Style Arc Lea Knit Wrap Dress

I’m back! Yes, it’s been months since I blogged and I’ve sure missed the community. Instead of trying to catch up I’ll just begin with my latest project, which I’m so thrilled about! I LOVE THIS DRESS!!!

The Style Arc Lea Knit Wrap Dress – 2 pattern is, as all the other PR reviewers have said, the closest pattern to the DVF wrap dress. That collar is perfect! (I’m leaning on one leg, so the right panel hem is pulling up, but in reality it’s level.)

The pattern draft is amazing. I love how the sleeves are set in the armscye, it’s the best fit I’ve ever had on a pattern. Unfortunately, as in all past sewing, I did make a 1 cm forward neck adjustment, but should NOT have done! My adjustment made the collar shift up right on the back of my neck, and now there’s a little bit too much fabric in the upper back. But it’s small, and I can live with it. Nobody else will probably even notice.

I made no other fitting adjustments, just extended the sleeves to 3/4 length. And look, NO gaping! Gotta love that.

I did try to get the pattern matching in most areas, the side seams being the easiest and most obvious. The sleeves were not really matched as the back armscye has a different shape than the front.

This pattern fits really close, and I made the size according to my measurements. It’s bang on! There’s no ease in the upper torso, and maybe only a tiny bit in the hips.

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Now for some technical stuff. It took me a while to figure out how to finish off the area where the ties are attached to the front facings, so I’ve taken several pictures.

 

ArtAttack’s pictures and comments were really helpful too, and I used them for the right side tie belt opening (in the picture above right, we’re looking at it the way it was serged.) I also liked her wider front facings, so I’ve adjusted the paper pattern pieces. Finally, for the hem I applied Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 (LOVE this!) and used the serger to run a simple chain stitch instead of cover stitch. It’s not a bad finish for this fabric which was very tricky here, it’s a very stretchy poly/spandex.

I’m already cutting fabric for another one. Maybe even a 3rd. It’s that good!