Highlands Wrap Dress

My inspiration. Image from here

My toile - made from an old worn sheet

Finished just in time to pack for my upcoming holiday, is my Highlands wrap dress.

I have had this dress (photo 2) pinned to an inspiration board on my Pinterest page for a while now.  I keep coming back to it for a number of reasons, it's a wrap style, it's long and fluid looking, smart yet casually elegant.  Wondering if I could find a pattern for something similar, I came across the Highlands Wrap Dress  pattern and decided that it was an almost identical match.  It can be made as a midi or maxi length dress with or without sleeves.

Linen was my fabric of choice for this make and I purchased a soft denim blue from The Fabric Store in Auckland.I wasn't aiming for an identical look, in fact I was wanting a green, but couldn't find a shade that was me.  The pattern and instructions (80 odd pages) were duly purchased, downloaded, printed.  A glass of chardonnay, an evening home alone and a tip to use a glue stick to assemble the pattern made that part quite an enjoyable experience.

 After making a toile of the bodice I decided to make size 4 which allowed for a little extra room across my shoulder blades. The pattern is designed for a person of 5'6" height with a B cup bust, I'm 5'8" and I have still found this to be an extremely long dress on me, in fact I cut off 3.5". and reshaped it for the mitred corners at the bottom. Next time I know to do it at the lower lengthen/shorten lines, and I would probably take off 4.5".  I would also make the side splits a little lower too. The wraps are securely fastened with a belt and hidden buttons, so no worry about it flapping open.   I got to play with a new foot that I hadn't used before on my machine - the buttonhole foot.  A few practice button holes, then I was ready to go.  Elastic is threaded through a channel at the back for extra shaping.

It's not a complicated pattern, the instructions are clearly written with good diagrams.  It is the volume of fabric that one has to manoeuvre, when sewing, pinning and pressing that makes it awkward.

Overall, this was an enjoyable make, and I'm planning to make the most of warmer sub tropical  autumn temperatures while I'm away and enjoy wearing it.

**Photos courtesy of Mr J using Iphone6**