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I had been thinking for some time about how to make an Anna Dress by By Hand London. I liked the bodice very much and I wanted to keep it as it is, but I would have liked to try to change the skirt in order to create an impish and at the same time a little romantic dress, to wear both in summer and in autumn/spring with a light sweater.
I came up with the idea of matching a circle skirt to the bodice and use a floral printed cotton I bought last summer in London. I like its pattern very much and the fabric changes colour according to different lighting (sometimes it seems violet and at times blue). But adding it up, I realised I didn’t have enough fabric to make a circle skirt (the fabric was 1 mt high and I only had 2,5 mt length), so I tried to work how to make the dress with a half circle skirt out.
I decided to have an unique seam on the left side only for the skirt. Then I chose to eliminate the zip and move it from the back of the bodice to the left side.
I made the back part of the bodice as a single piece instead of two separate pieces, removing the zip opening. To do this I had to trace a straight line laterally to be placed on the fold of the fabric, parallel to the selvages. I next widened the back dart to resize the waist (I have an 8/10 bust and a 4/8 waist). Finally I cut 1,5 cm the seam allowance off both of the back bodice and of the neckline facing (see the picture), in order to eliminate the extra cm designed for the zip. I made a test version with an old sheet and it came out perfect on the first attempt! Great, what a satisfaction! My Design education did some good! 😉
So I cut and sewed everything up. I have to say that I adore this pattern, it is really simple and intuitive to sew. And the fabric is perfect… light and delicate.
I instead designed the half circle skirt pattern myself. I chose a 45 cm length and I cut the fabric adding 1,5 cm seam allowance. Finally I put the skirt and the bodice together, sewed the zip and the left side and hemmed up.
Here is a brief abstract: • Pattern: Anna Dress, By Hand London (bought on UrbanCut). • Fabric: a floral printed cotton (bought at The Cloth Shop in London). • Modifications: I changed the pattern’s skirt with a half circle skirt (45 cm high) and I moved the invisible zip to the left side of the dress.
I made a little mess with the invisible zip this time and I couldn’t manage to perfectly align the seams between the bodice and the skirt :), but I have to say that I like the overall result very much! Moreover it is exactly my style, so I think I’m going to wear it very often!
