 14 bodice and waist and a size 12 hip, with no other adjustments to the fit, on a next version I might go a size smaller on the back and adjust at the front.